Meet the Guest of Honor
Starring Svetlana Chmakova, and Featuring J. Dee DuPuy
by Pedro Rodriguez
The GOH panel began with the J. Dee DuPuy warming things up. She showed the audience her current project "OniKimono: Detectives of the Orient", a web comic found on Wirepop. She gave the audience a brief synopsis of this supernatural detective series, and also showed some of her own artwork. As a self taught artist, her portfolio was rather impressive, and admired by everyone including Svetlana.
And then, the moment we were all waiting for. Using her nifty laser pointer, the Guest of Honor started off by reintroducing the cast of Dramacon. The audience booed at the mention of Derek, and fangirls screamed with delight when Svetlana said Matt's name. She then surprised the audience by treating them to a reading of the first few pages of Dramacon volume 1; once again fangirls showed their support when the strong and silent cosplayer made his appearance. After the read through, sneak peek at Volume 2 (well, it was a sneak peek for those who have yet to buy the book) that included the famous rain scene. Shortly thereafter she gave us a look at the landscape used for the Dramacon series, including a bird's eye view of the convention center and hotel.
Then out of nowhere, the crowd became bewildered by a picture of CosmoGirl! As it turns out the GOH also has a series in this magazine for girls called "The Adventures of CG". Immediately following the Dramacon portion, Svetlana gave us a look at her portfolio from her college days. Apparently she wasn't kidding when she recommended taking classes to further improve your art skills. Some of the artwork included, character designs, based on of her favorite animated shows, life drawings, and warped self portraits. The audience was just in awe by her skills as an artist. The panel was then followed up by a few questions from the audience, and an autograph session.
Audience Q&A Highlights
Audience: When is the next Dramacon going to come out, and is it possible for it to be an anime?
Svetlana: Right now it's scheduled to come out around the same time. They each take place a year apart. I'm also really busy doing the COSMOgirl! monthly. Also I'm involved in some projects that I can't talk about yet.
Audience ahhs, and chants "Hint, hint, hint...". Svetlana stands her ground.
Svetlana: But is there a possibility, (for an anime) well maybe (someday). I hope it's a yes.
Audience: How long does it take you to make a book?
Svetlana: A book takes a very long time (to make). A page when doing the background to doing the toning can take me anywhere from ten hours to fifteen hours to complete.
Audience: There is a comic book in Dramacon called 'Wary City', is there a story line for that?
Svetlana: It's mostly in Christie's head. I made out some part of it, but its supposed to be a detective who is a ghost detective, and his secretary is a ghost who is known to throw coffee when she's angry at him...
Audience: I was wondering, I read some of your lines from your books, like they say "Yaoi? What's that some kind of food?", and I'm thinking where do you get all these
Svetlana:I don't know (laughs). It must be the sugar (audience laughs). I honestly don't know where my writing comes from. I do hang out at some conventions, and there's a lot of funny people at the conventions.
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