Interview with LycheeDevil, Mangaka of Scarlet Vagabond

Our Creator Interview series returns today with LycheeDevil, also known as Vee, a professional freelance artist and mangaka. I came across Vee's work on Twitter during the Summer of Manga contest in 2023 held by Saturday AM in which she submitted her title Scarlet Vagabond. They were published as a result, and I've been following her since. Vee also puts out helpful advice and tips about making manga on her social media, and is continuing to work with Saturday AM. A rising star in the manga community and a helpful one at that, so she's a perfect feature for this interview series.

GlobalComix: Tell us a little bit about yourself and why you started making manga and comics.

LycheeDevil: I’ve always been interested in making comics, first with western style, and then later manga. I’d always harbored a love for manga when I first read it in the library during the big Naruto Boom of the early 2000’s, but I had ended up losing my love for it due to intense scrutiny in highschool. Later on, though, 2018 rolled around. When I had moved away from my hometown I rediscovered my old Naruto books and went “damn, why did I ever put this down?” I was unstoppable at that point, reading more manga, and then starting to learn the craft.

GlobalComix: You’ve currently got a one-shot completed, how did you come up with the story for that one?

Vee: I had to come up with something on the spot, as I submitted and filled out my pitch form for Summer of Manga on the final day. I had one story kinda developed at the time, and knew that a large part of that series was going to be the exploration of less popular eastern folklore. So, I took two characters I already had pretty developed and threw them into a Villain Of The Week style story so it could stay self-contained, and it happened to all work out in the end!

GlobalComix: Working on a one-shot can feel intimidating, keeping a story short and concise. Did you struggle with it at all?

Vee: Not much if I’m being honest, the only part that gave me some trouble was having to reel back the scope of what I could do with the story. We were all given a page limit and I had to keep trimming to fit everything into just 20 pages. I think that the characterization and worldbuilding in the oneshot suffers from all the trimming, but in the end I’m still happy with what I put out and glad I got the experience of working with an editor on a deadline.

GlobalComix: What advice would you give others who want to explore making one-shots and short stories?

Vee: Study story structure, and keep the scope in check, you always want to have a beginning and an end. One of my common critiques for some of the other entries was that the idea felt like it was just getting started as it ended, or it cut itself short right at the end to wrap it up. I would also urge others to always use thumbnails, they let you see your ideas in practice before you make it all pretty, and you can get them out quickly. It lets you get a feeling for your story’s pacing, and you can trim and change accordingly each time you look over your work until you’re happy with it!

GlobalComix: What sort of anime, manga, comics, or cartoons have inspired your artistic journey?

Vee: This one is a hard one to condense in all honesty! So many things have influenced my work, it would be hard to list off every single one. When it comes to how I draw manga the primary, and most prominent, influences are Yusuke Murata, Kohei Horikoshi, Misashi Kishimoto, Akira Toriyama, and Masaaki Nakayama. There are other smaller elements from people like Mike Mignola, Jamie Hewlett, and Brian Ching.

GlobalComix: You submitted to the Summer of Manga contest earlier last year. What was your experience like, and what inspired you to submit to it?

Vee: It was really chill, honestly! I was paired with Austin Harvey Younis, Saturday AM’s primary editor, and we hit it off really well. When he provided feedback I took it as an opportunity to listen and learn, and he was always urging me to watch my health and take breaks! In fact, beyond Austin, everyone from AM I spoke to or interacted with during Summer of Manga were all very kind and accommodating to me. If I had the time, and if I weren’t stealing the spot from another artist, I would definitely enter again, it was super fun!

GlobalComix: It can be difficult to find good resources in English for making manga, so what’s helped you grow and improve over the years?

Vee: Lots of personal art studies, and soaking in the advice from various JUMP authors. Every now and then, JUMP has interview segments with their mangaka, much like we’re having now, and there’s a lot of important and interesting things you can learn just from reading what they have to say. Akira Toriyama’s Manga Lab is also a niche, but insanely valuable resource. It has so much good advice on creating manga. Whyt Manga also deserves a shout out, his videos going over the more specific details like dimensions or panel gutter ratios have been a huge help, and Takuya Kakikata has a Twitter account (@takuya_kakikata) where he publishes English localizations of his works to aid in the production of manga and anime.

GlobalComix: You’ve shared some of your own knowledge on your social media, like paneling and lettering. Would you ever plan on a book or YouTube channel with tips for aspiring creators?

Vee: I would love to if I had the time! I actually had created a YouTube channel last year for that exact purpose, plus I had thought that creating videos on the craft would inspire and motivate me. However, I haven’t really had time to dedicate to making any well put together videos. I’ve been super busy with various odd jobs and freelance work, on top of maintaining my private life, so I’ve just not had time! The little bits and pieces I do share or put out on social media are my middle ground for that, where I’m not dedicating a ton of time into making a video but still sharing information about my personal approach to creating manga.

GlobalComix: What is your favorite part of the comic-making process?

Vee: It’s easily the thumbnail process! I struggle with adult ADHD, so focusing a lot of time on just one idea can be really hard. That’s why thumbnails are freeing for me, they’re quick executions of my ideas, and I can immediately review and change them. It lets me see if the story I’m doing has any merit before I commit to finalizing pages, and just getting to sit there and draw out a lite version of my story is very exciting!

GlobalComix: If you wanted to share any words of wisdom to your younger self before you started making manga, what would you say to them?

Vee: I would urge them to rediscover their passion for manga sooner than later! I wasted so much time shying away from things I enjoyed over the judgment of other people. If I had found myself sooner I could’ve used those extra years to really get things rolling much quicker!

GlobalComix: What’s next for you? Any new projects that you can tease the readers with?

Vee: Currently I’m finishing up a special oneshot for Saturday AM, it’ll be featured alongside other indie mangaka in their Saturday Annual title. I’ve teased a few different ideas on social media, and honestly any number of those stories could end up getting a pilot oneshot! One follows a Japanese detective, whose partner is a ghost that haunts his home. This gives him unique insight into cases others might not be able to gleam from just the human eye, due to his partner's spectral nature.

Another follows a fast food worker rebuilding her life after a cascade of unfortunate events, working with her new coworkers, learning to trust people again, and rediscovering her passion in life. Scarlet Vagabond of course has ideas beyond its initial oneshot, though the scope of that idea is so large I don’t imagine it’ll start coming out properly anytime soon. You never know, though! The future holds many prospects.

Thank you so much to Vee, aka LycheeDevil for making the time to sit down with me for this interview. She's definitely a creator to be keeping an eye on with her upcoming work to be put out by Saturday AM. To not miss out on anything new from her, please check out the links below:

• Read LycheeDevil's one-shot Scarlet Vagabond here
• Follow LycheeDevil on GlobalComix here
• Follow LycheeDevil on Twitter here
• Find LycheeDevil's Instagram Feed here