When *spacecoyote uploaded her manga-style illustration of The Simpsons into her deviantART account, her life suddenly moved into top gear. The deviation received an enormous amount of attention, which in turn led to a job offer from The Simpsons creator Matt Groening.



Born in Vancouver to Japanese parents, Nina grew up reading manga which was sent to her from japanese relatives. It was these works which in turn became a major influence on her work.

The success of her artwork has now led to her first full length graphic novel being released. Yōkaiden is an on-going American manga-inspired comic written and illustrated by Nina Matsumoto (*spacecoyote) and published by Del Rey Manga. The story features Hamachi, a boy fascinated by the Japanese monsters called yokai. When one of these monsters steals his grandmother's soul, he travels into their world to retrieve it. The first volume was published on November 18, 2008.

As part of our International Women's Week celebrations, I'm delighted to have interviewed Nina to find out a little bit more about her success, and how deviantART has impacted on her life as an artist.


How did you first discover deviantART, and what made you sign up for our community?

It was March 2004 when I joined and in all honesty, I can't remember how I found the site or why I decided to join. It may've been because some of the artists at a few art forums I used to lurk in began joining and I jumped on the bandwagon. It surprised me to see how much people liked my artwork, and that was encouraging.

I've been pretty quiet on deviantART -- I'm cripplingly introverted, so I've never gotten too involved with the community. There have been long periods where I'd post nothing at all. I'd upload some of my better artwork (because my dA account gets more exposure than my website) and scuttle away. I never imagined deviantART could play such a vital role in getting my foot in the comics industry door.


How has deviantART impacted on your career?

All was quiet until I put up that Simpsonzu piece. As my employers have stressed with me, it wasn't only that piece that made them want to hire me -- they came to my gallery for that picture, stayed for the rest. They could gauge my skill level from my other artwork and decide if I should be contacted for the jobs they had in mind. When I put up the Groening-style Death Note and Totoro fan art, I was able to show Bongo that I could draw in that style, which made them hire me to do pencils for their regular stories. Goes to show that it pays to have some variety in your gallery.

I'm not so sure Simpsonzu would've exploded in popularity so quickly -- or even to that extent at all -- if I hadn't put it up on deviantART, where lots of people had me on their watch lists.

What's life been like for you since all the fuss over your infamous Simpsonzu piece was discovered?

The discovery jump started my career, and the attention I've been getting since is crazy. It's strange, because it's not as though I made a push to change my life or took a radical new direction in art to cause this -- I'm still drawing the same way I did before January 2007. The only difference is now I can make a living off of my art, and more people recognize my name. The best outcome of all this: I no longer have to work for minimum wage doing customer service! Oh, and strolling into a book store and seeing copies of Yokaiden in the manga shelves is always cool.

My gallery pageviews tells how much exposure the Simpsonzu has brought me. From March 2004 to the end of December 2006 (a week before Simpsonzu went up), I had a little over 75,000 pageviews. By the end of 2007, I had over a million.


What can we expect to see from you in the near future? Any exciting projects around the corner?

I may become involved in a rather exciting project, but it's not for certain yet and I'm not allowed to reveal the details on that. Sorry! Asides from that, there's Yokaiden 2 coming out late October just in time for Halloween.


Recommend 3 deviants that we should check out?

Sadly, many of my friends have either stopped updating their galleries or left the site altogether, but I'll name some of the more active deviants I'm acquainted with:

Mirana Reveier at *mirana An illustrator/colourist who's supported me for nearly 10 years. We've both come a long way artistically since we met. Her comic book style is a unique one, and she doesn't ever skimp out on backgrounds or colour. She's taught me so much.

Emily Coleman at ~fireeyes-dragon A fantastic creature sculptor. You may have seen her win 3rd place in the official Okami contest here with her rendition of Amaterasu. She makes me want to get into sculpting, too.

Melita Curphy at *missmonster I confess; I'm more a loyal fan and customer of hers than a friend. I can't leave her out, though, because her monsters are amazing and she does everything: paint, sculpt, silkscreen, sew, make soap...very inspiring stuff.


What advice would you give to any budding young artists who just signed up for deviantART?

Don't worry about pageviews.
Don't worry about getting +favs.
Don't worry about receiving comments.
Don't worry about popularity.
Don't worry; keep drawing. It's the ancient space coyote technique!

Where should deviants go to buy a copy of your book? Can we have a signed copy to give away in a contest?

Chapters or Indigo for you fellow Canadians; Amazon or Random House for everyone else! Then there's Borders, Barnes & Noble...you can usually find it at any place that sells manga. If you're in Vancouver, go to Sakura Media or Golden Age Collectibles (where they've decided to keep it permanently in stock!).

Sure, I can offer a signed copy. I can throw in some prints and original artwork, too.

Thanks Nina!!

So there you have it, keep your eyes peeled for news on how you can get your hands on these awesome prizes!