Spotlight: BlackCat Aurore

Here's another spotlight for you. BlackCat Aurore is a published French manga artist, well known on the internet for her CG and pixel art. Her premier published title is called Pixie (available in French, Spanish, and soon in English), and her art will be featured in an upcoming book called Kookaburra Universe. You can visit her website here.

I first found out about Aurore long, long ago when I was still in high school. My brother had saved several of her artworks on our computer, back before she was published. I had no idea she was going to blow up the way she did, but over the years I could definitely track a change in her art style, I would daresay improvement. Apparently, according to her site, she has also done published fanzines and doujinshi (fan-comics of established properties).

Aurore does artwork and inking, but she doesn't write the stories of any of her credited works. This is largely how OEL manga are in the States, as well, since much of the Tokyopop manga here are collaborations between writers and artists--seldom do I see a OEL title in which a person does both. A mangaka (comic book artist/writer) in Japan is more likely to both, however, but many have assistant artists or circles to help them with patterns, backgrounds, and textures. You know, the stuff no one really wants to draw. Alas, since they are just assistants, they don't get the fame or credit of the main mangaka. (Just kidding.)

Nevertheless, I'm glad to see someone is getting somewhere with their work. I have no idea how much it pays over there, but...oh well!