Artist Profile: Robin Sevakis
I am beyond pleased to announce next week's interview features Robin Sevakis! Robin Sevakis is the creator/artist of Anime News Nina, the resident news elf for the famed Anime News Network! (If you're an anime fan you haven't heard of the Anime News Network aka ANN, let me help you crawl out from that rock you live under.)
Using my skills as a stalker reporter, I've dug up some basic background information on Robin and Anime News Nina.
According to the Anime Almanac, Robin is the little sister of Anime News Network founder Justin Sevakis. The Almanac says it was actually Robin who introduced Justin to anime after a friend introduced her to shows like Dominion Tank Police. In turn, it was Justin who encouraged Robin to develope a webcomic about anime.
Sorry about the low image clarity. T_T Stupid livejournal!
Robin scratched out the beginnings of Anime News Nina, the ANN staff approved the strip, and a legend was born! Anime News Nina launched on October 24 in the year 2007. As of today, July 20, 2010, There are over 100 Anime News Nina comics, ranging in topics from anime conferences, to anime cliches, to Narutards(gosh I love those strips), to how Nina became a news elf.
Anime News Nina is often satircial, and pokes fun at anime concepts in a way that makes you choke on your own laughter. (After all, you have to love something to be able to mock it.) The main cast of the comic are Nina and her neighbors/friends Kevin, Paola, and Nina's strange pet-thing, Myoopi.
Some of you might have seen early versions of Robin's artwork on ANN. After the site launched in 1998, Robin was the artist of the blonde elf who was positioned behind/with the ANN slogan in the upper left corner. Around 2007 the blonde elf was taken down, and instead Nina became the resident elf. (I might be dating myself by admitting that I do remember the change.)
The title of this piece? "The Pharoh is unamused..." I knew DDR hailed from the early ages!
Robin graduated from the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan. At the moment she is working for a casual video game company, whose name I have yet to uncover with my stalker research skills. (Although MobyGames records her as a developer for GameHouse, Inc.)
Robin has occasionally drawn cover images for the magazine Cerise, and most notably she has developed Jadress (the blonde elf who used to be featured on ANN) and the world she lives in. Robin has also done several panels at anime conventions, which explains how she can make Nina comics that feature panels so spectacularly accurate.
If you have a question you would like me to ask Robin please either PM me or leave a comment in this post.
You can view more of Robin's work on Deviant Art or her online portfolio.