This week’s artist’s spotlight focuses on Drachea Rannak, who creates amazing Sailor Moon crossover art.
The Artist’s Spotlight is a Hypable weekly feature that will focus on someone who has caught our attention for fandom-related art, whether it be drawings, songs, crafts, or more! Every week you can expect a new talented artist we think you should be aware of!
Drachea is here to tell us a little bit about himself:
Name: Drachea Rannak AKA. M.A.W.B AKA. Mael
Height: 5’5″
Birthday: March 7.
Zodiac Sign: Pisces
Birthstone: Amethyst
Favorite Color: Orange
Favorite Animal: Cats
Favorite Food: Anything spicy
Least Favorite Food: Globe zucchini, chard, spinach, unflavored gelatin…
Favorite Subject: Art & Geography
Worst Subject: Math & PE
Likes: Ethnic food, fine dining and drinking, traveling, manners and certain formality
Dislikes: Lack of manners, irresponsibility, envy
Fears: Spiders, being disliked, to let people down… getting fat :-P
Dream: To find a life partner
Hobbies: Drawing, digital arts, MMORPGs
Hypable: How did you discover and fall in love with Sailor Moon?
Drachea: It was back in 1994 when here in Argentina we only had Saint Seiya as the only anime on TV, and so Sailor Moon came along. I watched it only because it was Japanese and I was a bit of a wannabe back then, but then it was impossible not to love it.
Sailor Moon had a whole new level of subjects that I never knew could be in a “cartoon.” It blew my mind.
Who’s your favorite Sailor Soldier?
Sailor Neptune, of course. She is a Pisces like me, an artist… and gay lol. I like the characters that have this elegance and class all around them.
What made you decide to start drawing the characters of Sailor Moon?
I was simply bored since even though I loved the anime, I always pictured my own stories — the ones I create with my characters — more into the shonen side, with battles and armors. Then someone saw that on DA [DeviantART] and commissioned me to draw Sailor Pluto, and it was the beginning of all this fame. :-P
You do these fantastic crossover pieces, where you make characters from other shows and movies into Sailor Soldiers. What made you decide to do that?
To tell the truth, I saw this DA artist that had done that and I asked if I could redraw HER DESIGNS as a form of showing my admiration, but she was rather weird about it and told me that I should come up with my own Sailor Princesses designs –- people think I made up this concept, but when I started drawing them, several artists were doing it already. So I said ok, and designed my own version of the sailor princesses… and people never stopped loving them since then.
What is usually the hardest part about designing one of these? (e.g. the face, the clothing, the pose, etc.)
Nothing really… sometimes finding the time to do it, since most of my time I am working on commissions.
Do you pretty much just stick with Sailor Moon art, or do you play with other styles?
I have several other styles, but they are not as known, so people think it is the only thing I draw. I have plenty OCs [original characters] in my own style, Saint Seiya related art, erotic male art… and people even don’t seem to notice background art is maybe the hardest to achieve.
| “Sometimes finding the time to do [the crossover pieces is difficult], since most of my time I am working on commissions.” |
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Which artists do you draw inspiration from?
Ikuko Itoh and Yoshihiko Umakoshi. I like a lot Junichi Hayama, and Utena’s art in general
What’s your ultimate goal as an artist?
Just to keep loving what I do, and of course, the keep growing as such.
Can you give us any hints at some pieces you’re working on now?
Well, there is this Sailor Generator Mega Update that’s driving me crazy, but it’s going to drive you all insane when you see all the new elements there are to play with!
You can find Drachea’s amazing Sailor Moon artwork on his Facebook page.