How did you become an artist?

As a child, I was deeply influenced by the Japanese anime that was shown on German television at the time. As I've always drawn a lot, I soon started to create my own characters in manga style. Eventually I also discovered story writing and started drawing my own short stories. And that's when I knew: I want to become a mangaka!

You have to know that in Germany there aren't many Mangaka who work for publishing companies yet. So as a teenager, I thought a lot about how to make my dream come true. After graduating from university in 2019, I immediately applied to a German manga publisher. I introduced myself with my manga series "Green Garden", of which I had already self-published two chapters.
The publisher, Altraverse, took me on and I was given the opportunity to draw "Green Garden" for a wider audience. The series ran from 2020 to 2022 in Germany and is finished with four volumes. My new series "Kiela - und das letzte Geleit" will be published by Altraverse in July 2023 and I'm really looking forward to it!

I guess you see, I'm busy with manga all day, haha! But I'm happy to have finally reached my dream and to be able to work on my projects full time.

Where do you get inspiration?

Of course I am very inspired by the work of other artists and mangaka. But really, anything can be inspiring if you take the time to look at it. For example, I am very fascinated by the architecture in my hometown, and I find myself photographing new buildings all the time. But a good conversation with friends can also bring new ideas. Life is full of inspiration, that's what I love about it.

What’s your hardware setup?

I draw on a Wacom Cintiq pro 13.

What do you like best about Clip Studio Paint?

I think the thing that I like the most about the software is that it is designed to meet my needs as a mangaka. I don't have to think a lot about how the software can be used for my work, but I can design my process through the software. That makes it twice as much fun to work with!

How long does it take you to make a single illustration?

Most of the time I work in black and white on my manga projects. Because of this, I'm probably a little less experienced in the color process than I would be if I worked mainly in color. It also depends on how complex the illustration is in the end. That's why I usually allow myself a day to a week for color pictures.

How has Clip Studio Paint improved your workflow?

As I said, it's great that the software covers exactly my needs as a mangaka. This is particularly noticeable in how much faster I can work with the tool. With my schedule, I'm always thinking about the next deadline, so it's important to work efficiently. Clip Studio helps me a lot. Whether it's working with vectors, which allows me to edit my lines quickly, or exporting many manga pages in batch, which is fast and practical. Everything is well thought out. It's nice to know that I can use just one program to get everything I need to work with.

Would you like to promote some recent project?

As I mentioned earlier, my new manga series "Kiela und das letzte Geleit" will start in July 2023. The story is about Kiela, who cannot come to terms with the early death of her brother Quin. It is only a small consolation for her that Quin had signed a contract with the Helsheim AG, a company that guarantees its customers a safe passage to the afterlife. Kiela hopes that the company might be able to contact the afterlife and help her see Quin one last time. Soon after, she meets a boy at school wearing a uniform with the company's logo. This encounter opens the door to an incredible adventure...


For the time being, the title will only be published in German-speaking countries. But it would be great if the story could be read worldwide in the future! So if you are interested in my works, please tell your local manga publishing company about it! This will improve the possibility of licensing in other languages. Thank you so much for your support!

Where can we follow your work?

You can find me on social media.

Here are the links to my profile:

https://twitter.com/SozanCoskun

https://www.instagram.com/sozan_coskun/?hl=de

Sorry for posting mainly in german, but I think a picture is worth a thousand words :)