Hey Kanon! Tell us about yourself!
Well, I grew up in a small town, really the middle of nowhere. There was never a lot to do so I always found myself gravitating towards a lot reading and cartoons to keep myself busy. Because of that, I grew a love for storytelling and art as a whole. I found myself drawing too more often than not, creating whole stories for the characters I’d create. Eventually, I realized I wanted to pursue that as a career. I’m lucky to have such a supportive family, so when I went off to study at SCAD, they were my biggest fans. While there, I studied under a number of amazing professors and majored in Sequential Art. I’ve graduated now, but I’m still honing my craft as I continue to work.
What’s your favorite thing about being an artist/comic creator?
My favorite thing is being able to tell a story that captures a reader’s attention. Like I said before, there wasn’t a lot to do when I was growing up in the area I was in. Sports and other extra curricular activities didn’t interest me. But the stories I found myself enjoying through different types of media kept me entertained, even distracted from the less fun parts of my life at the time. If I can do that for just one reader one day, then I’ve done my job. Ideally, I’d love to do that for more than one reader of course. And one day I hope to do so by just making people happy with my work in some way.
What’s your inspirations? How did you get into comics and art as a career path?
Honestly, my biggest inspiration for art goes back to when I was really small and ended up with a Pokemon guidebook, and I’d just obsessively draw the original 151 Pokemon. I remember, I’d just sit at my grandmother’s kitchen table for hours and try so hard to get them to look just right. But the biggest thing that made me fall in love with comics as a medium is when I discovered manga in elementary school, specifically Naruto. Because of it, I tried my hand at comics as well then - and they were terrible. But we all have to start somewhere, and I’m glad I didn’t give up on it. I ended up getting into American comics more in high school, and fell in love with the Batman mythos. I saw the impact these stories had on people, how happy and excited they got for them, and I just realized I wanted to be a part of that. Because of that, I never stopped doing art, and I had a lot of people in my life supporting me. I can’t think of one moment in my life where I didn’t think art was going to be my career path. It was one of those things you just know, even so early on.
Do you have a certain genre/trope/story you like to tell?
There are a lot of tropes and genres I love. But for my own work, I tend to lean towards more thriller almost horror type stories. Sometimes with a dash of action thrown in it, because sometimes I just can’t resist. But a trope I think I adore the most and find in a lot of my work is the found family trope. There’s something so wholesome and relatable about the trope to me, and I feel like many others can also relate to it as well. It’s something that can basically be adapted to any genre, and definitely creates a connection between the audience and this little group you’ve had find each other in this story.
Can you tell us about your inspiration for Plastic Crown? Anything you want to mention about the series and what’s coming?
When coming up with Plastic Crown, it all came together slowly. Honestly, there were a few things that inspired the story along the way, it wasn’t just one thing. A big inspiration was beauty pageant culture and the controlling environments children can grow up in. Of course, taken to the extreme.
Which led to a big part of the series going forward. That being Dani’s relationship to Ren and even her friend group. Going forward, you’ll see the continued struggle Dani has with keeping them separate from her life with her mother. Not to mention, you’ll get to learn a lot more about Dani and her mother’s interesting relationship very soon, and I’m excited to illustrate it.
Do you have any future projects you're excited about?
I do actually have another project in the works, but it’s in the very early stages of planning. It’s another project of my own, almost a passion project that sort of feels full circle for me in a way. As of right now, I don’t know when that will be revealed or even released. There’s no timeframe for it at the moment, but I’d love to share it with the world someday.
Where can we find you and your work?
A: You can mostly find me and my work available on Instagram @vkdaniel20 but also Twitter under the same username. I also have a website where you can find more art at https://vkdaniel20.wixsite.com/vkdaniel.
