Editing by Kristina Forst
Through her love of comics and manga, Salomée “Saly” Luce-Antoinette decided to pursue a living in art. She’s the manga artist for the series Payback! which is serialized in the manga magazine Project Moonlight by Concept Moon. Saly draws comic books, comic covers, and manga, and has art published by Image comics and DC comics. While having published covers and stories for others, she still dreams of drawing and publishing her own stories. Saly was happy to share her journey as an artist, and what is next in her career.
Becoming an Artist
Saly’s art journey started at the age of eight. Her first drawings were motivated by her love of the anime Dragon Ball Z. Saly created her own original character for the series. At the age of 14, she learned she could take her passion and make a living from it. “I went to the comics store with my mom and I picked up an X-Men comic. It was a team only composed of X-Women so I was excited to read it. After reading it, I looked at the artist because this name sounded French and I was intrigued. I found out he was originally from my island! Seeing that someone from there could do it had me shook and very inspired.” She discovered the artist was Olivier Coipel, which jump started her comic-making journey. Saly’s goal is to have her own story published one day. “I always wanted to draw superheroes as a kid: Spidey, Superman, and many more. Basically, I want to draw my childhood’s heroes and contribute to their legacy.” Earlier this year, Saly stepped closer to that goal by drawing an illustration for a DC comics special. Currently, Saly is working on a couple of covers, a short story for an anthology, and another short story. Hernext endeavor is drawing chapters for the manga Payback!, set to premiere in Project Moonlight.
Drawing Payback!
Before Payback! was part of Project Moonlight, Steven McGee, the author, worked on it alone. He saw Saly’s art online and asked her to be part of his project. She agreed. Saly says, “Never be afraid to draw or write the representation you want to see. You never know who is watching and maybe it can pick people’s interest!” She was not able to immediately commit to working on the manga due to prior commitments, but once she did start working on it, she loved it! “Working with Steven was great. He was the second writer I was working with. Before that, I worked with a writer friend on two short stories.” Saly’s favorite part about Steven’s story is the characters. Enjoyment was found in detailing and describing them. “My favorite part is the relationships between the characters— the bantering. And another thing I loved was getting acquainted with them, thinking about their clothes, and their hairstyles. I liked teaming up with Steven for that part.” Being published as an artist was the primary goal for Saly, even if the story was not her own. She wants to publish her own stories, but understands this is a marathon, not a sprint. Saly is happy to take her time building up her skillset. “Honestly, I don’t think I’m a good enough writer yet. In the meantime, if I can help other creators to get their stories out there by drawing them, I’m happy with it.” To succeed in this industry, Saly utilizes her community. Having artists with mutual understanding allows her work to be shared all over and expands her outreach. It’s how she got connected to Steve and the other two artists she is working with currently.
Steve and Saly’s work, Payback!, will appear in Project Moonlight, which can be pre-ordered right now. More of Saly’s work can be found in her portfolio. Having worked on several comics, short stories, and other covers professionally, Saly’s portfolio is quite expansive. Project Moonlight will feature four other manga series. Having had the chance to speak with each author, be assured there will be more Behind the Pen stories in the future. In the meantime, fans can read more on the stories in Project Moonlight by going to their kickstarter. Use the links above to purchase other works by Concept Moon Studios mentioned earlier as well as purchase t-shirts and various other merchandise.