Who?
I'm Jade. I graduated with a BFA in Graphic Design from the School
of Visual Arts in 2018.The first manga I ever read was the first volume of Peach Girl by Miwa Ueda, found in a comics shop at a very young age. I was (and still am) a total sucker for the art. I still own and covet that volume, and look at it fondly as a relic of its time (it uses a serif font in all-caps for the body text, likely to imitate the Japanese mincho typeface manga is originally typeset in; it's an adorable example of first-time localization trials and tribulations). I've been hooked on the medium ever since, and now, all these years later, I'm beyond thrilled to be able to work on so many exciting titles and see so much amazing artwork.
I'm proficient in Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator. I use Procreate for more intense recoloring (see: my cover redraw samples). I can also read hiragana and katakana and I'm always learning new kanji (I have an appreciation for titles aimed at preteen audiences that use furigana).
As of right now, most of my work comes straight from Japan, so I'm usually thinking 13-14 hours ahead in order to meet deadlines.
What About Work?
I take great care for it! I'm super picky and detail-oriented, let me
show you how much:My current projects require all text to be editable, so to make sure I can fit the mood and style for almost anything, I have amassed 970 and counting 100% free fonts to utilize for any manga. I match SFX, asides, handwriting, various background elements, as closely as possible, and if I don't have a typeface with a similar feel, I look for it.
To be clear, I'm not opposed to hand lettering, it's just not a responsibility that's been expected of me with my current project distributor.
I take immense satisfaction in being able to clean pages to the point where they look as close to the original, almost as if I was able to shut off the layers with handwritten SFX and asides or other embedded text. It may seem like overkill, until you find that a block of text doesn't cover the area you need it to, or it needs to be placed somewhere further away from its original spot in order to avoid obstructing important aspects of the artwork.
That should cover it! Please get in contact if you're in need of a letterer, I'd be happy to make room for your projects! Thank you!