Laura Watton (born 2 August 1979) is a semi-professional UK

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

artist and founding member of Sweatdrop Studios. Watton was a member since its inception until 2010, announcing the decision to create works under 'Pinkapplejam.com'. She self-publishes her series ''Biomecha''. Currently residing in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Laura creates freelance illustrations.

Biography

Watton has been part of the anime scene since the early 1990s, entering artwork and letters to such magazines as ''

Super Play ''Super Play'' was a British Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) magazine which ran from 1 October 1992 to September 1996. Overview ''Super Play'' covered in great detail the role-playing video game genre. Many of these games were ne ...

'' and Anime FX, the

fanzine A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

''Red Leopard'' and provided the covers for Anime Connect 1–3. In 2001 she joined up with other comic creators Hayden Scott-Baron/

Dock A dock (from Dutch language, Dutch ''dok'') is the area of water between or next to one or a group of human-made structures that are involved in the handling of boats or ships (usually on or near a shore) or such structures themselves. The ex ...

, Sam Brown/Subi and Foxy in founding one of the largest UK Manga art collectives, Sweatdrop Studios. Laura has produced a number of comics including ''Pinkaa Fairy'', which features in the Sweatdrop anthology 'Sugardrops' (2004), 'Different for girls' which featured in the anthology 'Stardust' (2006) and ''Steaming'', co-written by Aleister Kelman, which featured in the anthology 'Blue is for Boys'. In 2006, Laura was one of the winners of the '' Neo magazine'' manga competition, with her short comic ''Sea Bream Dream''. She has also published a graphic novel volume of ''Biomecha'' (), her manga style comic which was shortlisted for the 2007

Eagle Awards The Eagle Awards were a series of awards for comic book titles and creators. They were awarded by UK fans voting for work produced during the previous year. Named after the UK's ''Eagle'' comic, they were launched in 1977 for comics released in ...

. She also achieved a runner-up position in the 3rd

Rising Stars of Manga ''Rising Stars of Manga'' (RSoM) was an English-language comic anthology published by TOKYOPOP from 2002 to 2008, and a contest held by the same company. It was originally semi-annual, but switched to annual beginning with the 6th volume. Each vo ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

competition. Watton was also one of the head contributors to 'Draw Manga Sweatdrop Studios' for New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd.

Bibliography

* Sugardrops (multiple artists; ) * Stardust (multiple artists; ) * Blue is for Boys (multiple artists; ) * Cold Sweat & Tears (multiple artists, ) * Biomecha Book 1 () * Digital Manga Techniques (Hayden Scott-Baron, ) * Draw Manga - Sweatdrop Studios (multiple artists; ) * Drawing Manga (Selina Dean, ) * Manga Clip Art (multiple artists; ) * The Cartoonists' Bible (multiple artists; ) * 500 Manga Characters (Sweatdrop Studios; ) * Rising Stars of Manga UK & EIRE #3 (multiple artists; ) * Mammoth Book of Zombie Comics (multiple artists; ) * Drop Dead Monstrous (multiple artists; )

References

External links

Laura Watton's Homepage
British comics artists British female comics artists Manga artists Living people 1979 births {{UK-illustrator-stub