Sara was interviewed by Kate Heartfield for a column in the Ottawa Citizen, which can be read in today’s issue. The article, “Open to Ideas”, talks of Sara’s attendance at TED 2009 as a Fellowship member, her new series Legend of the Ztarr, and the motivation and inspiration behind her work.
The article can also be read online here.
Sara was part of the TED Fellows program at this year’s TED 2009 conference. The annual gathering of the world’s leading thinkers and doers took place last week, Feb 3rd-7th, in Long Beach, CA. As a fellowship member, Sara did a talk where she spoke of her new manga series currently in production, Legend of the Ztarr.
For a complete report from Sara herself, head over to her personal blog, There Are Four Lights. You can find links to her TED 2009 Flickr set in the photos section above (search Flickr for “Sara Mayhew” will also bring up some additional photos taken of her at TED!). A huge excitement has built up around Sara and her work since the first day of TED, and the momemtum continues as we plan more events for 2009.
I started a DeviantART account a couple months back; I had frequently been asked if I had one and decided to finally sign up. There are few new Legend of the Ztarr drawing/sketches posted there. Recently, I fixed some of the artwork on two pages of the new first chapter. There were two frames, one of Darmian and another of Myren, that I wasn’t happy with. So I redrew these characters and replaced the previous artwork. Here’s the comparison, hopefull you won’t have any trouble identifying which is the improved version.
Unfortunately, I think I’ve updated my Myspace blog more often than this site. I have a post which lists several (if not all) the websites with my work/blogs/profiles/interviews etc., called Website Roundup. There is also a post about my invitation to attend the TED 2009 conference in Long Beach, CA, on my Myspace blog as well as my new There Are Four Lights sketch blog.
For now, I’m preparing for my trip to TED; I’m preparing for the small talk I’ll be doing as a fellowship member. I’m also working on organizing Legend of the Ztarr into a proposal suitable to be submitted to a publisher.
The first chapter in my new manga series, Legend of the Ztarr, is now available online. I’m working on a proposal is have it published, instead of going the indy route like I have with Secrets of Sorcerers. This series has been an idea of mine for a long time now, so it’s nice to finally see it started. LotZ is the series I’ve written the most for my own reading pleasure; it’s the kind of story I’d like to be able to pick up off the shelf and read. This is the case with most of what I write, but I feel this the most with LotZ. My desire to have it published and enjoy success comes mostly from my desire to see its readership grow so that I may have other readers that share my interest in talking about it. I feel like a fan of Legend of the Ztarr more than I feel like it’s creator. There is a natural urge, as a creator, to have your work become popular and enjoy recognition for your work; and I would certainly love to make a bigger name for myself and my work in the manga industry. But I think I want to see LotZ gain popularity in the same way that a fan wants to spread word about their favourite series: so that they can convert other people into fans and have others to share their interest in it.
Legend of the Ztarr is the story of a young girl named Adora Ztarr (pronounced ‘star’). Adora is the only remaining member of the Ztarr family and is chosen to replace father, the great Kalen Ztarr, in the prophecy to destroy the Emperor of the Known Universe, Lord J’Nar. “The sword of Ztarr but once shall slay and end the Holy Emperor’s reign”. Adora is unaware of this prophecy until two off-worlders arrive at her home, on the planet Teri, where she lives peacfully with her adopted family–her “aunt”, “uncle”, and “cousin” from the Green family, Sheia, Aldwin, and Emerus.
Please check it out over at www.legendoftheztarr.com and forward and link to it wherever you can.