Sketch Girl

Today is not a good day to be my creator.

Why?

Well he just had a meeting with his editor over a prospective series for the THIRD time and it didn't go well.

The story is interesting enough. I've popped over there while he's out and it's a very nice place. The problem is none of his characters sparkle!

Well except Rover.

Oh who's Rover you ask?

Rover is my new friend and one of the characters in Max's new manga.

As you may have guessed he's a dog but you can't be too picky when you're like me.

Anyway since Max has been down most of the day I tried to send him an email to cheer him up. Except that little plan didn't work out so well. He smiled at least but nothing seemed to lift his out of his funk.

So after consulting with Rover (so what if he doesn't talk he's a good listener!) we decided to seek professional help.

So when Max had gone to bed we jumped on the computer and went to the one place where we would find the help we'd need.

A manga website.

Those places are always full of people like me.

Who people realize that manga are full of drawings that have been brought to life. How else do you explain their popularity?

Anyway after sorting through the pages. Asking around we finally came across an older drawing.

Her manga had been going on for years and it we easy to see why.

She was the embodiment of a good drawing. Not only did she sparkle but she made everyone else around her sparkle too. It was an amazing sight.

Her name was Saia.

"What can I help you with today?"

Her voice was so pretty I could see why she was so popular.

"I want to help my creator. You see he wants to be a manga artist but so far he hasn't gotten anywhere yet."

I explained.

"Hmm. Am I to assume you two are the only living drawings he has brought to life?"

She asked regarding to two of us.

"Yup! Doesn't he do good work?"

I was very proud of my design. Max had been working on a uniform for his heroine when it turned into me.

"Yes, now let me think."

She sat in her chair thinking for awhile. I was starting to get a little bored when one of the mob characters handed me a bowl of Ramen. After thanking them I sat down and ate a little disappointed when it turned out to be kind of bland. Max made much better drawings of food.

"Is there a special area he is particularly good in?"

She asked after a second.

"Well he sure does make some tasty food I'll tell you."

I replied after slurping down the bland noodles. You didn't waste food real or otherwise.

"That's it!"

She yelled after a second making me jump and rover to start barking.

"What?"

I asked.

"Have him do a cooking manga. If his specialty is food then have him write a manga about it. His characters may still be dull but the food will make them shine for now."

She said as if she had solved all of my problems.

I thought about it for a minute. It made sense. Max was very good with food. He just wasn't good with people.

After thanking her Rover and I took off. We visited tons of cooking manga. Got there urls. Even stopped to eat some amazing food. At the end of the night we were exhausted and headed back to the manuscript we'd been using as our home base.

It's not bad.

One of Max's earlier works. It's a sweet little romance where the main characters only kiss at the end.

Crawling into a spare bed I fell asleep with Rover across my legs content.

The next day Max got our message.

The manga he wrote: "Ramen Noodle Princess" place third on the surveys.

That was a good day.