What is Elemestia?

Ryo: "...Uhh....I'll let Naki explain that. I suck at summary."

Naki: “Elemestia is an online graphic novel, or less affectionately referred to on the internet as a 'webcomic'. That being said, it is a graphic novel conceived in part, with a former admin, though the original idea has since been entirely scrapped in favour of a better, more reliably successful story, thus, cutting him out of the loop (not that he wants to be in it anymore anyway). Elemestia itself, is the world in which the comic (of the same name!) is set in. Easily described as a 'high fantasy story of intrigue, action, adventure with the necessary comedy', we find that there's better ways to describe Elemestia.

Elemestia is a story about a sell-sword by the name of Liam Ansron, who works for a guild of mercenaries, and follows his trek through Elemestia, meeting future friends, enemies, allies, and all in the course of destiny. His own, the people around him, and perhaps even the destiny of Elemestia itself.”

Can I join the 'team'?"

Ryo: "I don't really need any assistance with the writing. Naki and I basically have it covered with the plotting of the story. As for the writing of scenes and the dialogue, I feel that's more of a one-man-show anyway. Unless you want to be the official spell checker or something, I have no use for you."

Naki: “If, at some point, I need a team of artists and become a professional mangaka (haha..... that's a joke, folks... Laugh. Now.) then I might want people who can digitally draw, ink or colour, but at the moment? No. I don't need help drawing. Nor do I need help editing and helping Ryo adjust the script as necessary before it goes onto a page.”

Can I make fanart/fanfics for Elemestia?

Ryo: "...That's...complicated...The problem with fanfics is that there is a small chance that you will write something that is similar to what I've planned. The last thing I want is for some fan to get all indignant because they think I stole their ideas. So I'll just put this out there right now. The only way I will permit fanfiction being written is simple: If you want me to read it, you forfeit all rights, legal or otherwise, to the ideas expressed within said story. If you don't like that, either don't write it or don't release it to the public. And the first person who does get all indignant will ruin it for the rest of you, cause if I have to put up with that crap then I'm just gonna go ahead and say 'NO' to all forms of fanfiction."

Naki: “I could be an ass like Ryo and state 'No! Fanart is evil!' but I'm just straight up, people make a fuss and whine about their fanart looking like something I drew (....which is the point of fanart, right?) the answer is simple: 'oh well'. Go right ahead, post it, do whatever you like. If I draw something that you drew using my intellectual property, I'm not going to listen to your argument.”

What do you guys do in real life? Do you consider Elemestia to be a serious part of your life?

Ryo: "Elemestia practically is my life. Sure, I do other things. I have a job. But all of that is basically just there so that I can keep doing Elemestia without worrying about my power getting shut off or getting evicted. In an ideal situation, things like Elemestia would be the source of my income. I would love to be able to support myself with my writing alone."

Naki: “Elemestia is pretty much it for me. I don't have a job. I tried that. It didn't help me work on Elemestia more, but, in fact, less. If I had to, I'd force myself to live in my mother's apartment with a shitty 20-hour-a-week job to pay my bills and be done with it. Ideally, I have the same aspiration as Ryo."

How did you create/apply the names of the characters?

Ryo: "Its different for every character, but in general I'm really bad at naming things. Some characters we actually put legitimate thought into as far as meaning goes. Their names reflect something about them. In other cases, its practically a flip of a coin. We picked out a couple of names from a list, then rolled a dice to pick one. I also do a bunch of stuff like taking a normal word and writing it backwards to make a name, or rearranging the letters. If you look hard enough, you'll find plenty of examples of stuff like that."

Naki:“Or, that's what Ryo would like you to think. As we progressed further into working, we did less coin flipping, and dice rolling and found (and stole after the original site disappeared), a naming pattern system to help with specifics. I thank, the now defunct, Dragon magazine for their contributions to our poor naming skills.”

Do you do commisions?

Ryo: "Sure, I'll draw you something for money. It won't look good, but I'll do it." Naki: “Maybe. I thought about it, and what I had originally believed about commissions, and what I believe now are different. Before, I assumed I wouldn't have the time, and wouldn't be able to produce something outside of Elemestia; now, commissions might be accepted, based on subject matter. If you've come to me with “Can you draw me a high fantasy nekkid female elf of spell casting goodness!?”, I'll probably turn you down. If you can give me something fresh, different and not high fantasy, I'm more likely to consider this and place it higher on the list of commissions. Not saying I won't do the naked elf girl fantasy art, I just don't place it at the same priority once I can shit these out two or three times a week with my eyes closed, as something unique and possibly challenging to me.”

Can I link/affliate to your site?

R&N: "Hell yes. Please, by all means, link to us. Tell your friends, bring us up randomly in conversation. Spread the word, we don't care how!"