Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ayinde Hall. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Ayinde, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. The first dollar you earn is always exciting – it’s like the start of a new chapter and so we’d love to hear about the first time you sold or generated revenue from your creative work?

So the first time I really earned money off of drawing manga it was an extremely proud moment. My business partner and I had just gotten our first chapter printed in hard copy format and we started selling those to our fans through social media. We advertised on there and told people to DM us if they wanted a copy. Sure enough we sold a few hundred dollars worth of copies. Which doesn’t sound like much, but you have to realize this was the first time we figured out how to monetize our work, and for us to have such positive feedback was very special. It was especially important to me primarily because I had kind of sacrificed my health for about three days straight to get the chapter finished in a timely fashion, and once the chapter was complete and uploaded online for the first time I immediately went to sleep and woke up around ten hours later to so many of our fans raving about how much they enjoyed the series and couldn’t wait to get a hard copy. From that moment on I realized that making money doing what I loved was truly possible.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve been drawing since I was a child and had enough motor skills to hold a crayon in my hand. Manga, comics, and animation have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, so I suppose it’s quite apt that I ended up graduating college with a fine arts degree focusing in digital art and animation. Instead of going the traditional route and finding a job I chose to stay home and become the illustrator for a manga series called God Punch. Fast forward three years later and my business partner and I have gone from a handful of people working on a single series to a rapidly developing manga and animation studio called Studio Mahō. Our initial mission, which was to create a diverse and rich story that represented the Black community authentically, hasn’t changed. Rather it has expanded into creating multiple stories like that, as well as adapting those stories into the animation medium.

I think what sets us apart from other studios isn’t just the fact that we create manga in addition to animation, but actually the reason why we felt the need to transition to a full fledged studio in the first place. My business partner and I are both avid manga readers and fans of anime. And with the growing conversation behind how animators are treated in the animation industry, we felt like we had heard too many similar stories from a plethora of well known studios. Animators being overworked, underpaid, and made to operate under strict, airtight deadlines is the norm within the industry. And so we decided that it was up to us to change that narrative by creating a company where those “norms” would be considered abnormal.

What I’m personally most proud of is the dedicated and hardworking team we’ve built over the course of three years. All of them are here to see the vision fully realized and believe in the path we’ve chosen, and that’s something truly invaluable. The studio has just released the rendering of our mascot, Mago, as well as the animated intro of our studio name. I think when I first laid eyes on the intro that’s when the studio really felt legitimized. It was like “Wow! That’s really what’s going to play before every project we produce from here on out!” Everyone on the team was so excited to share it on social media, and the feedback we’ve gotten from the community has been incredibly hype. All I can say now is, this is just the beginning of something great, and I can’t wait for the world to experience both the stories we’re creating now and the ones we plan to create in the future.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

Give them your money! Haha, I’m being a bit facetious, but really, support your favorite creatives the monetary way if you can. Often times, the thing that kills projects is a lack of funding. A lot of these creatives are funding projects out of their own pockets and at a certain point that becomes unsustainable, especially when the project continues to grow. So definitely buy the merch, the products themselves, donate, anything you can do to give the creators a steady stream of income. If money isn’t an option then be the best fan you can be. Support the project by sharing, interacting with the creators’ socials, and spread the word to those around you. A project is only grows as fast as its community.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Ever since I was in high school my goal was to create an interconnected universe of stories and characters akin to Marvel or DC comics. Currently that’s still a large goal of mine, but as I’ve been growing as a writer and an artist my current prerogative has been just to create as many great works of fiction as possible before I’m too old to lift my pen anymore. Aside from that I’d want to see them animated as well preferably by our own studio. I want our brand to leave behind a legacy for future creators that sets an example for years to come.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.studiomaho.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/officialstudiomaho www.instagram.com/kokujinkreates
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/studiomaho www.twitter.com/YIN_Designs