{ Author }

My name is Shilin, and I am the writer, illustrator, and publisher of Carciphona. I am currently a freelance artist, and I spend most of my time developing and producing this story as well as other things related to this story (: Most of this site--other than some functions on this site, such as the comment platform--is designed, coded and maintained this website by myself. To find more info about me and to see more of my works, please follow my sites by clicking the list of links below.

If you have any questions, concerns, or comments about my site or my work, please feel free to send me an e-mail to the address in the image below. (Although I appreciate it if you consult the FAQ first!) I respond to ALL E-MAILS (unless it's obvious trolling) within a few days. Should you not receive a timely reply, the reply is probably lost to spam filter so please try again.

E-mail: shilin@shilin.net
Homepage: http://shilin.net
Instant messenger: please do not ask me for these!
Where else to find me:

{ FAQ }

Q: Wasn't the title of this manga "Blackbird" before?

A: Yes! it was originally titled Blackbird and has been called that for 6 years. But I've decided to change its name during the printing of the first book to avoid any possible legal problems, since sometime between the creation of my manga and the printing of the manga, another Japanese manga of the same title was published and licensed by Viz here in North America.

Q: What's your name / How old are you / where do you study / etc?

A: Refer to shilin.net!

Q: How long have you been drawing? How long have you been drawing anime or CGing?

A: I've been doodling since elementary school like everyone else. I started drawing anime fanart with traditional media in grade 4 or 5, and started drawing digitally after I got a tablet at christmas of 2001 or 2002!

Q: Have you had art education?

A: No; I am mostly self-taught.

Q: Can you teach me how to use photoshop / write html / write php / make a chatbox / etc?

A: As much as I'd like to help out, I can only answer very specific questions/problems. For general tutorials for anything and everything, Google is your friend!

Q: What do you use to draw your manga pages?

A: I currently use letter-size(8.5"x11") 65lb cardstock paper, 0.3mm, 0.5mm and 0.7mm HB mechanical pencil, Photoshop CS with tones downloaded online or shared by friends. Psychobob offers an excellent screentone source for webcomics.

Q: How do you draw your manga pages?

A: I have made a walkthrough for my manga page creation process here.

Q: How long does it take you to draw each page?

A: About a whole day.

Q: Do you have it published? Where can I buy the book?

A: Yes! The series is currently being self published by me. You can buy the book at the Carciphona shop right here online, or if you happen to come to an anime convention that I attend, you can grab one there as well!

Q: How did you create the story/characters? Who/what inspired you?

A: Carciphona was the result of an effort to create a story for my original characters, not the spawn of inspiration. Although I am inspired by a lot of different things, I can't really name anything that I can call the root of Carciphona. Art wise, I have used a few mangas as my role models, in order: Slayers (by shoko yoshinaka), seimaden, and now shin angyo onshi.

Q: How long is this series going to be?

A: This is a very meaningless answer, but very, very, very long ):

Q: Can we exchange links?

A: I am not accepting any link exchanges at the moment ): link housekeeping has been bothersome in the past.

Q: How did you make this site?

A: I wrote it from scratch on Notepad using html and php.

Q: How did you make your forum / manga reader / chatbox?

A: Comment system and chat box are powered by Disqus. The forum is phpBB. I wrote the manga reader myself using php.

Q: How did you get your book printed/published?

A: I've written the entire process for anyone interested in self-publishing to reference here (:

Q: Who is your host? Is it free?

A: I am currently using paid hosting from DreamHost.

Q: Can you host me?

A: Sorry but I only provide free hosting for friends ):