Rohit Damai - I Just Try To Make Something I Find Funny, Weird Situations I Want To See My Favorite Characters In (Comic Writer)

I don’t really consider them memes, they’re mini comics. I started out like everyone else, drawing Naruto, Gintama, Goku , just copying them from Google images or manga panels. I did that for a year, even made an art page, but after sometime I just lost interest in that. One day @animeforeverofficial asked me if I could make a comic for him, I naturally said yes, it’s a big page. Well I made that comic and it got great feedback. That’s when I realized that there’s potential in making comics.

1.Tell us more about your background, upbringing and journey.

I’m just an average middle class Indian guy who always tried to be good at school. I was completely adamant I would become an engineer until just recently. You know the whole 9 yards. And like everyone else in our generation, I got hooked into anime since I watched Pokémon on Cartoon Network. 

My art journey though began 6 years ago, when I went to college, that’s when I started drawing for the first time in my life, Before that I was not even decent, I really, really sucked at drawing.

2. Is drawing anime comics a hobby or is this something you take up full time?

 It’s a hobby right now; I would love to do it full time someday though. It’s tough trying to have a carrier online. You have to become really big.

3.What inspired you to start making anime memes?

I don’t really consider them memes, they’re mini comics. I started out like everyone else, drawing Naruto, Gintama, Goku , just copying them from Google images or manga panels. I did that for a year, even made an art page, but after sometime I just lost interest in that. 

One day @animeforeverofficial asked me if I could make a comic for him, I naturally said yes, it’s a big page. Well I made that comic and it got great feedback. That’s when I realized that there’s potential in making comics. There are only a few thousand anime comics’ pages on Instagram. Also, I’ve always been a writer at heart, making poems, songs since I was a kid.

So there was a part of me that wanted to tell stories, and comics really gave me an outlet to do that.

4.Did you get professional training or is it self-taught?

I’ve never had any drawing lessons. I just practiced by drawing what I liked, I’m still learning I’m nowhere near as good as I want to be.

5.Who is your favorite artist?

The first time I ever wanted to draw in my life, was when I started reading Gintama by Hideaki Sorachi. But my favorite artist is Naruto’s creator Masashi Kishimoto. I think when you talk about manga, it’s not just how well a person can draw but also how well they can tell a story.

6.What are your upcoming plans to make this more popular?

I really wish I knew how to make it more popular; I’m still experimenting and trying to find the answer for that.

7.Your Naruto memes are most circulated amongst the Indian anime community, your opinion about that?

Are they! That’s really flattering. I just try to make something I find funny, weird situations I want to see my favorite characters in. So I’m really glad that people find that interesting as well. 

8.Which is your favorite book and why?

I’m a fantasy guy, so 90% of what I read is fantasy and fiction. My favorite book series is “Inheritance cycle” by Christopher Paolini and my favorite manga is Naruto by Masashi Kishimoto although Barakamon by Satsuki Yoshino is a close second. 

Rohit Damai

Comic Artist

Founder: RD Animations

Instagram: rd_animations_

LinkedIn : Rohit Damai

Interviewed by Aliza Hussain