Sonia Leong (born 7 May 1982) is a British freelance

comic a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicat ...

artist, illustrator and member of

Sweatdrop Studios Sweatdrop Studios are a collective of United Kingdom, UK Original English-language manga creators who publish British small press comics. Overview The UK's first home-based independent Original English-language manga publisher and distributor, S ...

Biography

Leong was born in

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

and lived in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

from 1989 to 2000. She then attended

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

, Economics and Politics

BSc (Hons) A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

from 2000 to 2003, and currently resides in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, UK. She is a freelance illustrator regularly attending

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

and

conventions in the UK and internationally. She first came to attention when she illustrated an adaptation of

William Shakespeare's William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

Romeo & Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

'' for SelfMadeHero which has since been listed in the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) '2008 Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers' and 'Best Books for Young Adults 2008'. Her early competition achievements include 2nd place Winner in the first

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licens ...

Rising Stars of Manga United Kingdom & Ireland Competition; Winner in NEO Magazine's 2005 Manga Competition and being Joint Judge for the Character Design category of the International Manga and Anime Festival (IMAF). She has worked for various comic publishers, illustrating covers, spreads and anthologies. She contributed a chapter towards the

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are awards for creative achievement in American comic books. They are regarded as the most prestigious and significant awards in the comic industry and often referred ...

-winning '

Tori Amos Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos; August 22, 1963) is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. She is a classically trained musician with a mezzo-soprano vocal range. Having already begun composing instrumental pieces on piano, Amos won a full ...

' Comic Book Tattoo' a 480-page anthology published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

. She also illustrated a chapter for

's ' DOMO: The Manga', an anthology starring the popular Japanese television mascot Domo, as well an adaptation of 'Reginald' by

Saki Hector Hugh Munro (18 December 1870 – 14 November 1916), popularly known by his pen name Saki and also frequently as H. H. Munro, was a British writer whose witty, mischievous and sometimes macabre stories satirise Edwardian society and ...

for The Graphic Canon and 'Justice Bao' for The Graphic Canon of Crime and Mystery from

Seven Stories Press Seven Stories Press is an independent American publishing company. Based in New York City, the company was founded by Dan Simon in 1995, after establishing Four Walls Eight Windows in 1984 as an imprint at Writers and Readers, and then incorpor ...

. She created a spread for the picture book ' Bravest Warriors: The Search For Catbug' published by

Viz Media Viz Media, LLC is an American entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California, focused on publishing manga, and distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. The company was founded in 1986 as Viz, ...

/ Perfect Square. She also illustrated several variant covers for Titan Comics, most notably for the

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Anno'', '' Assassin's Creed'', ' ...

videogame A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, most ...

Manga retelling of '' Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag'' by Kenji Oiwa titled 'Assassin's Creed: Awakening' and 'Norman' by Stan Silas. She created several illustrations for the

Doctor Who ''Doctor Who'' is a British science fiction television series broadcast by the BBC since 1963. The series, created by Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber and Donald Wilson (writer and producer), Donald Wilson, depicts the adventures of an extraterre ...

anthology 'The Women Who Lived' for

BBC Books BBC Books (also formerly known as BBC Consumer Publishing and BBC Publishing) is an imprint majority-owned and managed by Penguin Random House through its Ebury Publishing division. The minority shareholder is BBC Studios, the commercial subsidia ...

. She produced a short Manga comic called 'Aygo Manga: Adventure One' as part of Toyota GB PLC's promotional campaign for the 2014 model of their

Toyota Aygo The Toyota Aygo is a city car (A-segment) marketed by Toyota mainly in the European market between 2005 and 2022 across two generations. The Aygo was first displayed at the Geneva International Motor Show#2005, 2005 Geneva International Motor S ...

car. Most recently, she illustrated a series of images for the

Toyota 86 The Toyota 86 and the Subaru BRZ are 2+2 sports cars jointly developed by Toyota and Subaru, manufactured at Subaru's Gunma assembly plant. The 2+2 fastback coupé has a naturally aspirated boxer engine, front-engined, rear-wheel-drive ...

in the style of the classic

seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word means "youth", but the term " manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Manga Times'' and '' Weekly Man ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

Initial D is a Japanese street racing manga series written and illustrated by Shuichi Shigeno. It was serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1995 to 2013, with the chapters collected into 48 volumes. The ...

'', as the main character drives a

Toyota AE86 The AE86 series of the Toyota Corolla Levin and Toyota Sprinter Trueno are small, Front-engine, rear-wheel-drive layout, front-engine/rear-wheel-drive models within the mostly Front-engine, front-wheel-drive layout, front-engine/front-wheel-drive ...

. Toyota created a car in the same livery for 'touring UK car shows in 2016'. She is the Company Secretary of

and her works with the group include 'Once Upon a Time...'; 'Cyborg Butterfly'; 'Satan's Amazon'; 'Murder on the Dancefloor' for the 'Sugardrops' anthology; 'Return to Chenezzar' for 'Pink is for Girls'; 'Model Behaviour' for 'Drop Dead Monstrous'; 'Hero' for 'Talking to Strangers'; 'The Snow Queen' for 'Telling Tales','Love Stuffing' and 'A Brush With Magic'. Leong is the Art Director for the 'Aya.Takeo' webcomic; commissioned by Prentice Associates and now published by Sweatdrop Studios across three volumes. She has authored many instructional art books, such as 'Beginning Manga' (Walter Foster), 'Manga Your World' (Search Press), 'Draw Manga: Complete Skills' (Search Press) and '101 Top Tips from Professional Manga Artists' (Barrons). She was the Head Contributor to 'Draw Manga' by Sweatdrop Studios from New Holland Publishers (UK) Ltd. Her work also appears in '500 Manga Characters' by Sweatdrop Studios from Ilex; 'Drawing Manga' by Selina Dean; 'Manga Clip Art' by Hayden Scott-Baron,'50 Manga Babes to Draw and Paint' by Chi Hang Li. and 'Super Cute Chibis to Draw and Paint' by Joanna Zhou. She illustrated the graphic novel 'Great Lives: Marie Curie' for B.E.S. Publishing and the 'Manga Life' series of self-help books for Infinite Ideas. and headed the conceptual art and design of the

collectible card game A collectible card game (CCG), also called a trading card game (TCG) among other names, is a type of card game that mixes strategy game, strategic deck building elements with features of trading cards. The genre was introduced with ''Magic: The G ...

'Herocard Cyberspace' from Tablestar Games. Her work appeared in ''

Popcorn Popcorn (also called popped corn, popcorns, or pop-corn) is a variety of corn kernel which expands and puffs up when heated. The term also refers to the snack food produced by the expansion. It is one of the oldest snacks, with evidence of p ...

'', a British movie directed by Darren Paul Fisher, starring Jack Ryder (

EastEnders ''EastEnders'' is a British television soap opera created by Julia Smith (producer), Julia Smith and Tony Holland which has been broadcast on BBC One since February 1985. Set in the fictional borough of Walford in the East End of London, the ...

) and Jodie Albert (

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

). Her illustrations were also used on the set of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's award-winning British sitcom ''

The IT Crowd ''The IT Crowd'' is a British television sitcom originally broadcast by Channel 4, created, written, and directed by Graham Linehan, produced by Ash Atalla and starring Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkinson, and Matt Berry. Set in th ...

'' in series 3, as well the dark comedy ''

Flowers (TV series) ''Flowers'' is a British black comedy drama series created, written and directed by Will Sharpe and starring Olivia Colman and Julian Barratt. It was commissioned by the British broadcaster Channel 4, in association with the American TV strea ...

''. She was also filmed for

CNN International Cable News Network International or CNN International (CNNi, simply branded on-air as CNN) is an international television channel and website, owned by CNN Worldwide. CNN International carries news-related programming worldwide; it cooperates ...

's 2015 coverage of

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

historic battles at the

Suzuka Circuit The , the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka, Mie, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda, Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. It is most well known by i ...

, illustrating the rivalry between

Ayrton Senna Ayrton Senna da Silva (; 21 March 1960 – 1 May 1994) was a Brazilian racing driver, who competed in Formula One from to . Senna won three Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles with McLaren, and—at the time of his death—held ...

and

Alain Prost Alain Marie Pascal Prost (; born 24 February 1955) is a French former racing driver and motorsport executive, who competed in Formula One from to . Nicknamed "the Professor", Prost won four Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles and� ...

. Leong's work in children's publishing includes illustrating the choose-your-own-adventure style 'I, Hero' series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barrow ( The Two Steves) for Hachette; the 'Girls FC' series by Helena Pielichaty for

Walker Books Walker Books is a British publisher of children's books, founded in 1978 by Sebastian Walker, Amelia Edwards, and Wendy Boase. In 1991, the success of Walker Books' ''Where's Wally?'' series enabled the company to expand into the American ma ...

; and 'Ninja: First Mission' by Chris Bradford of Young Samurai fame. Leong collaborated on Wacom's Manga campaign which appeared in major German magazines using her art to promote the wildly successful 'Pimp My Character' contest featured in the German publication Animania; her work also featured on the Wacom website in an article promoting the use of Wacom in the creation of manga.

Bibliography

* ''The Graphic Canon of Crime and Mystery volume 2'' (by Russ Kick,

, May 2020, ) * ''Illustration Studio: Drawing Manga Heroes and Heroines'' ( Walter Foster Publishing, October 2019, ) * ''Marie Curie: A Graphic History of the World's Most Famous Female Scientist'' (by Agnieszka Biskup, B.E.S. Publishing, June 2019, ) * ''Doctor Who: The Women Who Lived'' (by Christel Dee and

Simon Guerrier Simon Guerrier (born June 1976) is a British science fiction author and dramatist, closely associated with the fictional universe of ''Doctor Who'' and its Doctor Who spin-offs, spinoffs. Although he has written three ''Doctor Who'' novels, fo ...

, September 2018, ) * ''Illustration Studio: Beginning Manga'' ( Walter Foster Publishing, September 2016, ) * ''Manga Your World'' ( Search Press, January 2016, ) * ''How To Draw Manga Made Easy'' (by Helen McCarthy, Flame Tree Publishing, May 2015, ) * ''A Brush With Magic'' (

, May 2015, ) * ''Bravest Warriors: The Search For Catbug'' ( Joel Enos, Perfect Square, August 2014, ) * ''Ninja: Assassin'' ( Chris Bradford, Barrington Stoke, June 2014, ) * ''Draw Manga: Complete Skills'' (Search Press, October 2013, ) * ''Ninja: Death Touch'' ( Chris Bradford, Barrington Stoke, August 2013, ) * '' The Graphic Canon volume 3'' (by Russ Kick,

, June 2013, ) * ''101 Top Tips from Professional Manga Artists'' (Ilex, April 2013, ) * ''Aya Takeo volume 3'' (with Lloyd Prentice;

, March 2012, ) * ''Girls FC 10: Has Anyone Seen Our Striker?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, October 2011, ) * ''Aya Takeo volume 2'' (with Lloyd Prentice;

, June 2011, ) * ''Ninja: First Mission'' ( Chris Bradford, Barrington Stoke, June 2011, ) * ''Girls FC 9: We're The Dream Team, Right?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, May 2011, ) * ''Tomb Runner'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, October 2010, ) * ''Dragonslayer'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, October 2010, ) * ''Girls FC 8: Can't I Just Kick It?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, August 2010, ) * ''Girls FC 7: So What If I Hog The Ball?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, May 2010, ) * ''Telling Tales'' (multiple artists;

, May 2010, ) * ''Girls FC 6: What's Ukrainian For Football?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, November 2009, ) * ''Girls FC 5: Who Ate All The Pies?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, November 2009, ) * ''Talking to Strangers'' ( Fehed Said and multiple artists,

, October 2009, ) * ''DOMO: The Manga'' (

Clint Bickham Clint Bickham is an American voice actor and ADR script writer. After collaborating with illustrator Priscilla Hamby on ''Devil's Candy'', which was featured in the first volume of '' Rising Stars of Manga'', he also worked for the manga publi ...

and multiple artists,

, October 2009, ) * ''Girls FC 4: Is An Own Goal Bad?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, August 2009, ) * ''Girls FC 3: Are All Brothers Foul?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, August 2009, ) * ''Girls FC 2: Can Ponies Take Penalties?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, August 2009, ) * ''Girls FC 1: Do Goalkeepers Wear Tiaras?'' ( Helena Pielichaty,

, August 2009, ) * ''Love Stuffing volume 1'' (with Stereoblind,

, May 2009, ) * ''Aya Takeo volume 1'' (with Lloyd Prentice,

, May 2009, ) * ''Strike Force'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, April 2009, ) * ''Space Rescue'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, April 2009, ) * ''Drop Dead Monstrous'' (multiple artists;

, November 2008, ) * ''Once Upon A Time'' (

, October 2008, ) * ''Save The Empire'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, October 2008, ) * ''Pirate Gold'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, October 2008, ) * ''Comic Book Tattoo'' (multiple artists,

, ) * ''Be Creative'' (Infinite Ideas Manga Life, April 2008, ) * ''Find True Love'' (Infinite Ideas Manga Life, April 2008, ) * ''Death or Glory'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, October 2007, ) * ''Viking Blood'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, October 2007, ) * ''Gorgon's Cave'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, October 2007, ) * ''Code Mission'' (I Hero series by Steve Skidmore and Steve Barlow, Franklin Watts, October 2007, ) * ''500 Manga Characters'' (

, Ilex, June 2007, ) * ''Manga Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet'' ( Self Made Hero, January 2007, ) * ''Pink is for Girls'' (multiple artists, October 2006, ) * ''Cyborg Butterfly'' (in '' MangaQuake'' No. 2, 2006)Cyborg Butterfly
* ''Tokyopop Rising Stars of Manga: UK & Ireland volume 1'' (multiple artists; June 2008, ) * ''Draw Manga'' (

, New Holland, October 2006, ) * ''Sugardrops'' (multiple artists;

, July 2004, )

References

External links

Fyredrake.net
anime/manga style comics & illustrations.
Stereoblind
Photography & Manga.
Aya.Takeo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leong, Sonia Gothic fashion British comics artists British female comics artists Alumni of the University of Warwick 1982 births Living people