Svetlana Chmakova

Svetlana Chmakova (Светлана Шмакова) (born 7 October 1979 in Russia) is a comic creator. She is best known for Dramacon, an original English-language (OEL) manga spanning three volumes and published in North America by Tokyopop. Her other work includes the 2-page The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine and the webcomic Chasing Rainbows for Girlamatic. Though born in Russia, she immigrated to Canada, where she graduated from the Sheridan College Classical Animation program, in 2002. She then began to publish her manga on the Internet.

Body of work
Dramacon is Chmakova's first full-length comic, telling the story of Christie Leroux, an aspiring teenage comics writer, and her experiences at her first anime convention. She attends the convention with her artist boyfriend Derek Hollman, but soon finds herself attracted to a mysterious, sun-glassed cosplayer named Matt Green.

Other works by Chmakova include the 2-page The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine and the Chasing Rainbows and Night Silver webcomics. Her art also appears in Mangaka America.

On February 24, 2007 at New York Comic Con, Yen Press announced that they would be publishing Nightschool, a new original manga by Chmakova.

Critical reaction
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described Dramacon as "surprisingly true-to-life (and occasionally harrowing) emotional drama and humor ... Creator Svetlana Chmakova doesn't skimp on character development or plot progression. Her art is top-notch as well, outstripping even many of her Japanese inspirations with clear storytelling and polished technique."