STUDIO TAVICAT
(TAVISHA WOLFGRATH & ROSEARIK RIKKI)
Creators of Reality Check

Rosearik and Tavisha were doing comics for Academy comics of ROBOTECH and decided to start their own production company called Tavicat. Their first few comics were a vampire story titled VAMPURADA and REALITY CHECK about a boy and his cat in the virtural reality world. REALITY CHECK was later published by Sirius, but Tavicat left them due to creative differences. They then did a series for Mixxzine's SMILE MAGAZINE called SUSHI GIRL which was redone in a graphic novel. They are now working on a series for cable TV and the possibility of a REALITY CHECK animated series.


TAVICAT'S CREDITS

Robotech Comics(Academy Version), Reality Check, Sushi Girl, Smile Magazine, Vampire World, Vampurada, Action Girl Comics, Ben Is Dead, Gremlin Trouble, Invader Zim

Interview taken at Project A-Kon 10, June 1999.

• IT'S VERY INTERESTING TO HAVE PARTNERS IN THE INDUSTRY WHO ARE ALSO A COUPLE. WHAT'S IT LIKE TO BE PARTNERS IN COMICS AS WELL AS IN LIFE?
  (Rosearik): Mildly destructive. (Tavisha): I think the best arguements we've had are over art. (Rosearik): We're around each other 24 hours a day, so it's not really that hard. (Tavisha): We don't stay mad at each other for too long. (Rosearik): We're dependent on each other, so it's alot easier for us to be together and work all the time.
  
  
• WHAT WAS IT LIKE BACK IN WHEN YOU WERE WORKING ON ROBOTECH COMICS?
  (Rosearik): Stressful. Robotech didn't pay very much and alot was expected out of of. Plus, it was a work for hire, so we didn't own any of the characters. It was kind of painful. Sushi Girl is sort of like a work for hire but it has the potential to be something we can still be a part of even though it's not somethinhg we own. (Tavisha): Robotech was a little difficult for me to do because it was art done by somebody else before. I chose to try to mimic the best that I could to the original Japanese version.
  
  
• WILL REALITY CHECK BE RETURNING ANYTIME SOON?
  (Rosearik): I don't know at this point. We want to continue to do it, but because we're having difficulties with the publishers right now, I don't know when that's going to happen. We're in the middle of a deal with Sirius where we get ownership of our characters back. If that happens, then we'll be able to continue it.
  
  
• HOW DID THE CHARACTER OF CATREECE ORIGINATE?
  (Tavisha): It started back when I was 8. I really started drawing and I didn't know how to draw people, but I loved cats and so I drew cat-people. When I was 10, I was mimicking the way people were drawn in the anime style. I still had the concept of making little cat characters. In high shcool, I tried to develop Catreece for the first time. But she still looked like a 70's throwback like Farrah Fawcett. To be honest, she really didn't develop until toward the early '90s into the way she looks today.
  
  
• ARE THERE ANY PLANS TO MAKE SUSHI-GIRL INTO IT'S OWN COMIC?
  We're planning on releasing a collected edtion of the comic later this year. Plus, we're talking to a Japanese company about making SUSHI GIRL into an OVA. If it happens, it would be great.
  
  
• WHAT PLANS DO YOU BOTH HAVE FOR THE FUTURE?
  (Rosearik): Right now, aside from the Sushi Girl business, Tavisha's working on a romance manga called SHUTTERBOX. We're also working on another project called TAROT POETICA. We're also dealing with Digital Manga. I'm also doing some voice-over work for Nickelodeon, so we're very busy dealing with other companies.
  
  

TAVICAT'S WEBSITE
TAVICAT'S E-MAIL