We know from your YSI submissions that a lot of you love to draw, paint, sketch, and just generally get your feelings and ideas onto paper in graphic form. Many of you have even talked about the mangas and comic books you've created. 15-year-old Emma Capps loves to write and draw comics too, and her works of art have appeared in national magazines. Her latest project, "The Chapel Chronicles," is a self-published collection of comics starring a smart (and smart-alecky) red-headed 11-year-old girl named Chapel, who often as not gets a bit lost in the world of her own vivid imagination while pursuing various adventures, from a battle of board games with her babysitter to impersonating Lady Gaga.

We recently chatted with Emma about Chapel, and her life as a young artist and writer.

IML: What's your creative process? How do you go from an empty white sheet of paper to a completed Chapel comic?

Emma: First, I brainstorm my idea. I'll try to find something I've observed or witnessed recently to use as a jumping-off point. Once I have the concept, I'll do a quick "thumbnail sketch," or a sketch that's small enough to be the size of my thumb, to block out the dialogue and what happens in the strip. Then I'll sketch the panels and ink them onto tracing paper. Once I have that, I scan the inks into the computer. I arrange, color, and letter the strip in Photoshop. Then I write some author's commentary and put it up on the site for my readers to enjoy.

IML: What's behind the decision to make Chapel the only visible human character? You have a lot of other people talking, but we never see them.

Emma: For now, I want the strip to focus mostly on Chapel's world through her perspective and highlight the hilarious and funny moments of what it means to be a preteen and teen. Chapel has other people she interacts with, of course, like her parents, her brother, and her nemesis, Fred. I have shown Chapel's family in the background of a couple strips in small paintings on the walls. Sometime in the future, I may include other characters in the strip.

IML: Chapel spends a lot of time living in a world of her own thoughts and imagination. Are you like that?

Emma: I would say I have flights of fancy quite a bit...I like to think about things I've done and things that could happen. Of course, this helps me quite a bit in dreaming up new Chapel comics! For some Chapel strips, I do draw directly from my own life, but I try to always make the comics very universally appealing. I only ever use something that's happened in my own life if I think it's something everyone can relate to. Chapel and I are similar in some ways, but we're also different in a lot of ways, too. For example, I don't really like to dress up or listen to Lady Gaga, whereas Chapel does. I'd say Chapel's a lot more competitive and courageous than I am, and I actually admire how much self-esteem she has to wear crazy outfits all the time! I don't think I'd be brave enough to wear a Lady Gaga dress to a wedding, that's for sure, and I think it's great that Chapel's confident enough to go ahead with it!

IML: Chapel seems to be an only child. Do you have any siblings?

Emma: Actually, Chapel isn't an only child. She has an older brother named Barnaby, but he hasn't come into the strip yet because he's currently away at college. I, however, am an only child. I'm not really sure if being an only child has shaped my personality very much. I'm certainly really close with my parents and I'm also a very independent person, but I don't really believe that having siblings would've changed any of those things about me. I'm certainly glad I have enough space for my various art projects, but I actually LOVE kids and sometimes wish I could've had a younger sister.

IML: A lot of tweens draw comics, but you took yours a few steps further. Why make comics to publish, rather than just for yourself or for friends?

Emma: I make my comics to make people smile, and by publishing them, I can make more people happy outside of my small circle of friends. I love it whenever someone from another state or another country comments on my webcomics saying my work has made them smile or laugh. That's the most precious thing in the world to me. If I can spread my work to more people via publishing, and because of that brighten more people's days with my comics, then that's what I'd like to do.

IML: Any advice for our IML'ers who like to write or draw?

Emma: My advice would be to draw and write every day! Don't worry too much about comparing yourself to others - a trap which, I'm sad to say, is really easy to fall into - but instead create something that makes you happy. If you keep creating things that personally make you happy and proud, other people will soon appreciate that and share in it as well!

IML: What's up next for you, and for Chapel?

Emma: In the short-term, this April I'm going to be exhibiting at a comic convention called MoCCA Fest (Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) in New York City, and debuting a brand-new book of Season 2 of my Chapel webcomics. I'm really excited to go, and I hope lots of my readers can make it out to say hi! In the long-term, I definitely want to continue doing Chapel webcomics for at least another year or two. I also want to do some graphic novels, which would be very different from Chapel in both style and tone. I'm going to be working on one this summer! I've already got most of the plot planned out and a good majority of the characters designed. I'd also like to expand my line of Chapel greeting cards and gifts. My most farfetched dream would be to one day have Chapel comics, greeting cards, and gifts in stores nationwide! If that were to happen, it would be the most amazing thing in the world for me.

IML: Thanks for talking to us, and good luck!

To check out Emma's work, check out www.chapelchronicles.com. Also, enjoy this fun peek at how Emma makes one of her Chapel greeting cards: