Clamp originally began in the mid-1980s as an eleven-member dōjinshi circle. This included , , , , and , , and . Three of Clamp's artists—Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi—first began drawing manga when they were teenagers, inspired by friends. The three artists were good friends in the same school. They met and befriended Nanase Ohkawa through one of her friends who had bought comics from Mokona. The original group of twelve members began to meet at every event held in Osaka and Kobe, which usually occurred once a month. Before they began creating original work, the group produced dōjinshi of "Captain Tsubasa", and yaoi dōjinshi of "Saint Seiya". However, in 1987 the group stopped dōjinshi and began creating original work; it was at this time they began working on "RG Veda". Their first collaborative work was entitled "Clamp", which they continued to work on until shortly after their debut.