Arts as Escapism The CreativeMindClass Blog
I'm originally from Venezuela. I was born in a tropical town that was surrounded by mountains and palm trees, but sadly wasn't really allowed to experience my surroundings fully (partly because of my parents' overprotectiveness, but mostly because of all the anxieties that surrounded my home country). Most of the time, television and books were my primary ways of escape - as did drawing! I spent so much time drawing my most favorite characters from anime as well as my family, friends, pets I couldn't own, costumes, and everything else.
It was mainly a hobby that I had a little bit certain that I would never go beyond that in Venezuela. My family then decided to move to UK which was a major change for me. When I was a teenager, I was finally allowed greater freedom, and was able to explore places by myself and to think about the things I wanted to do.
My fascination with character design and narrative inspired me to read comics which then inspired me to draw. The pieces all were put together. After some years of study (and lots of effort) I'm currently freelance as an illustrator from London.
My style is fun, bold and a bit messy (in an excellent way!). Sometimes it can be simple, or it can be extremely detailed, but it always features a character, or an animal, or some nice piece of scenery. I believe all my illustrations are one in the same.
The key for me is having fun while doing it. It is easy to think of things that enthralled me as a child up: really vivid colours and characters that are sneaky, hilarious situations, tiny details to be lost within. The goal of my work is to capture as many of these elements every time I make something brand new. If I'm able to get the viewer to feel happy or content, or feel like they have discovered something new, then I've accomplished what I wanted to achieve.
"Another key element for me is the sense of humor. Over time, I've realized that I'm probably not an adequate person to make very abstract or serious art however I am quite adept at making something fun and lighthearted to inspire laughter. I work to my strengths currently."
Follow Marianna's art process on her Instagram; discover detailed illustrations of the books for children she worked on during lockdowns as well as backstage shots of recoding her Skillshare class, to mention some. Links to the class as well as Marianna's books you can find through the website.