Bored Panda reached out to Bella, first, we asked the artist if she had any major influences in her life that might've helped her to develop and refine her style.
"I believe that Japanese manga does have a lot of influences on my style and I did read a lot of them when I was young. In order to make my comics fun and enjoyable for my audience, I studied facial expressions and enhanced them with my own art style to make them even more unique."
Art, in any kind of form, takes a lot of time not only to practice but also to produce, therefore we asked Bella how long it takes her to fully finish her comics.
"It depends on the storyline of each comic. Usually, it takes me around 2 hours for a 2-panel comic and 2.5 to 3 hours for a full 4-panel comic!"
Most of her cartoons could be described as a slice of life, and as of now, one of her main fortes is creating funny and girly comics that depict Sriwantana's life with her boyfriend and their dog. The artist has practically made it her mission to bring a smile to her readers' faces with her colorful comics, and the overwhelming support she has received over the years has only made her strive further.
Being an artist is not easy, one can easily encounter a lack of inspiration, burnout, etc, so we wanted to ask Bella about her ideas for the comics.
"Anything that does happen in my life can be drawn into a comic. I would sort these real-life experiences by what I think people can relate to the most and draw them."
As we mentioned before, sometimes creative work can cause quite a burnout, therefore we asked the artist how she dealt with that as well.
"Absolutely! There will be days that I don't feel like drawing at all or my creativity just won't work. I would go for a walk with my dog or take a long shower to booze up my ideas and you know what? They actually work!"
We also wanted to know how the about how people reacted to Sriwantana's work.
"I'm grateful for each of my followers because they are so supportive. I would get DMs that my work made their days or it simply made them smile. This is what motivates me to keep creating because I love to make people happy, one comic at a time! "
The creative process is not easy, but there are some enjoyable parts about it.
"I do enjoy coloring and choosing the color palette for my illustrations. I love to work with bright and fun colors to generate positivity and liveliness."
We also asked about the inspiration behind the artist's Instagram account.
"At first, I started my Instagram to get out of my comfort zone, to put my work out there and share my story. I was never confident enough to show my work to anybody because I felt like these comics were my personal diary that I should never show to anyone. But then my friends encouraged me to see how this would take me and here we are!"
Digital art and art, in general, is not easy and requires a lot of patience, time, resources, and in most cases even money, therefore we wanted to know how the talented comic artist started her own career in digital art.
"I've loved to draw since I was very young, so yes, I was drawing traditionally first. I only started drawing digitally in 2014 and decided to put my work on Instagram in 2016."
Artists tend to get motivated by a lot of things such as curiosity, the search for beauty, or even meaning. Therefore, we asked Sriwantana about that too.
"I look up to a lot of artists who helped create and shape my childhood. I used to be (and still am) that girl who would turn to art as a safe space. I want to do the same thing for someone out there. I like to imagine that 'maybe someone is having a hard day and when they see my work, their day is not that bad anymore!'
Each comic that I create also marks every chapter of my life. I'm excited to share this story with my followers and grow this lovely community together with them!"
