Given the opportunity, Bored Panda reached out to Chuck with some questions! First, we asked the artist about how she started working on her comics.
“I’ve always loved drawing but didn’t really start making comics until I was in my early twenties. At first, I just made comics using myself as a character, but I made one comic featuring a pigeon and people seemed to like it!”
In case you didn't know, "chuckdrawsthings" is a whole project series that the artist poured her heart into over the years. We were wondering how Chuck decided to make a pigeon the main character in her work.
“The first pigeon comic I made was about a pigeon being able to understand the mean things people say about them, but staying strong and confident regardless. I think it resonated with people because pigeons get a lot of hate so they’re very relatable underdog figures.”
A lot of Chuck's followers also resonate with her thoughts and work, and though some comics hit too close to home, some of them are still really funny. We asked the artist about how she felt making so many people smile with her work.
“It’s an incredible feeling to see someone enjoy something I make. Even if it’s a sad comic, it’s meaningful to have people who can relate to what it’s about, it makes me feel less alone.”
We mentioned at the very beginning that the artist has written a book so we decided to ask her to tell us a little bit more about it.
“My book ‘BIRD BRAIN’ is a collection of pigeon comics and writings about my experiences with depression and social anxiety. My comics are very personal already, but I wanted to include some of my own writing just to make it more in-depth.”
We were also wondering if Chuck had any advice to share with her fellow artists who might just be starting out.
“It’s okay to have days where you feel unable to do anything at all. There’s no shame in resting or taking breaks - when you’re ready, you can come back to art with a fresh sense of vigor!”
Lastly, we were wondering whether depression and anxiety were something the artist still dealt with, and here's what she told us, “Yes, I still do - I take medication for it, I’m mostly good, but I do have my bad days still. I just take it one day at a time.”
