Bored Panda reached out to Mary to learn more about her and her creative process. We were curious about how she got started in the world of comics.
"I was in high school in my math class, and I was doodling random stuff on my notebook, and suddenly my best friend asked me, ''Why don't you start making comics and post them online about your life, us, or anything at all?' And this is how it started, haha."
It wouldn’t be us if we didn’t ask about the challenges artists face in creating their work. Mary shared that, for her, the biggest struggle these days is managing her time. "I work a full-time job as an illustrator at a publishing house, I do art commissions and go to the gym every day after work. It's really difficult to find time to manage all of this, that's why I'm being a bit inconsistent with posting comics."
Despite all of her challenges, Mary shared that creating comics is the part she enjoys the most. "And to be more specific, I do enjoy a lot drawing those exaggerated expressions."
What makes Mary passionate about creating comics is people. "People inspire me every day and they inspire me to keep going. Also, the fact that I basically doodle my comics (they are not fully rendered or finished or have the perfect-lineart), it makes me feel like I don't need extra pressure to make everything look perfect. I just have to scribble that idea out."
Mary's comics portray life experiences, so we asked her how it feels to share fragments of her personal journey with the world. "I feel great because I find that there are people who can relate to it. In the past, I made some SPECIFIC COMICS about experiences that I thought I only had, and suddenly I woke up and realized that many people went through it (so yes, we may be different but we are not that different, haha). Also, sometimes I feel anxious, especially when there's a more personal comic (e.g.: the comic about my bully experience or weight loss). But it’s me and I want people to follow and get to know the real me - I’m not perfect, I never had a great life and I went through bad things, like everyone else. I hope in the future I'll have even more confidence to share other stories as well."
