First, we asked the artist if Lily had any life-changing influences that might have helped her with her art and art style in general when it comes to her comics.
“I am a big fan of manga, anime, and vector illustrations… When it comes to my art style, my most major influences have been the 'carry grow' style comics and other Asian vector illustration styles too.”
Art, in any kind of form, takes a lot of time not only to practice but also to produce, therefore we asked Lilu how long it takes her to fully finish her comics.
“It usually takes 5 to 6 hours, but it also depends on my mood. If I was too lazy to draw then it will take more than 6 hours. But I try to finish it in the expected time to post comics as early as possible for my followers.”
Being an artist is not easy, one can easily encounter a lack of inspiration, burnout, etc, so we wanted to ask the artist about her ideas for the comics.
“From all the comics I’ve done so far, 95% of comics are related to our daily life. It's like we are doing something and thought like, yes, this can be a comic! The other 5% of the comics come from our imagination, so anything that is motivational, inspirational, or just some self-love comics.”
As we mentioned before, sometimes creative work can cause quite a burnout, therefore we asked the artist how she dealt with that as well.
“You can't say no. Every job is tiring and exhausting. There are days where I’m highly recharged and also days where I’m tired because of my corporate job or deadlines. But I tried to make it simple for me. I want to enjoy the process even if it takes little time and if I'm not mentally ready then I go on a small break.”
We also asked the artist about how people reacted to her work.
“Our followers are called 'Tinnies'. They are supportive. Most people react pretty positively and most of the replies we get sound like this: ‘'These comics are related to us’ and some comments also say that our comics put smiles on their faces. We are happy that we can put smiles on their faces even if it is for just a second or minute.”
The creative process is not easy, but there are many enjoyable parts to it as shared by the artist.
“I love the coloring part of the whole process. Haha, like any child would, I guess. In linear or sketch we have to follow rules and maintain anatomy, but in the coloring part, we can fill any color that we want! Color changes the mood, different colors give different vibes.”
Artists tend to get motivated by a lot of things such as curiosity, the search for beauty, or even meaning. Therefore, we asked Lily about that too.
“One of the best things about being an artist is that you get to express yourself in a way that can be comforting! Art has a way of taking people away from the unpleasantness in the world and showing them that there is a happy place beyond that. Every artist wants to be independent. They want to make a career by doing what they love. We also want to spread happiness and be independent!”
