Art as Escapism - The CreativeMindClass Blog

I'm from Venezuela. I was born in a city that was very tropical surrounded by hills and palm trees, but unfortunately, I was not allowed to experience my surroundings fully (partly because of my parents' excessive protection however, mostly due to the daily anxieties in my country). Almost always indoors, TV and books were my primary methods of entertainment - along with 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 anything really.

It was mostly a pastime that I had a little bit certain that I would never extend beyond Venezuela. But then my family decided to relocate to the UK which was a major change for me. In my teen years, I was finally allowed more independence, was free to travel by myself and to think about what I desired to do.

My love for characters and storytelling inspired me to read comics that in turn, led me to illustration. The pieces all were put together. After a couple of years of studies (and lots of hard work) I'm now freelance as an Illustrator in London.

My work I believe is bold, fun and sometimes a little wild (in a good way!). Sometimes , it's simple and sometimes it's very detailed. However, every illustration has a person, or an animal, or some nice piece of landscape. I believe every illustration I draw is part of the same universe.

The key for me is having fun while doing it. I think of the things that delighted me growing up: really vivid colours as well as sly characters, humorous moments, and tiny little details to lose yourself in. My goal is to encapsulate as many of these elements whenever I create something new. If I am able to inspire the viewer to be excited or satisfied, or even feel that they've discovered something fascinating and interesting, then I've succeeded in what I wanted.

"Another essential element that I am looking for is humor. I realized over time that I'm not an competent person to create serious or conceptual artworks, but I can be pretty good at creating something lighthearted that can make someone laugh. I play to my strengths currently."

You can follow Marianna's artistic adventure on Instagram and see detailed drawings of the books for children she created during lockdowns and some backstage images of her recoding Skillshare class, to mention some. Links to the class as well as Marianna's books can be found through her website.