Art as Escapism - The CreativeMindClass Blog

I'm from Venezuela. I was raised in a city that was very tropical with hills and palm trees. However, I unfortunately, I was not allowed to fully explore the world around me (partly because of my parents' overprotectiveness, but mostly because of the everyday insecurities in my own country). Almost always indoors, TV and reading became my primary ways of escape - as did drawing! I would spend hours drawing my favorite anime characters, my friends, pets I was not allowed to own, costumes, and anything really.

The main reason was for a leisure activity at the time, and I was certain that I would never be a full-time job in Venezuela. But then my family decided to move to UK which was a major change for me. As a teen I finally had some autonomy, and I was allowed to travel by myself and to think about what I wanted to do.

My fascination with the design of characters and stories led me to comics, which in turn brought me to drawing. Everything came together then. After a couple of years of studies (and a lot of work) I'm now freelance as an Illustrator in London.

My style is fun, bold and somewhat wild (in a good manner!). Sometimes , it's simple and sometimes it's incredibly detailed; but every illustration has a person or animal or a nice bit of scenery. I believe all my illustrations are all part of the same world.

My main goal is having fun while doing it. It is easy to think of aspects that made me smile growing up: really vivid colours and characters that are sneaky, hilarious scenarios, little details that you can be lost into. The goal of my work is to capture the best of these things when I design something fresh. If I'm able to get the viewer to feel happy or content, or feel like they've discovered something fascinating that I've achieved what I wanted to achieve.

"Another important aspect for me is the sense of humor. I realized over time that I'm not an adequate person to make very complex or abstract artworks However, I'm pretty good at creating something lighthearted that can bring a smile to someone's face. I play to my strengths currently."

Follow Marianna's art adventure on Instagram Discover detailed artwork from her children's book she worked on in lockdowns, as well as some behind-the-scenes shots of recoding her Skillshare class, just to mention just a handful. Links to the class as well as Marianna's books can be found through her web site.