"Art as Escapism" - The CreativeMindClass Blog
I'm from Venezuela. I grew up in a town which was tropically that was surrounded by mountains and palm trees. However, there was no way to me explore my surroundings in full (partly because of my parents' overprotectiveness and a lot more due to the everyday insecurities within my home homeland). In the majority of my childhood, television and books were my primary methods of entertainment , along with drawing! I would spend hours drawing my favourite cartoon characters and my family, friends, pets I wasn't allowed to wear, costumes, or really anything.
It was more of a hobby in the early days, and I was certain that I'd never go beyond Venezuela. My family then decided to move to UK and that transformed everything for me. At the age of 16, I finally had greater freedom, and could go to places by myself as well as think about the things I wanted to accomplish.
My love of character design and narrative is what led me to comics that then led me to drawing. The whole thing became one. After several years of study (and lots in work) I'm currently freelance as an illustrator in London.
My style is striking, fun and somewhat wild (in the best way!). Sometimes , the style is simple, however, it can also be detailed, but every illustration has a person or animal, or even a stunning scene. I love to believe that every illustration is part of the same world.
The key for me is to have fun playing with it. It's simple to think of aspects that made me smile growing in my childhood: bright colours and characters that can be sneaky, hilarious scenarios, little details that you can lose yourself in. The aim of my work is to capture all these aspects when I design something fresh. If I can make the viewer feel excited or happy, or feel that they've discovered some fascinating thing that's what I wanted.
"Another important aspect for me is humor. Over time, I've realized that I'm no good artist to produce abstract or serious artwork. However, I'm pretty good in creating light-hearted art that brings a smile on someone's face. I'm playing according to my strengths at the moment."
You can follow Marianna's artistic process on her Instagram Discover intricate illustrations of the books for children she wrote in lockdowns, as well as some behind-the-scenes photos of her redoing her Skillshare class. Not to mention some. The links to the class, as well as Marianna's book are available at the website.
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