Art as Escapism - The CreativeMindClass Blog
I'm from Venezuela. I was raised in a city that was very tropical surrounded by hills and palm trees, but it was never allowed for me to explore my environment fully (partly because of my parents' overprotectiveness and a lot more due to the everyday insecurities in my country). Most of the time, television and books were my primary methods of entertainment - along with drawing! I would spend hours drawing my favorite anime characters as well as my family, friends, pets I wasn't allowed to wear, costumes, or anything really.
It was mostly a pastime at the time, and I was certain that I would never extend beyond Venezuela. My family then decided to relocate to the UK and that changed everything for me. When I was a teenager I had finally been granted greater freedom, and was able to go to places by myself and to think about what I really would like to accomplish.
My fascination with character design and narrative has led me to comics which then brought me to drawing. Everything became one. Following a few years of studying (and a lot of work) I'm currently freelance as an illustrator from London.
My style is bold, fun and somewhat wild (in an excellent way!). Sometimes , it's simple but it could also be extremely detailed, but every illustration has a person or animal or even a beautiful piece of scenery. I like to think that each illustration is all part of the same world.
The key for me is having fun with it. It is easy to think of aspects that made me smile growing as a child: vivid colors and characters that are sneaky, hilarious scenarios, little details that you can get lost into. The goal of my work is to capture all of these aspects when I design something fresh. If I can make the viewer feel excited or satisfied, or even feel that they've discovered something fascinating that I've achieved what I wanted.
"Another key element for me is humor. I realized over time that I'm not an competent person to create serious or conceptual artworks However, I'm pretty good at creating something lighthearted that can bring a smile to someone's face. I play to my strengths right now."
You can follow Marianna's artistic process on her Instagram; discover detailed illustrations from the children's books she worked on in lockdowns, as well as some behind-the-scenes photos of her redoing her Skillshare class, to mention some. The links to the class as well as Marianna's books can be found on her website.