Arts as Escapism The CreativeMindClass Blog

I'm originally from Venezuela. I grew up in a city that was very tropical that was surrounded by mountains and palm trees. However, I unfortunately, I was not allowed to fully explore the world around me (partly due to my parents' excessive protection and a lot more due to the daily anxieties in my country). The majority of my time was spent indoors. TV and reading became my primary methods of entertainment - along with drawing! I was constantly drawing my most favorite characters from anime, my friends, pets I couldn't have, costumes, and anything really.

It was mostly a pastime that I had a little bit aware that it would not go beyond that in Venezuela. My family then decided to move to UK, and this changed everything for me. When I was a teenager, I was finally allowed more independence, was free to travel alone and thought about what I really desired to do.

My fascination with character design and narrative has led me to comics which then led me to illustration. Everything became one. After some years of study (and lots of effort) I'm now freelance as an Illustrator in London.

My style is fun, bold and somewhat wild (in an excellent manner!). Sometimes it can be simple and sometimes it's very detailed. However, it always features a character, or an animal, or some nice piece of nature. I like to think that each illustration is part of the same universe.

The key for me is to have fun with it. I am reminded of aspects that made me smile growing in my youth: vibrant colours as well as sly characters, humorous scenarios, little details that you can lose yourself in. My goal is to encapsulate all of these aspects every time I make something brand new. If I can get the viewer to feel happy or happy, or like they have discovered something new that I've achieved what I wanted.

"Another essential element that I am looking for is the sense of humor. Over time, I've realized that I'm not the most adequate person to make very serious or conceptual artworks However, I'm fairly adept in producing something humorous that will make someone laugh. I play to my strengths currently."

You can follow Marianna's creative journey on her Instagram Discover detailed artwork of the books for children she created during lockdowns as well as backstage images of her recoding Skillshare class, to mention some. The link to the class and Marianna's books are available at her web site.

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