The CreativeMindClass Blog

I'm originally from Venezuela. I was born in a city that was very tropical that was surrounded by mountains and palm trees. However, I sadly wasn't really allowed to fully explore the world around me (partly due to the overprotection of my parents and a lot more due to the everyday insecurities in my own country). Almost always indoors, TV and books became my main ways of escape - as did drawing! I would spend hours drawing my most favorite characters from anime, my friends, pets I was not allowed to have, costumes, and all sorts of things.

It was mostly a pastime at the time, and I was aware that it would not extend beyond Venezuela. My family then decided to move to the UK, and this transformed everything for me. In my teen years I had finally been granted some autonomy, and I was allowed to explore places alone and thought about the things I would like to accomplish.

My love for characters and storytelling has led me to comics that in turn, led me to illustration. Everything became one. After a couple of years of studies (and many hours of hard work) I'm currently freelance as an illustrator from London.

My work I believe is fun, bold and sometimes a little chaotic (in a good way!). Sometimes it can be simple, or it can be incredibly detailed; but the illustrations always feature a figure or animal or a nice bit of scenery. I like to think that all my illustrations are one in the same.

For me, the most important thing is to have fun with it. It is easy to think of things that enthralled me as a child in my youth: vibrant colours as well as sly characters, humorous situations, tiny details to be lost within. My goal is to encapsulate all of these aspects whenever I create something new. If I'm able to make the viewer feel excited or satisfied, or even feel that they have discovered something new that I've achieved what I wanted to achieve.

"Another key element for me is humor. Over time, I've realized that I'm probably not an competent person to create serious or conceptual artworks however I am fairly adept in making something fun and lighthearted to bring a smile to someone's face. I play to my strengths now."

You can follow Marianna's artistic process on her Instagram; discover detailed illustrations from her children's book she worked on during lockdowns as well as backstage photos of her redoing her Skillshare class, just to mention some. The link to the class and her books you can find at her web site.

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