The CreativeMindClass Blog

I'm originally from Venezuela. I grew up in a tropical town surrounded by hills and palm trees. However, I unfortunately, I was not allowed to experience my surroundings fully (partly because of my parents' excessive protection, but mostly because of the daily anxieties that my country has). The majority of my time was spent indoors. TV and books became my main methods of entertainment - along with drawing! I would spend hours drawing my most favorite characters from anime as well as my family, friends, pets I couldn't own, costumes, and everything else.

It was mainly a hobby, and I was somewhat aware that it would not go beyond that in Venezuela. However, my family made the decision to move to UK and that transformed everything for me. In my teen years I finally had some autonomy, and I was allowed to go to places by myself and to think about what I wanted to do.

My fascination with characters and storytelling led me to comics, that in turn, brought me to drawing. Everything were put together. Following a few years of studying (and lots of hard work) I'm now freelance as an illustrator from London.

I think my work is colorful, exciting and somewhat chaotic (in an excellent way!). Sometimes , it's simple but it could also be very detailed. However, every illustration has a person, or an animal, or a nice bit of scenery. I love to believe that each illustration is all part of the same world.

My main goal is having fun while doing it. I am reminded of aspects that made me smile growing in my youth: vibrant colours, sneaky characters, funny situations, tiny details to be lost in. The goal of my work is to capture as many of these elements whenever I create something new. If I'm able to make my viewers feel happy or excited and feel as if they've discovered something new that I've achieved the goal I set for myself.

"Another important aspect for me is the sense of humor. It was apparent over time that I'm not an adequate person to make very serious or conceptual artworks, but I can be pretty good at producing something humorous that will make someone laugh. I am a good player currently."

You can follow Marianna's artistic process on her Instagram and see detailed drawings from the children's books she created in lockdowns, as well as some behind-the-scenes images of her recoding Skillshare class, to mention a few. Links to the class as well as Marianna's books can be found through her web site.