By Livi Player, Arts Editor
In our current climate, social media can quickly become overwhelming and social distancing has made escape from the media so much more difficult. So, I decided to turn my Instagram into a positive place to celebrate the artwork of web comic illustrators and take a healthy breather from the anxieties of the media.
Instagram is such a large part of modern life, so much so that it has become somewhat of a business for many people. For many creatives, Instagram is the most useful and easy way of showcasing their work, promoting their art and getting their name heard. Instagram is a breeding ground for original artwork to flourish, and comic illustrations are a particular kind of art that is on the rise across the social media platform - not necessarily the Marvel kind, but new, unique and relatable content with a comedic twist in the form of comics.
For me, Instagram has its good and bad moments. Sometimes, social media can be a bit overwhelming and some aspects of the platform makes me feel like I want a social media cleanse, leading me to delete the app from my phone completely. Surely though there’s another way to make the platform a positive place where it can become a beacon of self-care and bliss away from the stresses of university and scares of the news? With this thinking in mind I turned my Instagram inside out. I started to follow influential people and more creative accounts to inject a more positive vibe into my social media. While I still follow serious accounts that tackle important issues of the world news, sometimes I need a breather and that breather, for me, was the form of Instagram comic illustrators.
Here are my favourite Instagram illustrators, artists and comics who are sure to brighten your day and hopefully your Instagram feeds too.
Samantha Rothenberg (@violetclair)
Rothenberg brilliantly illustrates the woes of modern dating to the point where they become comical and heavily relatable. She really engages with her audience - using real life texts from her followers to influence and inspire her comics. She adds honest detail to her comics and I can’t recommend her ‘Screenshot Stories’ saved in her Highlights enough. They’re enough to make you cry with laughter and leave you cringing at these honest dating fails.
Maya and Yehuda Devir (@jude_devir and @maya_devir)
This married couple are the epitome of couple goals. Creators of popular webcomics, they take regular everyday life as a married couple and turn it into cute comic-book style illustrations. You can’t help but fall in love with them and their relationship. The birth of their first child has made their comics even more adorable.
Catana Comics (@catanacomics)
Cartoonist Catana Chetwynd illustrates the little moments of her relationship with her bearded fiance doing everyday things. The couple live in New York with their dog, and get the relatable inspiration for her comics from her relationship and daily life. Catana’s first comic book Little Moments of Love was published in 2018, with her second book Snug: A Collection of Comics about Dating Your Best Friend hitting shops just last month!
Cassandra Calin (@cassandracalin)
Canadian freelance illustrator, cartoonist and author Cassandra Calin wonderfully illustrates autobiographical comics and illustrations of her everyday life. Her addictive comics are a must follow, her true-to-life drawings are some of the funniest I’ve come across on my Instagram explore. She doesn’t hide her emotions in her comics - showing her moments of grumpiness, tiredness, happiness and relatable content of just being a girl.
Viakavish (@viakavish)
Animation creator and comic artist Viakavish explores many topics in his random but funny comics. He shows the realities of real life - when you're feeling sad, lonely, or like life isn’t going your way, but somehow makes them not so sad. One particular stand out comic for me remains his ‘Alone is cool’ animation and cartoon, reminding us it’s okay to be alone sometimes, that you don’t have to surround yourself with people every second of every day and that’s okay.
Meg Adams (@artbymoga)
Meg Adams is a comic and story artist from Seattle. Her colourful and funny comics showcase her distinctive and loveable style. She says she has the ‘simple goal of bringing some positivity and humour to my readers' days.’ She describes her work as the ‘musings of a happily married, anxiety filled, body positive mega-dork.’ Her comics have such a positive energy about them and always seem to brighten up my feed.
Flo Perry (@floperrydraws)
Former Buzzfeed illustrator and freelance writer Flo Perry’s illustrations aren’t afraid to show the hilarity of being a woman: from that end of day bra removal feeling, to relatable ‘me in the morning’ laughs, all the way to summer chafing and period panties. Her mission is to get people talking more openly about women’s sex lives, something she does brilliantly in her book How to Have Feminist Sex: A Fairly Graphic Guide. No doubt you’ve probably come across some of her illustrations on Buzzfeed, so why not check out more of her work on her website and her Instagram page.
Featured image credit: @artbymoga / @violetclair / @cassandracalin
Do you follow any Instagram illustrators? Who are your favourites?
