Bored Panda reached out to Mali to learn more about her and her creative process. We were curious to know what inspired her to pursue a career in illustration and comic creation. "Drawing has always been a part of my life growing up, but I never really thought about making a career out of it; it sort of just happened on its own," the cartoonist shared. "It still seems unreal at times. What inspires me to keep going is simply the fact that I get to do what I want to do, talk about things I'm passionate about, make new characters, hide behind my own characters, and tell my story through my stories."
Mali started making comics in 2015, mostly sharing them with friends on WhatsApp. They convinced her to start an Instagram page, which she did on June 19th, 2016.
The artist told us that ideas, especially good ones, often come to her when she's heavily unequipped to jot them down or remember them. "But I try my best to hold onto them," she shared. "The feeling of knowing you had an idea which you thought was the best idea but then you just can't remember what it was is so frustrating. You remember the occurrence but not the material. Ugh!"
But on days when Mali is able to easily access her ideas, she sits with them for anywhere between 3 seconds to 30 days or 3 years and then gets started.
"I recently came out with my first book, 'Shampoo and Daddy!' The way I wrote the stories for that was by jotting down all the sentences that came to my mind in the moment, and somehow they would make sense in the end. Then, I would draw and color it all in 1-2 days. In retrospect, I can't believe I did all those comics with such great speed, haha.
I like to listen to music (Glass Animals is my favorite) to get into the zone, especially music that has some storytelling aspects to it (e.g., 'Toes' by Glass Animals). At times, I also enjoy watching Doraemon to get into the zone. Other things that help me get into a creative mindset include:
• being alive;
• the need to make money;
• my cat;
• the need to make money for my cat."
Artists are like magpies, collecting shiny bits from everywhere to build their nests of creativity. So, we wondered: what shiny bits, in the form of other artists, inspired Mali's creative journey? "I always suck at answering this question. I can't pinpoint my influences," she answered. "I had my own set of problems with people taking inspiration from other people's work, but over time I've learned to accept that it's just the way everything works. We all influence each other; nature, and life has an influence on life itself. But some artists whose work I enjoy are Benji Nate, Roman Muradov, Molly Fairhurst, and Niall Breen, to name a few."
Being an illustrator and comic creator comes with its own set of hurdles and joys. For Mali, the biggest challenge would be the financial instability. "Being self-employed, my months never look the same. I would like some sense of semblance haha. Not to say it's impossible to be financially stable as a freelancer/self-employed person, but it's been 7 years since I started making money with my comics, and I'm still so far away from my financial goal. Admittedly, I need to work harder. Showing up for yourself is extremely important. And so is asking for help when you need it. Normalizing these two habits makes it easier. I'm still learning that haha."
Mali has a Patreon, which has been her primary source of income for 7 years. "Platforms like Patreon help materialize your dreams and goals, and I'm so grateful that it exists."
All the struggles aside, Mali thinks that finishing a comic and feeling good about it is the most rewarding feeling. "Once I know I've done something worthwhile, something I can be proud of—it's hard to get affected by what people think about it, but of course, I'd still be open to constructive criticism. Although, it happens so rarely. I'm almost never happy with what I do these days. This again takes us back to the challenges. But I'm happy and excited to do new work this year. I'm exploring longer narratives now as opposed to the 4-panel comics. I feel like I've had it with the 4 panels. They were really fun to make and also challenging at times. It can be a task to convey something through 4 squares, but once you crack it, you feel very good about yourself, which is a feeling I recommend experiencing. I want to feel it again but beyond the 4 panels."
