Just like last time, Bored Panda reached out to Mohit Srivastava (or just Mo as he told us to call him), the creator behind the brand SpaceboyCantLol, to explore his journey into full-time content creation, understand his creative process, and also delve into his future plans!
When asked about what inspired his decision to focus on SpaceboyCantLol full time, Srivastava shared, “There are 2 things that have been on my mind for years. 1) creating a brand that has all the fun stuff possible going on within itself and 2) my lifelong dream of living a life of complete financial freedom and excitement.” After losing his job in December 2022, instead of looking for another job, he took this as an opportunity to develop SpaceboyCantLol as a brand while aiming for financial freedom. Currently, he is investing his savings into this endeavor and looking forward to making it financially sustainable.
Mo emphasized the importance of giving oneself time to experience boredom as a way to spark creativity, recounting his own advice from a previous ComicCon India event: “You just have to give yourself time to get bored and stare into the ceiling fan aimlessly because the best ideas find you when you're not looking for them.” He advises creators facing blocks to allow themselves to rest and not to force creativity, sharing that this approach helped him return after a 2.5-year hiatus.
Mohit cherishes the steadily growing support from his followers, “The community and support that is building up slowly is just priceless. There is nothing like getting a DM from a random stranger telling me they were having a bad day when they found my page and now they had been giggling for the last half an hour. Or a follower showing me pictures of them getting a tattoo of my comic. Even though I vanish sometimes for weeks, months and even years, I still get to come back to the same people, who never unfollowed me and are still rooting for my work.”
He shared his appreciation for messages that convey how his work brightens someone's day or for followers who get tattoos inspired by his comics. He finds motivation in such gestures, saying, “I mean, what else can I ask for as a content creator? Of course, all my motivation comes from the audience. And that's why I make it a point to reply to each and every DM, comment, query, etc. Now that I have started posting on 7-8 different platforms, the community is getting a diverse bunch of audience too. One of my recent comics got a reach of 1 million views and I fainted with happiness when I saw that. Another thing I love is that my core audience doesn't shy away from standing up for me any time someone posts my work without credits. It's like I have eyes and ears all over the internet, haha!”
Mohit has a wide vision, wanting to venture into “animated series, scripts, podcasts, merchandise, books, OTT series, street art, advertisements and brand-specific content.” He’s open to collaborations, noting, “ I am quite open to anyone reaching out to discuss a project in any creative area where they can leverage my ideas and skillsets and combine it with their own creative gift to create something together. So the only quality I am looking for in a potential collaborator is their passion for their creative gift or business and a willingness to try something new with me. Spaceboy to Universe - Please hit me up on Insta, DMs or my email ID that is linked to my Instagram account if you want to work with me. I am also developing my website, which should be live in a month or two, and then you'll have multiple other ways to reach out to me."
The artist also mentioned a past endeavor focused on a Hindi-speaking audience, the @Taglrindia page. Reflecting on this experience, he stated his desire to cater to a broader audience, “I still get DMs from playfully investigative people on SpaceboyCantLol handle similar to this - 'Spaceboy, why do I have a feeling I know you from somewhere else?' with some screenshots of the other page, haha! However, I have thought about it long and hard and here is the conclusion. I see myself as someone who creates content for a global audience. I personally don't believe in the idea of boundaries, religions and divisions that we have created anyway.
So why should I restrict myself to a specific crowd? I want to be able to make satire and jokes about all kinds of people and countries without discrimination, lol. I know there is no such thing as universal content, but I just don't want to get tied up anymore in finding a niche, crowd, etc. and focus on creating content in the best way I can and hope that whoever is the audience for it will find it."
Lastly, Mo also shared some extra thoughts with us Pandas! Here's what he had to say: "I just want to thank Bored Panda for giving me this opportunity. Answering these questions was a sweet reminder of how grateful I am to be able to do what I love for an audience that shows me so much support. Another thing I would say is that there are so many online publishing platforms out there who just copy my work and slap a fake interview on it just to get traffic on their websites. But Bored Panda has always worked ethically and that should be applauded. 50 points to Gryffindor. Or whichever house Bored Panda identifies with!"
