Larkness' comics embrace the dread of everyday life, the ups and downs, and all of the little moments in between. Lark, the main character, doesn't try to act as if she's in control of her life—sometimes her inner demons get the best of her; sometimes Lark wallows in self-pity, and there's many opportunities for her to have a laugh at her own expense. But it's not a bad thing. Human flaws are not just part of her comics, it's what makes them interesting, authentic, and relatable. And this is why I love them so much and find them endearing.
Estela has given an exclusive interview to Bored Panda about her influences, her background, and her hobby.
"I was born and raised in a southern city in Brazil. Ever since I was little, I always loved to draw and play with arts and crafts. I also loved to read comics, and I tried to make my comics and create my characters.
When I was 17, I went to Art College and got in touch with several art languages. It's been since then a great passion of mine, and painting, collage, and other genres of art became my main hobby."
Despite always being riddled with existential problems, the problems themselves are sometimes not the worst aspect of our daily lives, but the self-loathing and lack of self-love that come from constantly experiencing them. But try not to feel bad about how you're doing, or that you don't want to do anything at all. Maybe it's just not your day? Just get a good rest and try tomorrow! Don't like how you're spending your time? Perhaps the realization that you don't always have to like what you're doing might ease the suffering. Procrastination is natural and it's a response from our brain to protect itself from burnout and stress, so there's no need to stress yourself out over it and make it worse.
The artist also told about her influences. "Some of my most significant influences were other comic artists I discovered through social media. I used to read comic strips in newspapers and grammar books, but seeing comic artists having their accounts and sharing their work gave me a sense that I could do it too! I liked to see especially women comic artists sharing their struggles as women in a world mainly ruled by men and see how people were eager to read this kind of content. One of my great inspirations in that matter is Sarah Andersen!"
Larkness' comics are well-appreciated on Instagram and Facebook, and she has over 120k combined followers across the platforms. She's been a favorite of our readers, too. You can find a post done by none other than herself here. If you want to support her, there's a comic made by Larkness that explains just how to do so. If you're a Brazilian reader, you might be interested in her comic book called "How to deal with your ghosts." And also, as always, make sure you follow her on social media as that's one of the main ways to make it big in the comic world. Cheers!
Here's how Estela started: "After a pretty rough year, I started officially posting my comics in 2018 (I went through a bad breakup and lost people in my family, and was stuck in a job I hated). At this time, I somehow decided to turn all my frustrations into something creative. I started making comics and posting them on Instagram, and I had a pretty good reception from the public!"
And here's some advice that she gave. "My advice for potential comic artists is: put your soul in whatever you're doing. Don't try to copy other people's work. Do your own thing, put your heart into it: that's what people really want to see."
Recently Bored Panda has been overwhelmed with an onslaught of great comics, so this might be a good time to share a few similar in both theme, style and tone to the ones you're viewing right now. Let's start with a rock star of the comic world, Adam Ellis, who has 3.7m fans on social media. There's also been a few comics that center around the topic of everyday life, though each of them has a different approach to it. And if you love mental health stuff, you'll probably love how this artist constantly imagines animals experiencing anxiety in a funny way. Have a nice read!
"My comics are built mainly around these three ghosts, which represent inner matters, thoughts, fears, hopes, dreams, and worries. Initially, it was not my intention to talk about these mental issues to bring awareness to the topic. I wanted to show people a little bit of my experience and my struggles with my mind. A lot of people seemed to relate to these issues. And in the end, simply letting it out and relating to other people is already a way to deal with mental health!
I've been working for quite a while in a graphic novel, with new characters and their respective ghosts... Hopefully, I'll be posting more about it on my Instagram account very soon!"
