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In a previous interview with Bored Panda, Natalya revealed to us that she had more than one profession in the art sphere. “I am also a painter, illustrator, and animator. For me, comics tend to be fun side projects I occasionally make. They are, however, the stuff people like best, because they’re the most relatable!” It's no wonder Natalya's ideas are brilliant, she knows how to work on more than one medium.
We reached out to Natalya again, this time with more questions. We asked the artist about how long it usually takes her to make one comic, and here's what she said, "Most of the time is taken up by thinking of it, in terms of actual execution, a simpler style will only take a few minutes but something more intricate can take days to finish."
The artist also said that “none of my funny comic strips are about my life specifically,” which is surprising given how many people relate to her work. “I tend to focus more on universal feelings that I believe everyone experiences, usually of existential angst! I deliberately avoid drawing myself in comics, which is why sometimes I resort to an amorphous blob-like person, as I see that as a sort of ‘anti-character.'”
Recently Lobanova also released a comic book called "Everyone Is Awful: How People Fail--and So Can You!". The book itself is meant to help you laugh about your insecurities, doubts, and sore spots, reminding you that it’s not just you—everyone is a little bit awful!
We were also curious to know how Natalya comes up with her ideas, and she revealed to us quite a few things.
"I think for me, I have to be in a very active state to come up with ideas. I have to be actively looking for them, monitoring my own thoughts to see if I am able to produce a semi-coherent idea that can be turned into something interesting or funny."
The artist has been in her field for quite a while now, so we asked her to describe how people usually react to her work, "Generally positively, though I imagine if they had a negative response they probably wouldn’t say so to my face. "
When it comes to the whole creative process, there are some parts that you are bound to enjoy doing. "I think there’s always an immense satisfaction immediately after you finish, that’s the best."
Nowadays, social media is something that is used by many artists, Natalya is no different when it comes to sharing her work online. However, we were curious to know why exactly did she start her Instagram account. "I don’t think many people are inspired to make an Instagram account, it’s mostly just a prerequisite of being a creator of any kind at this point!"
Though Natalya's work is shared mostly online, she does not like to call herself a digital artist. "I wouldn’t consider myself as a digital artist now as the majority of my works are hand drawn or hand-painted! I much prefer working in analog mediums as I prefer it when mistakes aren’t so easy to erase."
Lastly, we wanted to know what motivated the artist to keep creating, and here's what she revealed to Bored Panda, "I think for me there’s no higher cause, more that the act of making something, even if it’s a bit silly, is fulfilling."
