Bored Panda got in touch with Natalia to learn more about her creative process and her journey as an artist. She shared that she started drawing comics at just 5 years old. "My early comics had storylines about horses (because I learned to draw them before I could draw people, though that didn’t stop the horses from living fully human lives—drinking wine, celebrating weddings, and wearing bow ties). When I finished school, I stopped creating comics and focused on concept art and what I thought were more 'serious' forms of drawing.
Later, when I worked on my first comic, Monster, just for myself, I realized how much I enjoyed creating storyboards and finding simple, striking, and emotional ways to convey the plot. To my pleasant surprise, the audience loved it too. When I started feeling more confident in the comic genre, I began creating comics that reflected my perspective or addressed social topics that deeply concerned me."
Many of Natalia's comics, including the ones in this article, explore modern life and themes of womanhood. We asked her what inspired her to focus on these topics.
"I grew up in the 2000s in a small provincial town, in a fairly religious family. As a teenager, I absorbed many destructive ideas about beauty, gender roles in society, and relationships — from both my surroundings and the media. As I grew older and gained life experience, I came to realize just how many double standards are presented to us as necessary norms, and how deeply ingrained misogyny is. It’s both a painful and liberating realization, once you see it, you can’t unsee. Now I share my views on these issues through art."
For Natalia, comics are sometimes less about perfect artwork and more about connecting with her audience. "Through the pages of a comic, it’s the artist who speaks, as well as their characters. It’s a highly personal and intimate art form, and when approached sincerely, it strikes a deep chord. Creating this drawn dialogue in a way that captivates the audience, especially amidst today’s overwhelming flow of daily content, is a real challenge."
What Natalia enjoys most as an artist is hearing feedback from her audience. "I always read comments and do my best to respond to as many as I can. It’s important to me to see that the questions I raise spark discussions —people debate, find like-minded individuals, or discover new information. Often, the reaction to my comics (particularly comics about women's rights) is negative— I get comments from haters or random people who stumbled upon a work that went viral. Unfortunately, their presence only confirms that the issues I raise need to be discussed again and again."
In addition to highlighting the challenges of womanhood in modern society, Natalia shared that she's also happy when her comics brighten someone’s day. "I want to make other women feel seen and not alone in dealing with the same problems I face. I would like my social media pages to feel like a safe and open space for girls to express their opinions and share personal experiences. As we see today, if rights are not protected and taken for granted, sooner or later, there will be attempts to take them away. Society still has a long way to go in terms of women’s rights, and I hope my comics can contribute to this progress, even if just a little."
