Bored Panda wanted to find out more about the comic series, so we got in touch with Beanie to discuss her work. When asked how her style has evolved since she first started her comic journey, she responded: “Beanie comics started out as a silly diary comic where I recorded funny things that happened to me day to day. Later I began drawing stories from memories that happened during my childhood and teenage years as well. People enjoyed reading stories from different periods of my life and it was fun to draw them so it became a big part of the format. The art style is still evolving every time I draw a new comic strip and I think it got more detailed and colourful over time. I also started making some of the comic strips into animations.”
The artist also shared some of her favorite comic artists with us, but first noted that the list of people she admires is quite extensive: “I have SO many favourites that it would be hard to list all of them. For a complete list you can go to the list of people I follow on Instagram. But a few highlights of people that greatly inspire me include - Aminder Dhaliwal, Megan Nicole Dong, Sarah Andersen, Meg Adams, Fishball, Lucy Knisley and many more!”
We were curious about how creating comics differs from working on a children’s book. Beanie explained: “I love the creative process of both SO much with their own differences. My webcomic is based on real life events, they're short form and I get immediate feedback from readers as soon as they're posted online. Webcomics are fast paced which can be very exciting even if sometimes tiring. With books I get to explore fictional stories in longer format. It can take years for them to come out and for me to know whether the readers like them, which can feel like a lot of pressure but it's also nice to have time and space to myself on a project until it's ready. There's challenges and joys to both types of work. I love the immediate feedback from readers and making people smile with webcomics, and with books it's an incredible experience to have a physical book of your work. In either medium if someone resonates with one of my stories it makes me feel very lucky and happy and any of the challenges are worth it. The highlight of my art career is the joy of seeing little kids giggle and smile while reading a book I drew.”
Lastly, the illustrator shared more details about her upcoming book, set to be released in February: ”I have two graphic novels coming out next year and I'm very excited about them! Purranormal Activity, the second installment of my The Great Puptective series about a Puppy Detective. The main characters are an overeager puppy detective and her grouchy cat sidekick who really wishes he wasn't involved in any of her shenanigans. The new book has a spooky twist with a GHOST KITTEN in it! It is an early reader graphic novel perfect for enjoyers of InvestiGators and Narwhal and Jelly. The second graphic novel coming out in October 2025 is called My Sister The Werebeast and is a story about two teenage sisters who have to take care of their baby sibling while their parents are away on a work trip (and spoilers - the little girl is developing chaotic MAGIC POWERS). With the Puptective series I channel my love for dogs and cats as well as drawing as many silly expressions in every book as possible. My Sister the Werebeast is very loosely inspired by the dynamic I had with my two older sisters growing up as I was always the chaotic baby of the family, with a sprinkle of magic.’
