17 Funny And Relatable Comics By Australia-Based Artist Evie Hilliar (New Pics)

She shared with Bored Panda that her ideas come from the delicate balance between living life and creating art: “Ideas don’t exist in a vacuum. It is so important to have a balance between life and drawing, even though it seems like they have a lot of overlap. If I was making comics all day, I wouldn’t have the experiences to make new comics. But if I was out all day, I would never have time to make comics either. You have to have both.”

When discussing the struggles of artist’s block, Evie likened it to a particularly frustrating experience: “Artist’s block is the worst! To anyone creative, art block is the equivalent of a papercut right between your fingers. The worst! It’s like needing to open a can but you don’t have a can opener. The ABSOLUTE worst! It’s like… the feeling of needing to sneeze but with no sneeze that ever comes. The worst of the worst.”

Her approach to overcoming it involves letting go of perfectionism: “I will always start off with simple drawings. Recently, I did a comic that was all just variations of street signs. That way I ease back into it, without judging my work too harshly. And also, allowing yourself to be bad at art for a while. Being bad at art is always better than not doing any art at all. And one artist’s ‘bad’ could be another artist’s whole inspiration.”

The artist's comics reflect a wide range of themes, from silly wordplay to serious topics like loneliness. She explained: “I struggle with defining what kind of comics I make because I don’t want to be pinned down by one feeling. I can be funny, but I can also be sad, or angry. My comics really are an extension of me, who I am, and whatever I’m feeling or thinking at the time.”

Her journey into comics began after studying animation, which she found too time-intensive. “When I started making comics, I found it came so easy to me. When I say it came easy to me, I don’t mean the theory or the craft of it. What came easy to me was the will to MAKE comics, something I never really got from animation. I don’t know what exactly clicked or why, but once I started I never stopped. I love it. I love making them, reading them, and showing other people how to make them—it’s become a huge part of my personality.”