Artist Speaks The Truth About The Struggles Girls Deal With (40 New Pics)
Interview With ArtistIf you’ve already read the title, you probably know what you signed up for when you clicked on this… but if not, let us tell you just a little bit more! Today we’d like to introduce you to Bella Sriwantana, who is an incredibly talented comic artist from Belgium. Bella is known for her comics that depict real-life situations and just a general day in the life of a simple girl. Though Sriwantana is basing the comics off of herself, we are pretty sure most of us have found ourselves to be in pretty similar circumstances nonetheless.
Bella’s comics are bright, hilarious, and have their own distinct art style and approach. The artist even covers topics such as the latest memes, pets, what it’s like having a boyfriend, and just in general shares how hard and tiring it is to be a woman at times.
Given all of that, Bella’s comics were also featured previously on Bored Panda and you can find them by clicking here!
With all of that being said, we hope that was enough of a reason to make you scroll down!
More info: Instagram | bellaillustration.com | patreon.com | Facebook
This post may include affiliate links.
It was much more practical. Long time ago even boys wore dresses as babies (and it was probably easier to change the diaper)
Load More Replies...SAILOR MOON! (at first I thought it was Angelica from rugrats)
Bored Panda reached out to Bella, first, we asked the artist if she had any major influences in her life that might've helped her to develop and refine her style.
"I believe that Japanese manga does have a lot of influences on my style and I did read a lot of them when I was young. In order to make my comics fun and enjoyable for my audience, I studied facial expressions and enhanced them with my own art style to make them even more unique."
Everyone dose that. And I wouldn't consider it a struggle when you willingly to choose that. Its just irresponsible life choice
Yeah. You can't claim as a "struggle" something you willingly choose to do, like going on your phone at night or not exercising or whatever. It is your fault you did it in the first place, it is your responsibility to fix it.
Load More Replies...We have two dogs. Back to the end of the queue mate!!
Load More Replies...How is having a loving dog and mate a strugle!? And it seems if any thing worse for the dude in the comic!
Art, in any kind of form, takes a lot of time not only to practice but also to produce, therefore we asked Bella how long it takes her to fully finish her comics.
"It depends on the storyline of each comic. Usually, it takes me around 2 hours for a 2-panel comic and 2.5 to 3 hours for a full 4-panel comic!"
Most of her cartoons could be described as a slice of life, and as of now, one of her main fortes is creating funny and girly comics that depict Sriwantana's life with her boyfriend and their dog. The artist has practically made it her mission to bring a smile to her readers' faces with her colorful comics, and the overwhelming support she has received over the years has only made her strive further.
If people can screw up October with Christmas garbage, you better damn well believe my Halloween starts in September!
I put up my Halloween decorations in August ever since I saw the terrifying sight of Christmas decorations on sale in September
I love Halloween, but haunted houses and scary stuff gives me panic attacks :/. I tried so hard to go to a haunted house, ended up screaming and crying my eyes out halfway through. And then there was a haunted hayride we had to do afterwards, and apparently the actors target those who are most scared. Who thought that was a good idea? "Yeah, Freddy Krueger, target the teen having a panic attack. No, no, avoid her perfectly happy sister. Doesn't matter." Thankfully, a clown gave me a fistbump after mocking me, so I guess that was cool. We were going through a tunnel thing with a bunch of demon ladies near the end of the ride, and I had managed to at least sit up. I made eye contact accidentally with one of them, and I can imagine how she must have felt seeing this sniveling, crying girl looking at her with such fear...
My dog ALWAYS takes my spot on the couch as soon as I get up like he owns it
We were moving when my doge was about 8 months old. We had him outside with the screen door closed so he wouldn't be underfoot. We lifted the couch and headed to the door. Suddenly it was 50 pounds heavier as he had burst thru the screen and LEAPED onto "his" couch. Silly pup!
Being an artist is not easy, one can easily encounter a lack of inspiration, burnout, etc, so we wanted to ask Bella about her ideas for the comics.
"Anything that does happen in my life can be drawn into a comic. I would sort these real-life experiences by what I think people can relate to the most and draw them."
As we mentioned before, sometimes creative work can cause quite a burnout, therefore we asked the artist how she dealt with that as well.
"Absolutely! There will be days that I don't feel like drawing at all or my creativity just won't work. I would go for a walk with my dog or take a long shower to booze up my ideas and you know what? They actually work!"
Honestly in public when listening to music, i am like their inside on my outside, people probably think im insane but its really fun
Masks aren't mandatory anymore in my country in open places. For over 8 months I've been mouthing lyrics and making faces. Now I can't stop. T^T
OMG same. I'm pretty sure everyone thinks I'm crazy.
Load More Replies...Mine usually involve me being a wizard and wand dueling someone or me being a demigod and sword fighting someone.
If you want a friend go make a friend.... Yes such a stuggle , I find it way better without friends
We also wanted to know how the about how people reacted to Sriwantana's work.
"I'm grateful for each of my followers because they are so supportive. I would get DMs that my work made their days or it simply made them smile. This is what motivates me to keep creating because I love to make people happy, one comic at a time! "
The creative process is not easy, but there are some enjoyable parts about it.
"I do enjoy coloring and choosing the color palette for my illustrations. I love to work with bright and fun colors to generate positivity and liveliness."
It really is, I swear my wife hides things so she can "find" them
Load More Replies...every new years party ive ever been to. it's always "3.... 2..... 1.... HOORAY!!!!!!! .........well i guess we go home now."
once for new year i did a countdown on the computer then me and my mom ate a bunch of food. that's the best way to celebrate new year
Load More Replies...We also asked about the inspiration behind the artist's Instagram account.
"At first, I started my Instagram to get out of my comfort zone, to put my work out there and share my story. I was never confident enough to show my work to anybody because I felt like these comics were my personal diary that I should never show to anyone. But then my friends encouraged me to see how this would take me and here we are!"
Digital art and art, in general, is not easy and requires a lot of patience, time, resources, and in most cases even money, therefore we wanted to know how the talented comic artist started her own career in digital art.
"I've loved to draw since I was very young, so yes, I was drawing traditionally first. I only started drawing digitally in 2014 and decided to put my work on Instagram in 2016."
My sister will do this. Her husband makes her very delicious and nutritious meals (her cooking is bad), she'll leave half of it citing that she's full. Then 30 minutes later she goes and has a HUGE bowl of cereal! I've had meals there and his food is really yummy and I certainly didn't want anything after I'd finished eating there.
No, it's me! I'm waiting for some science papers when they actually admit that people have two stomaches!
Load More Replies...This comment actually made me laugh more than the post :)
Load More Replies...Artists tend to get motivated by a lot of things such as curiosity, the search for beauty, or even meaning. Therefore, we asked Sriwantana about that too.
"I look up to a lot of artists who helped create and shape my childhood. I used to be (and still am) that girl who would turn to art as a safe space. I want to do the same thing for someone out there. I like to imagine that 'maybe someone is having a hard day and when they see my work, their day is not that bad anymore!'
Each comic that I create also marks every chapter of my life. I'm excited to share this story with my followers and grow this lovely community together with them!"
I’d be angry bc there are 9 donuts. My mom, my dad, my sister, and me each get 2. Then war…and I get last donut.
Load More Replies...The skinny woman I married was eaten by the woman I'm with today! LOL!. It's all my fault for that and I still love her after 30 years!!
I wish I had a pony to see every morning! That would be a perfect motivation to wake up 😄
i get up every morning to see my neighbors cat, i named her jingles bc she has a jingle bell on her collar and she's the nicest kitty ever, im not a cat person but jingles is my best friend lol
I died years ago... Jameson tells me otherwise... I'm not alive, just embalmed.
Lucky I’m not a girl, but we have a different problem. Getting ‘hard’ in public
Ugh, I HATED that "time of the month"! Every woman has had at least one of "those days". At 59 yo, I'm 1000% glad "those days" are long gone!
Same here, at 50! Yet I still have other fun things happening.
Load More Replies...I thought she said she had no friends but still true
Me too. The quickest way to offend me is to offend some one I care about.
You insult me and I'm like meh not like I've never said that in the mirror before😂
I love "foggy", it's a cloth with some oil-mix that prevents it, when rubbed over classes :3
Most people do it wrong and i do not know why. I work with mask one and sweat too. So you can get a clip or some else to fit the mask on your face, or do a knot. Then you can bend that little plastic over your nose and last, make sure, the mask is under your glasses.
As a glasses wearers who still wears a mask, this is 100% true
I cant see without my glasses so i've found a certain position on my mask that prevents them from fogging and i am so grateful for that
Yep. I finally had a social life, 3 friends, I was in a play set to perform in May, I was going to move to a new house right after (somewhere much wetter than the desert I lived in then), and I had a crush on an amazing dude. Life was good. THEN my family caught a stomach bug, then when we were recovered lockdown began, the play got canceled, the whole pandemic thing happened, etc.
Load More Replies...Me:I'm gonna do so much when pandemic ends(or gets better at least)... Me: doing nothing once again....
never stopped us....outside, nature, hiking, road trips, they didn't just VANISH ...sheesh
Oh yes, my sweet childhood and teenage years and adult years to now... be married helps a lot to get up in time. Wish i know that sooner. :D
i dont get people who sleep through their alarms, im a VERY light sleeper with a very strict mental sleep schedule
Me neither. I used to share a room with 2 of my sisters, and every Saturday I would lend my alarm to one of them so she could make breakfast. I always wake up at the first ring...she always woke up after 5 of them. I stopped lending her my alarm clock after that. Wake up by yourself, kiddo, you're interrupting my sleep.
Load More Replies...I have to set multiple alarms in the morning cause I always turn the first one off without even noticing/remembering it
This is me but the mirror vs pictures. I'll be in the bathroom looking in the mirror like "Ooh, I'm lookin' kinda cute!" But as soon as I try to take a selfie or even a pic of the mirror I'm like "...NEVER MIND WAT DA HECK"
Most mirrors in fitting rooms I've been have those horrible lights from above, like neon lights which make me look truly horrible, show every single imperfection, wrinkle and smallest balls of fat. At home, I actually prefer the mirror. I don't know how they sell clothes with those lights in fitting rooms.
For me I look a lot better in the mirror, and when I take a selfie I look so much different.
That's actually because a selfie camera distorts your face quite a bit to best fit the frame. You don't actually look a whole lot like your selfies
Load More Replies...Didn't they figure that the dressing room mirrors aren't flat so they thin you ever do slightly, like they're officially "flat", but at the very edge of tolerance?
omg yes, i bought 5 pairs of jeans bc they looked so good in the fitting room then i put them on the next day and i was like what the hell happened
Can't stand looking in mirrors. Not for that reason exactly but I still avoid at all costs.
I'm a Goth...it's my philosophy XD. If you feel nice wearing it, wear it! If not, don't! Don't let society dictate what you want to wear. And if you don't want to wear anything at all, then there are nudist colonies you can be a part of.
Load More Replies...Always be you! I'd love a woman more for that than for her size be it big or small.
With me it's that I've no bra on under my t shirt and my boobs are swinging like pendulums
The dance I need to learn is the spooky scary skeletons dance, have you seen how absolutely amazing that dance is, i am not coordinated enough to do it but i'll still try lol
Um... yes, yes it is... you'd be better off doing a double backflip into a volcano!
Oh my, I couldn't help but truly LOL at this one!!! IT'S JUST ANOTHER DAY, Y'ALL!!!!
Its like when you see memes you just maybe snort a little
Little do these people know.... today marks exactly 100 days till Christmas!! I have a personalised Christmas countdown background that I made and change each day.... yes I do have a life.
i put up my christmas decorations halfway into november, but i listen to christmas music all year round :)
We wait until Gaudete Sunday, about 2 weeks before Christmas, to decorate. My friend *shiver* decorates in late October...
Load More Replies...SAME, then i have to get up and write down my ideas and then im fully awake again
Load More Replies...Also if they are so worried why the hell are they not wearing a mask?
Load More Replies...One time during a test in school I choked on water and everybody freaked out ._.
yeah heaven forbid something go down the wrong pipe and someone sprays mace in your face or hot coffee
Oh my goodness the "wrong pipe" cough sounds like a death rattle. I had it happen while taking a sip of water. I was murdered by eye daggers.
Load More Replies...Papaya is my personal battle cry. Along with “Krakatoa” and a foot stomp.
why? i mean it sounds funny, but papaya is a fruit and krakatoa is a volcano that erupted with the loudest sound ever.
Load More Replies...I read that they started to misspell names on purpose to get free advertising. People post pictures all over the place saying what it meant to say versus what it actually says. Very clever, but very sneaky 🤣
Sometimes you just want to look pretty, even if nobody's looking but you.
Load More Replies...i mean you do you, i'll just walk to the mailbox barefoot with short shorts and a hoodie on (and its like a 3 minute walk to the mailbox lol)
I remember reading (on BP, probably) about people dressing up for trash day, so sure why not for the mail as well?
I've been craving french fries for three days, and now you do this??!!?? Get me to a Wendy's, QUICK!!!!
Her French Fries are just my French Fries on the wrong plate...
I love going to the dentist, but the hygienist is always too rough scraping and flossing. My poor, sensitive bottom teeth hurt for days when she was done. The dentist is cool, though. Nice and calm. We've been going there since I was little.
Load More Replies...Idk, this might only be because I'm a teenager, but 30 isn't that old?
It's not that old, but it's totally when you start to feel old because your body starts doing weird things. I'm only 34 but I have to get out of bed a certain way, otherwise I'll hurt my back.
Load More Replies...I made my mom fall apart so uhm she has gastropresis and like she is just falling apart
I don't get it. Is life not supposed to be much better during your 30s?
THIS ANNOYS ME SO MUCH YES WHYYYY? I’m still in school so yaaay gotta do picture day with skin that keeps breaking out bc of masks. 😑
Load More Replies...Until it's not! I guess just don't eat around other people.
Load More Replies...Yeah, I finally got most of my acne cleared up! Just a bunch of scars and a few zits that need healing now...oops XD.
Load More Replies...Not that y'all don't, but please please please remember to wash your masks often!
Actual conversation I had in my 30s....... My mom (outraged after I order the turkey club with avocado for lunch): You said you HATED avocado! Me: ... when I was FIVE.
Man, her parents let her wear eyeliner at 13?! I was lucky if I was able to even SPEAK to my parents without being lectured!
Don't reveal your age online, darling, it can be dangerous.
Load More Replies...If I stop one of my dogs will reach an imperious little paw around my wrist and pull it towards her. Or she'll nudge and nudge with her little nose until she gets my attention back. The other one pats me, firmly! You cannot stop!
My cat, when you stopped petting him, would start petting you back until you kept going. He was so smart. I miss him so much.
You know, I’ve noticed that basically anyone who’s on the LGBTQ+ spectrum can not sit properly (me included)
Load More Replies...Appears to be a lady and she is sitting like that so that's how ladies sit
Now it says keep watching, I'm done, or keep watching without asking. I do the third one
Did you know that you're more likely to enjoy a TV show that is about something you don't have? It must be why I like FRIENDS so much :)
Yes, yes, so do I. Alas, I’ve messed up my body so much with my eating disorder (I’m recovered, don’t worry) that I don’t think they’ll ever come in
Never will understand this. Boobs are awful. I hate them with a serious passion. Got the f'rs at nine years old. Anybody want 'em... They're gross.
Andrew Gibb - they DO! Just don't forget that some dogs do rather like the smell of sh!te and will happily roll in the stinkiest mess they can find. I'm lucky, one isn't interested and my other dog is so daft that when he goes to roll in poo he misses and ecstatically rolls on a clean bit of grass next to it! I love my little idiot.
Reminds me of an amazing joke I saw in a comment on one of Markiplier's Universe Sandbox videos: "If I had a dime every time he said "that's so cool" or "it's so pretty", I'd had enough money to buy a computer that could handle the rendering."
Not sure about that, but ok. Unfortunately there are men with weight/self acceptance issues
Load More Replies...I once saw a menu (I think it was on Bored Panda), where they had an option "My girlfriend is not hungry". It consisted of a larger side portion of fries :-)
Haven't heard a single woman complain! Have heard at least 4 men in my environment crying about it
Men just aren't accustomed to having their orifices invaded.
Load More Replies...Cats play differently! Try catnip, a paper sack, string, laser pointer, etc. They're hilarious!
Cats can indeed be very funny (I should know). Butt…sometimes they can be… evil. Just sayin’
Load More Replies...My cat loves to lie on my lap when I pet her. She stays for hours... then goes out, checks everything and in few minutes comes back for couple more hours...
Excuse me, they are very different Have you seen the shades!
Load More Replies...Women actually do have a broader spectrum of visible colors
its not that men cant see them idiot its that we dont care what the shade is, its easier to generalize
Load More Replies...Change the title of this thread... it is ridiculous. "Every girl"? Really? -- I find a lot of posts on Bored Panda have lame titles that sensationalize or misrepresent the actual content. I wouldn't be surprised if the actual artist of the comic would be annoyed if they knew they were being misrepresented like this... now people are going to trash talk it in the comments, when the problem is the person who posted this to BP, not the artist herself. -- Have you not noticed how flame wars start in the comments when it comes to gender stereotypes?
Bro, u need to chill TF out. U don't relate??? Cool. Some others do. These r cute. Stop criticizing bc u can't relate.
Load More Replies...Change the title of this thread... it is ridiculous. "Every girl"? Really? -- I find a lot of posts on Bored Panda have lame titles that sensationalize or misrepresent the actual content. I wouldn't be surprised if the actual artist of the comic would be annoyed if they knew they were being misrepresented like this... now people are going to trash talk it in the comments, when the problem is the person who posted this to BP, not the artist herself. -- Have you not noticed how flame wars start in the comments when it comes to gender stereotypes?
Bro, u need to chill TF out. U don't relate??? Cool. Some others do. These r cute. Stop criticizing bc u can't relate.
Load More Replies...
