Artist Illustrates Daily Struggles That Most People Can Relate To (30 Pics)

Every day Shilpi receives messages from her followers telling her they’re looking forward to these daily slices of life because they make them smile, feel touched, or simply a bit less lonely. Shilpi mentioned that at first, her comics started out as doodles that would let her escape from the monotony of a 9-5 corporate job (hence the name), but nowadays, it seems like the artist has the noble mission to cheer people up and make them smile using her talent and creativity.

Bored Panda reached out to Samson to find out a little bit more about her.

“My comics are about the simple problems which people, especially women, face in their day-to-day life, presented in a light-hearted manner. Even though they are based mostly on my own life experiences, I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who could relate to them. This in itself fueled me to do more!"

"Over a period of time, we have grown as a very supportive community where a lot of the followers feel free to share their experiences and sometimes I draw them out too. It also gives me immense satisfaction and the motivation to keep drawing when people tell me how they related to my doodles which brought a smile to their face and made them feel a little less alone. I think that’s sort of the point of creating art.”

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 grew up watching cartoons like Tom and Jerry, Noddy, Oswald, etc. All these had a very simple yet super effective character design and the kid me fell in love with them. I think that’s been there in my subconscious since then and when I drew my character it reflected in my art too.

Closer home, I really love the work of Alicia Souza. Her character expressions and consistency is something that I greatly admire and respect."

Art, in any kind of form, takes a lot of time not only to practice but also to produce. Therefore, we asked Shilpi how long it takes her to fully finish her quirky comics.

"Once I get the basic idea, the visualization, drawing, and rendering usually takes me a few hours but sometimes can go up to a whole day for slightly more complex ideas.  Visualization is an important step in the process as I strive to depict the idea in a fun yet simple manner. This usually involves the most back and forth too."

Being an artist is not easy: one can easily encounter a lack of inspiration, burnout, etc. so we wanted to ask the talented illustrator about her ideas for comics.

"Most of my comics are based on my personal life experiences. In fact, these doodles were also a way for me to express my feelings about the different things happening in my life. However, now that I’ve started making these, I also keep getting suggestions from friends and the SOD community about what they would want me to draw next, based on their experiences, and this makes it all the more fun."