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We hope that you had a very merry Christmas and found a lot of lovely presents under your Chemis-tree brought by Santa Claws. No, we didn't make any mistakes there because Nadia Tolstoy is back on Bored Panda! After the previous post got so many positive reactions, we want to share a new batch of Nadia's fun and playful drawings.

Nadia is an interior architect and an artist based in Sweden who creates surreal and punny doodles illustrating the literal or slightly different meanings of some English words. The artist previously shared that she had no intention of starting an Instagram account. Then, in April, she got an awful cold and couldn’t concentrate on anything, so she started doodling in her sketchbook. And that's how surrealians were born! Scroll down for some fun and laughter!

More info: Instagram | surrealians.com | twitter.com | nadiatolstoy.se

Bored Panda got in touch with Nadia again to learn more about her creative process and herself! Seeing all those creative doodles, we got curious whether the artist faces some challenges in creating them. Nadia replied that the most challenging part of the creative process for her is mostly finding time for it! "I have a day job and a family so I try to squeeze in my doodles early in the morning (mostly) or late at night (not very often as I´m not a night owl, sadly). I do get stuck for puns sometimes but I try to make lists of ideas when they come to me so that I have a bunch of ideas to go back to. I also get funny and fab suggestions from my followers, which I always appreciate. In my mind, everyone is creative, the trick is to make room for it."

Besides all the challenges that come along the way, there definitely are pleasant things about creating. Otherwise, why bother? For Nadia, the most enjoyable part of the creative process is the "Can you guess tomorrow´s wordplay?" - doodles without captions that Nadia posts for her followers to guess the pun before it´s out. "It´s so much fun seeing if people make the same associations as me! And oftentimes, they come up with even funnier puns! I don´t have time to do it every time but I try to get those Stories out at least a couple of times a week."

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Artist Illustrated Literal Meanings Of Words And Word Combinations (New Pics)

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terryzoey19 avatar
Screen_Addict
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

🎶 When the poo hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that's l'emour 🎶

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How long it takes to create one illustration varies from doodle to doodle. "Sometimes, it just takes 10-20 minutes, when it´s a simple one and I have the idea clear in my head, like the JON SNOW one. But sometimes it takes waaaaaaay longer like the KNEE CAP one because I don’t even know what angle to go for and how to make it super clear. I first tried drawing just the knee on top of a cap but it looked all wrong so I had to start over and include the whole leg with the shoe and all. So that one probably took me more than an hour to get right. Also, I sometimes start one and realize it´s going nowhere so I let it rest and revisit it later. So you might say from 15 minutes to 15 days."

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No matter how engaged and motivated you are, sometimes burnouts are inevitable. Nadia shared that she has not experienced that yet, since she's only been creating these doodles for 6 months, although she thinks that most creative people go through a burnout phase in life. "It seems it´s what happens when you make stuff you are passionate about, but you don’t always take time for self-care. And actually, I do get panicky from time to time, when I realize I need to produce content to keep my output up and there just isn’t enough time (GAAAAH) but I try to give myself a break then and not be too hard on myself if I don’t post for a few days!"

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As for her future plans, Nadia shared that she is going to try and keep her Instagram page going for as long as she can. At least, she promised herself a year. "My @surrealians account is purely for fun at the moment, so at some point, I will have to be sensible about it and start selling some printed t-shirts or something but I´m so not an entrepreneur in that way. I just want to do the creative stuff! If anyone reads this and wants to give me some sound business advice, I´m here! On that note, I´ve gotten a lot of questions about creativity through the years so I´m now training to be a creativity coach (@nadiatolstoy). I truly believe creativity and play bring joy, and I think everyone deserves to feel that joy!"

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terawdon avatar
TheAnimalLady
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whoa, SLOW your roll. Don't be greedy... or prideful, envious, wrathful, gluttonous, lustful or lazy (slothful).

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TheAnimalLady
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

🎼🎶Rollin', Rollin', Rollin' on the River🎵🎶... Butt disintegrating afterwards.

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Artist Illustrated Literal Meanings Of Words And Word Combinations (New Pics)

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Note: this post originally had 93 images. It’s been shortened to the top 35 images based on user votes.