ARIANNA MARGULIS : ARTIST
“I’m originally from the suburbs of Detroit. I majored in English at the University of Michigan. I always doodled in class, which is how my skillset began to take shape. I wasn’t formally trained in fine art or drawing – practice is what has really helped me to perfect my craft. I find myself getting better and better over the years.”
“The art itself and taking things with a sense of humor. I like to joke that my work is ‘imperfect art’. I don’t do super-detailed sketches, it’s more about the feeling and the fun that the art evokes. The reason why people can relate so well to my work is because the art is so simple: She has two eyes and a mouth. Anyone can put themselves to her. She’s not an exact character, just a smiley face.”
Q: Tell us about your work on Instagram. How did you build your following? How are people engaging with you on social media?
“When I first started out, I had a friend who worked at Cosmopolitan who did a little piece on me. I was featured on their Snapchat Discover channel and gained close to 20,000 new followers in one day from the feature. I remember throwing my phone because I was scared that if I touched something, they’d delete. That was the point where I thought, maybe I could turn this into more than just a funny Instagram page. Maybe I’m creating an outlet that is really helping and affecting people. Since then, it’s been really organic. Instagram is a community. More and more girls are reaching out to me, saying ‘I love this cartoon and work for this brand, let’s do something together.’ It’s so fun what I’ve been able to do with it and try to do everything I can that makes sense. I want to stay true to who I am and who she is and have a good time with it.”