The beauty of art is its universality. A feeling that doesn’t need words to be expressed, it doesn’t require a name, a face, socio-political backgrounds to be understood and that is just what Sandserif’s comics convey. With black and white illustrations, blank tiles and comics without any words, his work is expressive and questions the concept of life and living, acknowledging thoughts that run in all our heads. While most literature and art, is based upon the time period, age and background of its creation, comics nowadays transcend those barriers to shed light on emotions felt by us all as humans or individuals on Earth.
The secret of his identity doesn’t take away from his relatability but in turn adds to it. But, the artist himself simply states “It's fun having an alias.”
A graphic artist and illustrator, Sandserif has nearly seventy-five thousand followers on Instagram. His work for him involves- “emails, calls, rarely meetings and that's about it.” He shares how making comics for him is a more of a hobby and mostly creates when he has idea stuck in his head. “I get up and start drawing on my tablet. Most comics usually take a few to many hours. Some take all day” he explained.
Yet, he continues that making time to relax and unload for him is essential and he is able to “get enough time to relax and play videogames or watch Netflix”. Even while talking about the platform of Instagram, he comments that he had no “real plan” and simply considered it to be an “important outlet” where he can express thoughts he doesn’t actively share in person. One would say that it is this idea of an “outlet” that helps his audience connect with him.
Creating a comics
“I have a list of ideas on my phone that I keep adding to” he revealed. Before starting his illustrations, he visualizes the comic in his head and then puts it on his computer using a pen tablet. When it's complete, he transfers the files to Google drive and uploads them to his social media platforms.
Sandserif does not refer to himself as a comic artist however. He uses the format of a comic but the aspect of comedy that it entails is not purpose of his work. For him, it is important to talk about issues of mental health and spread awareness. Some of his comics hence are called “Drinking with Death”, “Simpler”, “Focus”, “Dealing with toxicity” and “Current state of existence”. His comments section is filled with people who themselves face similar emotions but in their own diverse situations. A factor that often takes his audience by surprise is how he is able to articulate his thoughts through the comic format with such ease. These elements help his work resonate in the minds of the scrolling Instagrammers that often stop to understand the deep sentiments behind his work. Sandserif also commented that his Ask Me Feature on Instagram stories is to bond with his audience and he feels it important to connect with those who find comfort in his work.
Beating the unavoidable sense of competition on the App
“We have an artist group where we often discuss this internal feeling of ‘oh no I'm losing followers’ or ‘how is this person growing so much faster than me’. I think that feeling will stay but it does not bother me as much anymore. I used to feel very pressured to keep up but I realized that's not why I create them so, why worry?”
Discussing the past
“I was proud of a lot of my first comics. Especially because I was in search for a humorous side to myself in my initial comics. I had never ever even thought of making comics, prior to that, so the initial few were close to me.
One of my oldest ones is going for my first art class as a tiny kid and being asked to copy a drawing of a fruit bowl. And doing it really well to the point where the teacher was surprised and said I'd be a good artist one day.”
It's been a really amazing journey and I'd say almost, lifesaving to a degree, for the amount of support and love that I have received from people all around the world. It is a bit bizarre but also wonderful.