Instagram’s format makes it almost too perfect for making witty, swipe-style comic strips, and Instagram comic artists have grown rapidly in popularity over the past few years.
Comic strips on Instagram all share one similar quality- which is they’re all completely different. From Marvel and DC sketching to stick figures, the amount of genre-crossing and panelling styles seems to be limitless.
To be successful as an Instagram comic artist, you need to show particular qualities- a good sense of humour, original content and ideas, and love for your craft and, you know, the ability to draw…are three attributes that can get you a surprisingly long way in this business.
You’ve probably seen these confused blue men floating around your Instagram feed, speaking in strange tongues, trying to make sense of the peculiar human world around them. Nathan W Pyle’s Strange Planet, has quickly become one of the most popular accounts on Instagram for its hilarious take on aliens doing everyday human activities.
The methodology of each strip is simple, with a chosen activity or an average human experience being fleshed out into a brief snippet of aliens trying to figure out why we do what we do. And some of it really hits home. The scenes aren’t overly complex, and they’re presented in a light comedic way making it the perfect blend of smart wit and simple charm.
Also see thegoodadvicecookie and thegoodadvicebun, Cupcake’s friends who also have their own Instagram accounts.
The goal of The Good Advice Cupcake is very simple- to give you good advice, in a sweet icing-covered over the top sort of way. Cupcake is a sweet and pure comic that’s great for brightening dull and hard days. Her advice spans a variety of topics, but mostly she gives advice on relationships, friendships, and mindfulness and wellbeing.
Cupcake also branches out into short Q&A styled animations which are well worth the watch. She’s constantly taking requests and interacting with her audience and answering questions fans send in, making her channel feel close, tight-knit and very friendly.
Jude Devir was one of the first comic artists I started following when I just started on Instagram, and there’s only one way to describe him and his wife. Couple goals.
The content on his account usually depicts scenes from his own everyday life, giving his work a very personal touch and allows his audience to grow up as he does. Most of what he draws on Instagram revolves on the cheeky antics he and his wife, Maya, get up to. From when he first proposed to her, through their pregnancy, and the short snippets of their newborn daughter all the way to now, they share it all.
Drawing from personal experiences is a terrific way to get an audience hooked and make your own community become part of your cyber family. No one does this better than Jude and Maya Devir.
Since joining Instagram, Gabriel Picolo’s account simply named _picolo has received major success. He has since worked with DC on illustrations for an original Teen Titans comic called Raven. However, he’s most known for his work on his own original work, Icarus and the Sun, a love story of a man-made of wax and woman made of fire.
Picolo’s work feels tranquil and nostalgic and his images are full of wind and movement, drawing on the reminiscent styles of Studio Ghibli and choice video games. Flicking through his channel you’ll see original and fan art alike from Harry Potter, to Spider-man, and to snapshots from various anime.
Need a few relatable laughs? Murrz Studio is where you should go.
Murrz is one of those rare Instagram comic artists that has mastered the art of combining her relatable everyday mundane activities with comedy gold. Despite her sense of humour, her comics tend to shed light on ideas of unobtainable standards among women, being comfortable in your own body and the importance of acting goofy just for the fun of it.
Other than that, her cats make many joyous frequent appearances. Mostly at her expense. If you’ve ever seen the anime Pop Team Epic, I’d say that’s sort of what you’re getting yourself into with Murrz.
Under the account gotta_sketchum_all, Amby Vaingankar’s comics are at the height of witty drawn-from-life humour.
Going onto her account you can immediately see that her entire design is very neat and flawlessly presented with a black box panel design around every comic-making look highly professional and uniform. Most of her content is taken from her own experiences, but she isn’t one to shy away from taking political stands, with some of her content being support of gay pride and feminism.
Everything about her comics is down to earth, attached and aware of her audience, with a very glass-half-full vibe throughout. When I’m looking a comic artist to lighten my mood, then gotta_sketchum_all is my top pick.
Liz Climo is a children’s author and illustrator by day, animal-related comic artist on Instagram by night. Her work is a breath of fresh air with its whimsical nature, kid-friendly but enjoyable for all ages.
Climo’s comic strips are filled with hilarious animal puns and usually involve brief encounters between animals and coming up with hilarious ideas of what might happen if they meet. If you’re a fan of this work then why not support the release of her book “Best Year Bear Ever”, a compilation of all her comic strips.
Aldous Massie is the creator of the incredibly surreal and championing story of See Pala, where warrior women work together to guard magic gates that can take them to different dimensions.
See Pala is truly a hidden gem of a story with a very unique storyline and an artistic style that you’re unlikely to have come across before. Massie’s work is mostly done in vibrant block colours with little detail put into character design and great efforts done to create a magical atmosphere.
If you were wanting to find something new to sink your teeth into, See Pala is a fantastic place to start.
From the mind of the lovely Cassey Ho comes Blogicomics. Can any Popsters in the audience say yes, please!?
Cassey is most famous for her YouTube channel Blogilates combining all the fun of blogging and all the exercise of pilates into one bite-sized package. Along the way she got the bright idea to create a comic that runs alongside her main videos and boy, do we love it!
Her comics usually revolve around ideas relating to pilates and exercise, but also often branches out to nutrition and body image. Her comics are feel good and full of personal relatable experiences.
What happens when you cross a moon monkey with a man. Why lunarbaboon of course!
On the surface, Lunarbaboon appears as another witty, feel-good comic for the masses. Yet, it’s anything but. It follows the everyday adventures of a man, his wife and his children including many poignant messages about the world today and how we as people live our day-to-day lives.
Some meanings are more difficult to pinpoint than others which has lead fans to re-read the short comic strips over and over to really discover what the creator was intending.
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