26 Comics By Susie Esse That Blend Humor With Heartwarming Moments

Susie grew up in Brisbane and currently resides in Sydney, Australia. "I'm a millennial who grew up drawing the original 151 Pokémon and reading Garfield," she shared with Bored Panda.

When asked what inspired her to use comics to illustrate her life and thoughts, the artist replied that she likes to use comics because they force her to distill a story, feeling, or joke down to its simplest form. "Just the essentials. I take my sprawling thoughts and spend days mulling over the best way to get my point across in as few panels as possible."

Reflecting on what she hopes her audience takes away from her comics, Susie explained that her primary goal is for people to feel seen and understood. "Everybody just wants to feel seen," she said.

Discussing how social media, particularly Instagram, has influenced her journey as an artist, Susie shared her insights on the impact of posting her comics online. "Posting my art online forces me to be less precious about my art. People will see it and have their own personal connection or interpretation about it that I have no control over. Most people tag me but some might share it without tagging me or translate it into a different language in a way that changes the meaning completely. People assimilate the art into their own narrative that I, the artist, am not a part of. But if you want to put art into the world that's just something you have to accept. If people are having a personal connection to the art then I guess it means I'm doing it right."

A lot of Susie's older comics feature her, as she described, soul-cat Penny, who unfortunately got sick and died last year. When that happened, the Instagram community became a balm for Susie. "Grieving a pet can be really lonely. No one outside your immediate household can ever really understand the loss. Posting comics about my grief connected me to other people grieving their beloved pets. I was taken aback by the outpouring of love and sadness. There are a lot of people out there hurting. We didn’t know each other’s pets, but we understood each other’s pain. It helped. It also encouraged me to tap into my authenticity. I would always get caught up trying to draw what I thought people wanted to see. As soon as I let my guard down, I noticed my engagement went up. People can always tell when you're being real."