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Santiago Bara is an artist from Spain who creates humorous and aesthetically pleasing illustrations as a commentary on modern life. He started making these "little cartoons" as practice for more serious jobs, but they unexpectedly evolved into something bigger than that, and now the artist has more than 7k followers on Instagram.

Santiago's creations attract attention with their simplicity and accurate depiction of the present-day world. He makes people laugh by highlighting the absurd elements of today's society. Santiago's inspiration comes from the real world and his interactions with people. The artist believes that the clash between one's expectations of the world and what one then finds in everyday situations can be a good starting point for a comic.

If you want to see more Bored Panda posts about Santiago and his work click here or here.

More info: Instagram | sbara.bigcartel.com

Bored Panda has reached out to Santiago again, wanting to find out more about his recent work. First, we asked how he decides which ideas to pursue and turn into full-fledged comics. He told us: “Well, for the ideas for the comics, I don't set out to find a theme, but they come up in everyday life and the things I see or read. Although looking at what I do in retrospect, in reality, it's clear that I'm almost always circling around no more than two or three themes (love, memory, alienation...).”

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    We wanted to know his view about the role humor plays in art, and in society. Santiago said: “Humor works as a lightener, a sugar coating that makes it bearable to talk about certain things. Although there are certain people for whom humor on some subjects is not tolerable. Especially jokes related to identity issues, both political and tribal.”

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    #5

    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    Elena Doyle
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    From what I am interpreting from this: kids start out as thinking outside the box and using creative thinking skills and through the years with the public school system, they are compressed mentally into what the school wants them to be. Their creative skills are discouraged and it is basically like a really slow process of brainwashing. That’s the public school system for you… and it’s only getting worse. I think the video for Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” describes this perfectly.

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    Asked about particularly challenging or rewarding experiences he has had as a comic creator, Santiago mentioned: “The most satisfying experience making the comics I do is the sharing of my work. That it reaches readers anywhere in the world, and they empathize with it and feel represented.”

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    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    Nikki Sevven
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Playing expressively is much more pleasing to your audience. They won't notice the slight departures from strict tempo, but they'll remember how the song made them feel.

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    Next, we wanted to know what in his opinion sets his artwork apart from that of other comic creators. Santiago explained: “I don't think there are any major aspects that differentiate me from other creators. Maybe some of my vignettes tend to be a bit ambiguous, or even abstract and do not leave a 100% clear resolution. But, although those are my favorites, I think that in general, they are the ones that people like the least.”

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    Lastly, we were curious if there are any artists or creators who have influenced Santiago’s work. He told us: “I'm influenced by everything I come across. For example, I've recently been reading about Frida Kahlo, and beyond the icon that everyone knows, there is a very inspiring life and work. I found it very motivating. Or another recent example, which has nothing to do with the art world, are the interviews I've seen with biologist Michael Levin. I think I understand about 10% of what he says, but what ideas? Very crazy.”

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    #10

    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    Bec
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Sometimes it upsets me to visit museums with mummies, it's weird that it is somehow ok to dig a person up and display them. Cremation for me.

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    #11

    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    Charlee C.
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Bored Panda. Censoring suicide is certainly part of the problem. For f**k's sake.

    jBeachey
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Stop censoring life! Suicide is a very real thing ! You can’t censor everything that makes people uncomfortable. Stop censoring our lives! If people sue Bored Panda because of a word that makes them uncomfortable then they need to get over it and accept that s****y things happen in real life.

    Alexander Smith
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I completely misread that at first and thought it said they needed it the most...which is ironic as a sufferer of such ideation.

    Blue Jay
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    That's how I read it too and it made sense to me.... my brother killed himself and the hardest part is being torn between missing him and being grateful he isn't suffering any more

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    Divado
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Censored by AI, which is interesting as all of these look like they were created by AI.

    C. R.
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There's one sitting alone. Meanwhile, there's a huge beacon of LIGHT calling all those in need. And there's literally nobody there.

    Lucca Wenner
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I feel almost like they are needed to shine the light....they have a role and place, and they are needed by others.

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    Mark Lutton
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Well, yeah, helping people in need all the time ... realizing that's all you're ever going to do ... and you've trained most of them into learned helplessness ... and it never does any good, they always revert ...

    Kawazoe
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So there's not a tiniest thing that's positive about it? Like nothing they do after being helped benefits anyone? Man that's dark.

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    Nikki Sevven
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The censoring is a complete waste. If you can't figure out what the word is, then the post doesn't even make sense. If you can, then there's no point in censoring it.

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    Christine Anderson
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    So much censoring of common words crack me up because of them being so called either politically incorrect of offensive. We can let filthy, filthy words be sung and glorified on videos, tv, now even in books, etc but a word such as this has to be whited out so to speak. Laughable!!! You can use any vaulger disgusting words or phrases but say certain everyday words we have used for years and now they are taboo. This world is nothing but goofy! My opinion...

    Christine Anderson
    Community Member
    1 year ago

    This comment has been deleted.

    B-b-bird
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    STOP censoring. Problems need to be addressed, instead of covered. Seriously

    HBrown
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    WHO CENSORED THE WORD "SUICIDE"?! Panda? Come on! Do better.

    pebs
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    How you can censore "suicide"? One even can't understand the caption! Totally crazy... Or maybe you will also censore "crazy"?!

    Christa
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Y’all need to stop stressing, they censored the word “Science”

    Beverly Schmidt
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    this is so true. andy why many wait until there is nothing left to keep them here. everybody around them watch them fade away bcs well they freakin need something... the person is dieing in frontbof them and they dont see

    crowspectre (he/they)
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    Very untrue. As spmeone who gets suicidal, literally only two people actually benefit from my life and those are my best friend and my boyfriend

    Kawazoe
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I actually do feel the same about myself but then again I don't think we can really see everything. Maybe there are small things that we do and it's not small to someone else who we might be completely unaware of.

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    #13

    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    The Original Bruno
    Community Member
    1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    God, I remember the way the pro-marijuana protestors would absolutely trash the parks. I haven't seen trash like that since before trash clean-ups of greenspaces started to become a thing in the late '70s.* I know there have been some unfair and misdated images of environmental protests; I do not mean those. But Hell, pot-heads I you gotta do better. (Maybe they do by now, this was a long time ago.) (*When I was a kid, urban greenspaces would often collect trash for years. You really can't imagine how disgusting it was. America went through its own phase of looking like those pictures you see of India's trash... not so long ago.)

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    #16

    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    StrangeOne
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The stem is where we start out and it branches out in many directions. Notice the different veins have different lengths, and the points of the leaf, as well. We take many paths in our lives and each one determines how far we'll make it out to old age.

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    #17

    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    The President
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    The jury let's their organs decide? One follow the heart, one follows the brain, guts, etc? These are all so good because there's no one meaning to it.

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    #19

    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    fair_weather_rose
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    I think this roughly translates to "I need you to need to be important to me," but I'm honestly slightly confused

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    #24

    Incisive And Hard-Hitting New Comics By Artist Santiago Bará (24 Pics)

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    jBeachey
    Community Member
    1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

    There needs to be explanations with these illustrations so we know what point he’s trying to make.

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