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Chuck Mullin is a 28-year-old artist based in London who uses her talent to illustrate her daily reality with cute comics whose main character is a pigeon. With all of that being said, the series of illustrations follow Chuck's narrator who is a pigeon dealing with anxiety.

In her book, Chuck said that she began to suffer from anxiety and depression aged seventeen. She then turned to drawing comics as a way to make sense of her experience. She soon found that pigeons were the perfect subjects through which to explore the complexities of living with mental illness, and several years later, her funny, quirky birds have won legions of fans online.

From bad times to positivity, the comics in Bird Brain use humor to provide a glimpse of what's going on in Chuck's head: dissociative episodes; cycles of anxiety; her struggle to accept she's not alone; and the power of optimism on the days it's possible.

More info: Instagram | bookdepository.com | linktr.ee

Given the opportunity, Bored Panda reached out to Chuck with some questions! First, we asked the artist about how she started working on her comics.

“I’ve always loved drawing but didn’t really start making comics until I was in my early twenties. At first, I just made comics using myself as a character, but I made one comic featuring a pigeon and people seemed to like it!”

In case you didn't know, "chuckdrawsthings" is a whole project series that the artist poured her heart into over the years. We were wondering how Chuck decided to make a pigeon the main character in her work.

“The first pigeon comic I made was about a pigeon being able to understand the mean things people say about them, but staying strong and confident regardless. I think it resonated with people because pigeons get a lot of hate so they’re very relatable underdog figures.”

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A lot of Chuck's followers also resonate with her thoughts and work, and though some comics hit too close to home, some of them are still really funny. We asked the artist about how she felt making so many people smile with her work.

“It’s an incredible feeling to see someone enjoy something I make. Even if it’s a sad comic, it’s meaningful to have people who can relate to what it’s about, it makes me feel less alone.”

We mentioned at the very beginning that the artist has written a book so we decided to ask her to tell us a little bit more about it.

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“My book ‘BIRD BRAIN’ is a collection of pigeon comics and writings about my experiences with depression and social anxiety. My comics are very personal already, but I wanted to include some of my own writing just to make it more in-depth.”

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We were also wondering if Chuck had any advice to share with her fellow artists who might just be starting out.

“It’s okay to have days where you feel unable to do anything at all. There’s no shame in resting or taking breaks - when you’re ready, you can come back to art with a fresh sense of vigor!”

Lastly, we were wondering whether depression and anxiety were something the artist still dealt with, and here's what she told us, “Yes, I still do - I take medication for it, I’m mostly good, but I do have my bad days still. I just take it one day at a time.”

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#10

Artist Who Lives With Anxiety And Depression Creates A Pigeon As The Narrator Of His Comics That Will Bring A Smile To His Face (Interview With Artist)

chuckdrawsthings Report

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Wysteria_Rose
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me to my husband of eight years. He has to chuckle every time and go, "do you just think I'll wake up and not like you?"

EmCWolf
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

With my fiancé, we call this the Dumb Question (because of course we love each other!). So when one of us is sad, we go "can I ask you the Dumb Question?" and the other will say "Yes, I still love you and you're doing good" etc

Mahogany Eclipse
Community Member
2 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Me, only I don't even have the courage to ask that question of my SO 😅😅😅

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Artist Who Lives With Anxiety And Depression Creates A Pigeon As The Narrator Of His Comics That Will Bring A Smile To His Face (Interview With Artist)

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Artist Who Lives With Anxiety And Depression Creates A Pigeon As The Narrator Of His Comics That Will Bring A Smile To His Face (Interview With Artist)

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Artist Who Lives With Anxiety And Depression Creates A Pigeon As The Narrator Of His Comics That Will Bring A Smile To His Face (Interview With Artist)

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