Today we’d like to introduce you to Mars Zavala.
Mars, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Since day one of preschool, I had grown up as the reserved and quiet kid with an admiration for a dreamy and colorful reality I could call my own. While making friends or keeping my grades maintained became a struggle the older I got, the only thing I consistently kept my focus on no matter how rough times got was my artwork and the stories I could tell from just visualism alone. It was in a way, an escape from the harsh realities of the real world.
Growing up as a brown gay girl was anxiety-inducing at the time from being outed and feeling ashamed and alienated by my family members. The only way to express my most authentic self throughout the years with no judgement was through my sketchbooks, creating characters and their stories and visual designs just for others like myself who need that reassurance they’re not alone and they never were. As time passed and I finished high school, I had practiced my style to a point where I was satisfied and ready to share my work with the world, so February 2017 was the time I began accepting commissions for my art and have been since.
My advice to any young aspiring artist is to draw literally every single day any chance you can. A quote you want to keep in mind is “a million bad drawings are worth one masterpiece”. No matter how bad you think your drawings are right now, the more you continue to practice the more you will develop into your own style that you and many others will love. To this day, I keep all my old sketches and doodles including the ones I’ve made on my high school homework and notebooks to remember my progress. Someday in the future you will look at your old work and reminisce on how far you’ve come and how much further you can go.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
One of my biggest obstacles was developing my own style. Being a teenager in the 2010’s meant I spent a lot of my time online, making me overwhelmingly inspired by so many other artists online that I was worried my work wouldn’t do well if it didn’t look like XYZ’s style. It wasn’t until my later teen years to now even that the weight of mimicking what was “cool” in the online artist-world lifted off my shoulders and I began focusing on what I’m going to be satisfied with and what aspects of my style make me happy. I am constantly developing and evolving as an artist but what won’t change about me ever is my desire to create a vividly colorful dreamland through my work.
We’d love to hear more about your art.
My business is very small right now, I am currently only taking commissions and creating artwork for anyone from influencers to everyday people to even other artists. I am most known for my digital art and what I’m most proud of is the big difference in my style from when I began commission work to now.
What is “success” or “successful” for you?
I personally define success in how much you grow within your work and within yourself as a person. You really begin to feel a sense of confidence and happiness the more you continue in the path of working with what you love most.
Contact Info:
- Email: witchsonas@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/lovewishez
- Twitter: twitter.com/lovewishs
- Other: lovewishs.tumblr.com
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