A 32-year-old talented artist, Lainey Molnar is on a journey to empower other women. She creates honest comics related to motherhood, self-acceptance, the right or ability to choose, and to refuse social stereotypes.
“I believe that the pressure on women comes from both inside our own community and outside, be it family, media, or men,” the artist told us. “It is incredibly hard to navigate all of their expectations and reach the milestones society has set out for us, like maintaining the perfect size and shape, being maternal but also ambitious, strong but also sensitive, staying youthful and fresh while gracefully accepting the aging process, looking ideal but not overdoing plastic surgery. I could go on and on and on, and we are all so tired of this.”
Scroll down to see Lainey’s recent work.
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“I have a miles and miles-long ‘Illustration Ideas’ list on my phone, I sometimes literally wake up in the middle of the night to write down new ones and I grab my phone to make notes at any point when I see something inspiring,” the artist told Bored Panda about her creative process. “When I sit down to draw I just go through the list and see what I resonate with at that moment. I draw digitally on an iPad and sometimes I just binge-watch tv shows at the same time, but usually, I like to create an ambiance, like candles, incense, and good music, because I believe the vibes and emotions also go into every artwork.”
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When asked whether she has any personal favorites out of her illustrations, Lainey said it’s the one where she compares “someone with physical health struggles” and “someone with mental health struggles”: “It’s this illustration because it is extremely personal. I struggled with my mental health for 18 years of my life and I know how hard it is to live with invisible illnesses people around us can just shrug off. I usually process female empowerment topics in either a straightforward or funny way, but at the end of the day we are all simply human beings and I find it crucial to address stigmatized topics because it gives so many of us relief to know that we are not alone.”
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Talking about “creative block,” Lainey is happy to have not had experienced it too much before: “If something, I have too much to say. In an ideal world, a lot of what I’m communicating would be obvious, but as we’re not there yet, I don’t mind processing the same pain points over and over again via a visual medium, because the feedback is overwhelmingly positive and it’s not something one sees on social media a lot so that’s definitely an endless source of motivation.”
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Lainey says she is inspired by artists like Adam Ellis, Tiny Moron, and Wowocomics: “They all have very different styles and a very different sense of humor, but I think it always comes down to personality that shines through the art, so there is space for all unique creators to show how they perceive the world. I don’t think it’s about being great with technical details like anatomy skills or shading, but it’s the vision and purpose that matters.”
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As for her future endeavors, Lainey shared: “I just started working on the biggest project of my career and that is writing and illustrating a book. I’m a huge bookworm and I worked in publishing and was a blogger for more than half a decade—hence why my captions are also as important as the illustration itself—so I really hope that I can create something magical that will help women be happier and more liberated from societal expectations.”
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