Life & Work with Maiana Rose

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maiana Rose.

Hi Maiana, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
With the upcoming release of my book, “Oh, The Pics That You’ll Post!” this December 14th”, naturally, I have given a lot of attention to what’s next for my career as an artist and author. However, I’m grateful for this opportunity to take the time to reflect back and acknowledge how far I have already come.

Originally I’m from the East Coast, however I spent my formative years in Santa Fe, New Mexico where I attended high school and cultivated my love of art. I made the move to LA after graduating from a liberal arts college (Pitzer College, class of 2014). While I had always considered myself an artist at heart, pursuing a career as an artist felt like too much of a gamble, so, like many of my peers out of college, I took the opportunities that came my way. Being in LA, I ventured into something much “safer” (JK), the entertainment industry.

Introduced to the ‘9-5’ (more like 8-10), I could not keep my inner artist at bay for long, and my love of doodling was reinvigorated. However, times had changed, and instead of a scratch paper and a pen, I had an iPad with full art studio capabilities. Creating from my desk also influenced my source of inspiration, which primarily became my daily scroll on Instagram. While I found humor and visual inspiration from the platform, paradoxically, I felt an aversion to the cultural obsession around it. I began to use illustrations as a way to subtly satirize the platform as my own commentary on social media.

I began to find my contemporaries thriving on the platform and making a career out of it. Despite my mixed feelings, I was inspired and saw the potential. Ultimately I felt the need to create work that could exist beyond the platform itself.

With a decent body of work and a solid sense of the “drawlaland” brand, I began selling IG “Post” cards at local retailers. The Postcards were a cute idea but felt more like a calling card, as opposed to a passion for stationery. So I began to think about what else I could do with my artwork that had more of a message and a little more dimension to it. Thanks to my fortuitous connection with NY Times best-selling author of “The Nanny Diaries,” Nicola Wheir, the idea of creating a book came into the realm of possibilities. After a good amount of time in the creative process, toggling between brainstorms and #fails, and I have found that the creative process takes as much time being patient as it does actually creating the product, I eventually came up with an idea. Using the central message and rhyme scheme from the Dr Seuss classic “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” I had a framework that could encompass my artwork’s message. With the right guidance, I had a product ready to market.

In spite of my (not so) massive follower count, with a little luck and happenstance (it took about two years, and even abandoning the idea of having it published altogether), I did ultimately find a publisher. So to anyone reading this article, I’m telling you now, if you have a great idea, don’t give up, it’s a lot about timing.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Has it always been a smooth road…the short answer definitely not!. The long answer is that there have been countless moments in the process where I have questioned what I am doing, or if it’s worth it, or if I stand behind the art I am making.

I think like many artists, I have learned to create “as if” and keep pursuing my vision even in spite of a lack of feeling appreciated or validated by success. My art career has always been a side hustle (and for good reason) as I definitely would have starved if I was living off of re-posts, some bartered salads at Sweet Green, and gifted bottles of Rose. So maintaining a day job kept me from starving, yes, but also staved off the pressure to actually put my all into my art.

During the process of shopping the manuscript to publishers and agents, I certainly hit some roadblocks. Even the literary industry seemed to value an Instagram following over a good idea. Most publishers/agents came back to me with a very blanket response that while the idea was good, I did not have enough of a following to prove salability. After having given up on the project altogether, and albeit disheartened, I wasn’t exactly interested in the process of self-publishing (although I want to stress that isn’t always a bad route -it just wasn’t for me). However, with a little luck, through a friend of a friend, I stumbled upon a publisher that did not have a MASSIVE following as a prerequisite.

The greatest challenge that I have faced is my own relationship to Instagram as a tool for business. Not wanting to spend the time and effort to grow a following has certainly felt like a hindrance at times. While I recognize ‘a following’ can make the difference between ‘a sporadic hobby’ and ‘a career,’ there have been many moments I’ve wished I had a bigger following to land me work, an opportunity, or a book deal. The irony is that Instagram has been my greatest source of inspiration, even though my message to users is to take it less seriously. Poking fun at “instafame”, defined by a number of followers, has also been my biggest hurdle to publicize my work. I like to call it a “best frenemy” to my art career.

Writing a book, per my publisher, has been attributed to having a baby. I have not had a baby (although I did raise a puppy named Roo this past year) but, the analogy makes perfect sense to me. Once the product is born into the world, it’s only just the beginning. Now more than ever, my reliance on Instagram and a loyal fanbase persist in importance when it comes to promoting my book. My aim, though I have not reached the end of the road yet, is to continue to create art, books, etc. aligned with my message and ideally earning a living. I am still navigating the waters of marketing and social media despite also putting out work that is meant to promote taking a look at our social media usage and the negative effects it can have.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a Pop Artist/ Illustrator and Author currently based in Los Angeles. I came up with the concept for my series/ IG account, @drawlaland a few years back as my light commentary on a cultural obsession I observed surrounding Instagram–especially in Los Angeles. I’d like to think I have an elevated sense of humor, and my art certainly is meant to be humorous, ironic, and very very pink, a very ‘IG-Zeitgeisty’ color. My work has a subtle way of mocking ‘grammers’, without actually shaming them. The art and book are meant to be relatable to people who use the platform and offer some inclusivity and comic relief. While I do have contemporaries, I have yet to find someone who is exactly in my lane. Now, with a book coming out, I am finally taking my work a little more seriously than before (I never take myself too seriously) and am stepping into a phase of my career where I can grow as an Artist. I am always looking to the next project or creative endeavor, I already have a few things In progress, a few things I am trying to manifest, and I am excited to see what unfolds.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
The Pandemic for me was a huge change of pace. First off, I left LA altogether and went back to Santa Fe, NM, where my family lives. My work as a producer had shut down for the most part, and I was stuck in a small POD with my family and a few close friends. The Pandemic definitely separated me from my external world and #goals. I had to be ok with all external and immediate satisfaction being stripped out from under me. Success didn’t matter, relationships, work, a social life, all gone with a poof! Something, I acknowledge, I am not alone in having experienced. If the Pandemic did teach me anything, especially being a goal-oriented person, is that finding success does not mean finding contentment or happiness. I constantly have to remind myself to be present because, as cliche as this sounds, ultimately it is about the journey, not the destination. During the pandemic, I started out feeling really negative about how much I felt had been suddenly taken from me. Eventually, those feelings shifted into gratitude for the time I got to spend with my parents and the time I had to be self-reflective and separate myself from my external stimuli and validations. It was certainly a catalyst for re-prioritization. I would hope we all had a similar shift in priorities during this global catastrophe. At least I know for me and those I love, we will never be the same. Funnily enough, the lessons learned from my pandemic experience align well with the message of my book, telling readers to be more present, live in gratitude, and remember the bigger picture of life (not the small square one on your small screen)!

Pricing:

• 10.95- Paperback “Oh The Pics That You’ll Post!”
• 21.95 – Hardcover “Oh The Pics That You’ll Post!”

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.drawlaland.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drawlaland/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drawlaland/
• Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/drawlaland

Image Credits
Erik Tranberg