SandSerif Comic Artist Shares Snippets of Life With Mental Illness
Like many who live with a mental illness, comic artist Sandy knows what it feels like to bottle up your feelings inside. His comic series, SandSerif, has become an outlet for him to express these feelings, sharing snippets of his life with mental illness through darkly humorous illustrations that are both authentic and relatable.
“I had a silly little idea for a comic one day so I just created it for fun,” Sandy, who prefers to stick to his online persona, told The Mighty. “From there it just grew into a productive past-time to express myself with dark humor… Better to laugh at your problems and make others laugh, too.”
Many of Sandy’s comics are inspired by thoughts and challenges people living with mental illness face daily, from something he’s overthinking, to a negative, relatable experience he lived through.
Generally reserved in nature, Sandy said, “[I’m] not very good at expressing myself. So my head is full of things I don’t say. These comics help me express those emotions or talk about a certain situation in my life that I have experienced.”
Sandy said people who follow his comics thank him for his work, and that followers look forward to the next illustration. “They feel [like] there’s someone out there who goes through the same things as them. That itself is enough to give purpose to these comics and that’s all I can hope to achieve,” Sandy said. “I started off for myself, but these people have inspired me to keep creating for them.”
Sandy encourages others who live with depression to turn their demons into creative energy, and to help other people. “Maybe not much, but it helps,” he said. “Be it in art, music, writing or any other form you can express yourself. Try to find what works for you. Creativity and humor is a great way to deal with things that you don’t want to. Rather than an obstacle, use your feelings as fuel.”
To find more of his comics, you can follow Sandy on Instagram.