Ask Liana Finck how she got started as an artist and she’ll offer you a hilariously frank answer: “I started drawing when I was a baby and I’ve been drawing since then.”
The response embodies what’s so compelling about Finck’s cartoons. Both acid and innocent, Finck’s words and drawings are unflinchingly honest.
When the Insta-famous paramour who inspired Finck to start her account withdrew his affections, Finck turned to Instagram as an outlet for her intense feelings.
“When we broke up I had all this anger and, for some reason, for the first time I turned it outward instead of inward… I turned it into drawings and I started posting them on there,” explained Finck.
It’s easy to see that while her art largely expresses moments of pain and sorrow, Finck takes great pleasure in her work.
“It’s so much fun, I love it,” said Finck. “I think of [Instagram as] a public sketchbook, which is the perfect portfolio. I don’t know if it’s helping my career but it’s helping my work a lot. I do it so I don’t have writer’s block with stuff that I would pick apart in my head. Instead I just start drawing.”
But when we asked Finck to pick favorites from her own work, she told us plainly, “I prefer other people’s cartoons.” Some of Finck’s favorites are popular Instagram cartoonists like Mari Andrew and Lord Birthday. “I like them a lot,” said Finck.
Ever humble, Finck isn’t sure exactly what alchemy has brought followers her way, but she has some ideas about attracting intelligent audiences while weeding out trolls.
“I did notice that I think I tried to post enough good things that good people follow me and enough bad things that bad people unfollow me,” mused Finck.
“When I post really likable stuff I start getting trolled, but then I post stuff that isn’t as likable and the people who like it and comment are really smart.”