15 YEAR ANNIVERSARY!!!

This month marks 15 years since I started ArtbyMoga. WHAT!? Thank you for following along on this journey. I wrote a reflection that summarizes the last 15 years. It’s a long read, so sorry, but if you’re interested here it is:

I began posting comics for friends and family as a kid on Facebook in 2009. With some encouragement, I started sharing my art on sites like Deviantart, Tumblr, and Instagram.

I was surprised my comics were actually popular on these sites; I had posts going viral at 15 and 16 years old. As a kid in high school, seeing 100,000 ‘likes’ on a piece of art I made had a profound impact. It was addicting.

I worked on comics every free moment I had and continued to grow the ArtbyMoga community throughout high school and college.

In those 8 years I created well over 500 comics. They range from funny to sad, goofy to serious, thoughtful to ignorant, meaningful to cringe. Very cringe.

When I graduated college at 22, I had almost 1 million followers across my social media platforms. This was when I decided to try and make comics my full-time career.

With my undivided attention, ArtbyMoga expanded to an online shop, apparel store, freelance projects, private commissions and collaborations with large companies such as Adobe, Netflix and Hulu. I even signed a book deal!

2019 marked 10 years of posting comics as Moga. Online I was a beaming success, but in my personal life things had grown quite dark. I started ArtbyMoga at 14 years old, and I burnt out on it at 24. I was diagnosed with major depressive disorder, anxiety and a panic disorder. Just in time for the pandemic to start!

Like so many of us, I struggled during the pandemic. I blamed a lot of my depression on Covid and the general state of the world. To cope, I focused on writing my book. Unfortunately, I focused so intensely I neglected my mental health. Shortly after finishing my book (which I’m so proud of), I had a severe breakdown.

For the first time ever I couldn’t make art. This inability to produce anything really messed with my sense of self. You all were so kind and patient, but I still felt like I was letting my readers down. My identity and worth was so tied to ArtbyMoga, when I was unable to keep up with the comics I felt a great sense of shame and failure.

On October 31st, 2023 I tried to kill myself. I ended up at a crisis center and was eventually diagnosed as having bipolar and ADHD.

Since being diagnosed I have started proper medication for my disorders and it has made all the difference. I am making comics again, which for a while felt like a total impossibility. I’m focusing on healing and moving forward with my life after almost losing it to depression. Life is really good right now :)

As time has gone on, I no longer tie success to the number of ‘likes’ a comic gets, but rather the kind of conversation it creates. I love interacting with you folks from all over the world, and hearing what stories/thoughts/emotions my art brings up for you.

If you took the time to read all of this, thank you. It’s been an honor to make comics for you.

Much love,

Meg