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Art
Scene
40 | FireFlyz
JamilahLim
was excited to speakwith travelogue-comic artist, Mimi Mashud, of Kuala
Terengganu in 7 Days
(KTi7D) fame. In this exclusive interview, we ask the witty and
chirpy 34- year-old about her newest comic, her art and her inspirations.
M
imi
Mashud is not
quite your average
travel writer.
Where mos t
other travellers
document their
travels with words
and pictures, Mimi illustrates her experi-
ence in painstakingly drawn and coloured
comics.
Hailing from Bandar Baru Bangi,
the gutsy and eloquent Mimi graduated
fromMonash University with a degree in
Multimedia. She worked as a multimedia
designer for an IT outfit in Kuala Lumpur
for a while before she decided to quit
and pursue a freelance illustrator and
animator role.
A Brush with
Mimi Mashud’s Inspiring Art
Where others choose the pen, it’s
not difficult to understand why she has
chosen the brush instead.
“I’ve been drawing since I was a kid. I
really loved making comics and little pic-
ture books. Back then I even harboured
an ambition to be a cartoonist. I’m not
sure howmy parents felt about it then, or
even now!” she laughingly shares.
Growing up reading local comic like
Gila-Gila
,
Ujang
and the like, Mimi cites
Dato’ Lat as her hero.
“My mom used to buy his books for
me when I was young. I would be really
engrossed with his
Kampung Boy
and
Mat Som
stories.”
But why delve into travelogues, we
queried.
The answer, it seems, has a practical
edge.
“A couple of years back, I picked up
Guy Delisle’s
Jerusalem on a Whim
at
Kinokuniya, then Florent Chavouet’s
Tokyo On Foot
, then Craig Thompson’s
Carnet de Voyage
.
“I really got into these books.
“Then I realised that in Malaysia, no
one was doing travelogue-comics (or
place-based graphic novels), except for
Dato’ Lat. I wanted to do it. So I wrote
and sketched a little story about the trip
I made to Beijing with my family in 2012
and put it on Facebook.”
Proper comic
The response she received was so good
Firefly flies to
Kuala Terengganu
four times a day.
Visit www.fireflyz.
com.my to check
out our latest
promotions