Chilean illustrator Fran Nerd and her Instagram drawing project Franuary
Fran Nerd aka illustrator Fran Meneses populates her Instagram feed with a charming collection of drawings and illustrated journals.
Originally from Chile and now living and working in Hastings, Fran describes herself as “coffee lover, cat hugger and pencil hunter” and a self confessed social media addict with a strong online presence via her blog, YouTube channel, Tumblr, Twitter and Instagram her humorous illustration work recently caught our eye.
Artwork by Fran Nerd
Pastel tones, watercolour textures and fine inky lines all work in tandem to give her quirky stories a calming aesthetic. A fairly recent change in Fran’s style has further added to this tone. She no longer tends to use black in her illustrations, opting for navy blues and deep reds instead. This lifts each of her pieces, working harmoniously with the rest of her soft colour palette.
Fran’s Instagram acts as an illustrated journal
A page from Fran Meneses’ sketchbook
Fran has almost 250K followers on Instagram and she keeps them regularly updated with content created especially for the platform. Journal-style illustrations range from lists of things she feels take forever to anecdotes about the last time she got her hair cut. The randomness of the assortment of thoughts displayed over her feed make them all the more humorous, relatable and engaging.
Fran’s Instagram feed allows followers to get to know even the oddest parts of her super-creative brain.
Fran also uses the interacts with her followers, encouraging this growing audience to suggest things for her to draw relating to a certain theme. A particularly funny series emerged when Fran asked people to tell her the oddest things they used to do as a child.
Day 4 of Franuary 2017
Day 1 of Franuary 2018
Each January, Fran sets herself a different challenge to better herself as a creative. Last year, she drew a different animal in a different situation (all of which were suggested by followers) each day. And this year she is painting a new t-shirt every day of the month!
Franuary 2018 has already featured cleanly cats and welcoming weirdos on stylish t-shirts. It’s anyone’s guess what eccentric design Fran will conjure up next.
Day 2 of Franuary 2018
Day 2 of Franuary 2017
Even when not engaged in a challenges like Franuary or Inktober, Fran keeps her Instagram regularly updated. Some might say Fran’s prolific style makes it easier to create daily content like this. However, honing such a style takes a lot of work. And having the motivation to keep it up is impressive in itself. With both skill and determination, Fran has built a community of followers who she can engage with and reward in the most creative of ways.
Fran uses Instagram to share illustrated journal entries
A page from Fran’s sketchbook
Fran uses Instagram as an interactive platform