We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tanya Macumber-Anderson. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tanya below.

Alright, Tanya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

The most meaningful project that I have done were the comic books that I made for my husband, my daughter and my son. I designed a personal comic for each of them with our story together with Illustrations. I married my husband when I was 40 and I adopted his children who then became mine!
When I was growing up I didn’t really have a family so making a family for my children meant the world to me. THEY mean the world to me.

Tanya, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a late diagnosed AuDHD artist. I did not know until couple of years ago, why I am the way I am. I have always known I was very different. I just didn’t understand why I have always been a little strange.
I have always loved art. I started drawing and creating stories very early in life. I distinctly remember in second grade one of my stories was hung up in the front hallway because I won a contest. From there I continued creating, drawing, painting, falling in love with literature, art, music, color theory.
Eventually, I began writing children’s stories , poems ,fantasy comics and illustrating them.
Sculpting was next. I picked up a lump of clay in art class one day. I sculpted a rose on my first try and from that day on, I was hooked. I found that I could sculpt pretty much whatever I looked at and with anything i could get my hands on, including…sugar…
So began the love of sculptured cakes(Duff Goldman helped with that obsession…thanks Duff).
Tattoo art, painting , sculpting, illustrating, cake decoration, resin art , wherever my chaotic mind wants to go we go.
Art has helped heal me my entire life. Every experience, every heartbreak, every triumph is documented in my creations. From this I have developed 3 separate entities for the different categories of what I do. FaerieFXStudios( for my non horror art), PsychoSiblings Walking Dead Adoption Center(horror art for my spooky boos) and SugarHigh Cakes and More ( for my cake creations).
I am not famous, I am not wealthy, I am just showing my art to the world and hoping to find someone who loves it as much as I do.
My art is trippy, visceral, cosmic, heartfelt, chaotic, sometimes satirical( I should have been a political cartoonist) , silly and all the emotions in between.
My art is basically the vehicle for an AuDHD brain to express everything trapped inside. Creativity is breath, creation is life. This is me.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

Let us talk about something called Imposter Syndrome. A sadistic little goblin that lives in your head and tells you over and over that you are not now, or ever will be, good enough.
Imposter Syndrome makes you feel like you are not good at what you do no matter how many times you are told that you are. So often, this feeling has caused me to destroy a project, not sell a piece, or charge way less than the piece is worth because my brain told me that someone else can do it way better than me.
It is a constant struggle in a world where people can type some prompts into a computer and instantly create something that would take me 3 weeks to create. It makes it very hard for me to sell my work and / or justify the price . In turn, if something doesnt sell, the Imposter Syndrome yells even louder that you are not good enough. I always strive to be better and believe in what I do, but sometimes that lil goblin gets loud. That’s when you have to hog tie it, throw it in a closet and go about your business.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Support your local artisans! Painters , sculptors , illustrators, musicians, bakers, small shops, farmers markets,or even just someone selling handmade drawings on the side of the road… buy their stuff! Dont just tell them its good, show them.
Stop supporting these big corporations selling piecemeal products for make me a billionaire prices and put your money in the hands of someone who survives on what they create. That way they can do the same, and so on, and so on. It is a domino affect. Kindness leads to kindness.

Contact Info:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1EELfRL6dE/
• Other: I am on Facebook for all three businesses but the neurodivergent brain forgets to keep up with the pages.Most of my work is sold through word of mouth.

Image Credits

Me myself and I