Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dineo Mosiane. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Dineo, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

My most meaningful project has been Melody Misfits, my comic series I’m working on. I’ve had the idea for it since I was around 16 and have been chipping away at it ever since. I had finished writing it and was already making pages in 2024, however I got extremely burnt out because I realized I wasn’t producing the story I wanted. It’s important to remember, think from an outside perspective. I realized if I had stumbled across this story, I wouldn’t have read it! I was pandering to an audience that didn’t make me feel creatively fulfilled.

Now, in 2025, I’ve completed rewritten the story and changed the character designs significantly. I plan to publish my comic series in the next coming years, as I want to refine my craft a little more before I get started again. I’m extremely happy with these changes and have regained a strong passion for telling my story again.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

My artwork’s purpose is sexual and queer liberation, especially in black spaces. As a black queer person, growing up in the 2010s I did see story’s with gay women. However it was never about black people. And on top of that, it was always fluffy and male gaze-y. I also never saw non cisgender characters involved. The lesbian content I saw was always either aimed at kids so it was extremely subtle or made as inoffensive as possible.

My art is loud, and I want it to make an impact. Often queer people are told that it’s okay to be gay, but don’t be outwardly expressive about it. Don’t ever be sexual about it publicly. I think that’s bogus. What use is quiet liberation? I want to be a voice for my community and make content I never got to see.

How did you build your audience on social media?

As a current marketing major at my university, I am absolutely obsessed with social media managing. I personally believe the best platform for artists is Instagram. I started my art account Moosepudding in 2023 and now have over 17k followers. It humbles you in a weird way, because I had no idea what kind of content I wanted to make when I first started. So every large boost in followers made me think what type of content I should be making. My content evolved a lot over the several months of posting.

What I would say is, listen to criticism. Especially if you’re trying to represent people in groups you aren’t a part of. Sometimes people are harsh, but often times it’s a lesson you need to hear. I’ve had a lot of personal growth by my audience’s feedback on the way I represent my characters.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to unlearn very recently is artistic perfection. It’s okay for your art to look bad! It’s okay if the anatomy isn’t always 100% accurate. It’s okay if the backgrounds aren’t great. I grew up in a community that taught artist that they cannot make anatomy mistakes and have to stick to realistic proportions as close as they can. I had no interest in exploring cartoony art styles out of fear that I wasn’t a real artist if I wasn’t drawing at least semi realism.

Then, after remaking my comic series, I learned how freeing it is to create work that’s unclean. Art that’s sketchy, unrefined, and most of all, not 100% anatomically correct. I’m still an artist regardless, because I believe it’s much more important that your audience resonates with your art than if it’s perfect. If I see two vases in a store, and one is perfect and bland, and the other one has a lot of character to it. I’m getting the second vase.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://moosepudding.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/moosepudding?igsh=MmJ5ZzZxYmp1YXN3&utm_source=qr
• Other: Email: Moosepuddingdm@gmail.com

Image Credits

Dineo Mosiane