We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mercy Madu. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mercy below.

Mercy, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

The first time I knew I wanted to become an artist is when I was seven years old. I watched T.V. a lot and cartoons were a part of my childhood growing up. I enjoy watching cartoons that pertain to humor and I thought the characters makes the show for what it was. From the style to the context to the personality, I believe characters are the forefront of what makes that particular show great. Not only that, the imagination that comes with it when it comes to cartoons makes it enjoyable to watch. I can appreciate a good storytelling especially when I feel like I’m in that world experiencing it. This led me to draw out sketches, or create comic strips when I was younger, considering that my creative mind had so many ideas that I wanted to narrate and execute. From then moving forward, the more I draw characters, the more my mind thinks of a story related to that specific character. The story and visuals bounce off from one another and that helps me gravitate towards my artistic abilities to one day become a visual artist. As time changes and animation progresses, my path slightly shifted as I wanted to become a character animator, but my passion for storytelling has never changed. Whether I draw or animate characters, the storytelling is and will always be the main factor on what I create. Context is important to me. And I would want to create characters that have depth and purpose behind their style, design, and movements.

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

I started to focus solely more on animation when I began to attend Savannah College of Art and Design in 2016. After experiencing different skills and medium, I’ve began to draw more character designs. The more I draw characters, the more I start to create stories that would gravitate towards people that look like me or have their own personalities that doesn’t get represented enough. After graduating in 2020 and attending the grad program, I’ve began to develop my idea more as I gained more experience and knowledge. Currently, I’m working on a personal animated project that would hopefully relate to a certain audience or that they can put themselves in that world and feel the warmth that my characters could bring. What I’m most proud of is the continuous work that my team and I do and how we can be able to start small and progress with more and more creativity that we want to showcase. I just want people to know that no matter what you think of or what you imagine, don’t give up on it because you never know what the future holds just from that one idea.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal is to be a part of the animation industry and use my creative mind to present a story driven character arc show for people to relate to but also have visuals that people can just look at or be inspired.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect as an artist is the growth. Over the years, I continue to learn more and practice because I always know that I can do better with every character I draw or animate. It’s a good feeling to see where it all started and how far I’ve come.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.mercymadu.com/home
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artsyvib3s/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mercy-madu/

Image Credits
Wilshley Coleau Anna Wilkins