Salvadoran-American artist Skoshi Buns has grown up following her favorite animators online and now, with her Instagram following growing seemingly by the seconds, she is also inspiring others to follow their own animation dreams.

Skoshi Buns, who will soon turn 19, told Los Cafetales that she first realized that she loved art – and that she could do something with art as a profession when she grew up – when she was around 11. However, she did not “take it seriously” until around age 14, which is when she got more interested in social media, as well as in learning more about her favorite artists.

She added that googling her favorite artists and following them on such platforms as Instagram helped her realize that she could pursue art as a career, just as her favorite artists had done. Social media helps people see “behind the scenes” and learn more about an artist’s experience of being in the field, she said.

An avid Instagrammer herself, self-taught artist Skoshi Buns shares parts of her life with her nearly 6,900 followers. As noted on her page, she draws in digital and traditional formats, including on her Apple iPad Pro, as well as on paper. In a “meet the artist” drawing that she posted in January, she also noted that she loves The Wombats; dislikes beets; regularly dyes her hair; and is a cancer survivor.

Skoshi Buns said that it was about five years ago, while she was beating cancer, when she realized that she should “do art as a career … because it was just nice having that escape. [M]entally, I don’t think I would’ve been able to go through that as easy as I did if I didn’t have art to distract me,” as well as the support from her family and friends.

She said that while she opened her Instagram account about five years ago, she did not actively try to grow her following until about four years ago. Skoshi Buns added that since she wanted more people to see her art, she decided to create and post fan art on her page, along with her original artwork, because she noticed that posting “fan art definitely helps” in terms of getting more views on Instagram.

She hit the 1,000-follower milestone on Instagram last November, and has quickly ramped up to her current tally of 6,896 followers – and counting. She noted that that growth is in part due to her fan art drawings of the Netflix show, Inside Job. Her posts about the show have even garnered the attention of the show’s creator and the show’s own Instagram account, which have reposted her artwork on their own pages.

One of her most liked Instagram posts involves Inside Job’s Reagan – as well as Rick and Morty’s Rick and Gravity Falls’ Stanford — and currently has about 56,000 likes. Her most viewed Instagram reel also involves Reagan and has about 122,000 views, while her second-most viewed reel includes her own characters and sits at about 95,000 views.

“[F]an art definitely helps you get out there, but it was just my time already – I was just lucky,” Skoshi Buns said of her seemingly overnight growth on the social media platform.

Besides being lucky, she also noted that consistency is a major factor in growing one’s following. She said that when she started posting her work on Instagram, she “would post maybe a couple of times a month, which isn’t a lot,” and that she now sets a schedule for when to post online. “[I]f I am going to take a break [from posting], I don’t let it go past any more than a week,” as that affects your Instagram algorithm, she added.

While she is more serious about maintaining an active social media presence, Skoshi Buns continues to have fun through art. Of her favorite things to draw, she said, “I definitely like drawing more cartoony styles because I feel it’s easier to express myself and it’s a lot more fun!”

She noted that her love of colorful and stylized illustrations also stems from the cartoons that she grew up watching, with some of her favorites being Adventure Time and Regular Show, which inspired her to create her own characters and to think about making her own show someday.

Skoshi Buns said that she draws inspiration from all of the Cartoon Network shows that she watched as a kid – and continues to watch now – as well as from the more adult animated shows that she watches these days. She noted that both types of shows – those that are geared for kids, which are more lighthearted, and those aimed at adults – approach storytelling differently.

She added that while animation has been viewed by some as being mostly for children, it is “cool that people are using animation and cartoons to tell serious stories and really deep stories that connect with” older people as well.

Storytelling is one of the things that Skoshi Buns is learning more about in college. “It’s nice being in a place where everybody is in a similar situation as you – everybody has some art-focused career,” she said of her college experience so far.

She added that while it is helpful to watch artists online discuss their experiences, it is nice to hear about it directly from her professors and to learn from their work in the field. She noted that college has also widened her view into all of the career paths that are possible by obtaining an art degree; for instance, her college offers degrees in animation, fashion design, and photography, among others.

Of the most challenging aspect of college, Skoshi Buns noted that she has had to adjust to following deadlines on her own and to not procrastinate on completing her schoolwork. Scheduling time between classes and on weekends to work on assignments definitely helps, she said.

As for her plans after graduation, she said that she would like to work for a studio like Cartoon Network or Netflix in the future. In the meantime, Skoshi Buns continues to create art for herself and for her thousands of followers. And, as for advice for all of the budding artists out there, she said that while it is “so cliché to say,” practice definitely helps improve one’s skills.

Skoshi Buns can be found on Instagram at @skoshibuns.

Image courtesy of Skoshi Buns