faq
Who is marmalade mum?
I was born on October 18th and come from a somewhat big family of artists. I draw comics, illustrations and animations, mostly of the NSFW variety. My first income from art was from taking commissions in 2014, but have been drawing as a hobby since I could hold a pencil. I started a Patreon in 2018, got banned in 2020 (on my birthday!) for drawing TF porn, then I’ve had a SubscribeStar instead since then because their TOS is much more lenient. In those 10 years of figuring out art as a source of income, it took me 4 of those years to start breaking even just doing commissions, then another 2 years to grow enough to start seeing a profit. Without the people around me when I first started out supporting me financially, I wouldn’t have been able to succeed. It was a real struggle.
How and why did I start drawing NSFW?
As many artists do, I came to a crossroads of whether or not I should pursue NSFW art. Truly I wasn’t sure if I should do it. Growing up I did have a dirty mind and read plenty of NSFW at that point. I had even drawn NSFW by the time I was 8 for my elementary school boyfriend. I had a couple motives for it:
1. I was already comfortable with the idea of drawing it and
2. I was told it was a quicker way to gain profit, and I was so broke.
So I gave it a shot and it stuck.
Did you always want to draw NSFW? What was the original dream?
To be honest, my original dream was to create children’s picture books, which is a total far cry from what I ended up doing. Weird, right? Sometimes I like to wonder if I would have been successful at all with it and how far it could have taken me.
Why do you draw transformation? Is it your fetish?
Okay, so if you’ve ever watched the movie Van Helsing (2004) featuring Hugh Jackman, you know what’s up. I was really into vampires and werewolves for a really long time, and in fact when I was around 13-14 years old I also wanted to be a chemist that could give people animal ears and tails and turn them into kemonomimi. Funnily enough though, this was not a fetish and I just liked the idea anatomy getting altered and I loved Hugh Jackman. Transformation wasn’t what I liked looking at in that movie, it was Hugh Jackman being shirtless and sweaty. I’m shocked it didn’t turn into a fetish honestly.
A list of my favourite things!
Wild animals: desert rain frog, barn owl, fruit bat, wolves,
Domestic animals: dogs, british shorthair cat or maine coon, chickens, alpacas
Anime: My Hero Academia, Oshi No Ko, Demon Slayer, Inuyasha, Porco Rosso or older Ghibli movies, Coboy Bebop, Hunter X Hunter (before the bugs)
Video Games: Animal Crossing (all), Harvest Moon: Magical Melody, most Mario Karts, most Mario Parties, Stardew Valley, R.E.P.O, Palworld
NSFW Comics: Alfie (Incase), Ishuukan Friends (Dotsuco), Business Casual (Meesh), The Consort (Norasuko)
Art Medium: Digital, I get physically sick doing traditional from the smell and also looking down.
Foods: soup and sandwich combo, medium rare steak, pizza, ramen with lots of meat, fried eggs
Drinks: iced water, chai latte, pumpkin spice latte, iced sweet tea, iced brown sugar coffee.
(my sweet treat custom order from starbucks: grande, blonde latte, nonfat milk, 2 pumps pecan syrup, protein banana cream cold foam.)
What animal would you transform into?
If I had to choose, and let’s say it’d just turn me into an anthro and I kept my complete intelligence as a human, I think I’d pick some sort of cat. I’d like to have better balance and reflexes since I’m very clumsy in real life. Maybe a big cat, like a snow leopard. They’re very pretty.
Have you had any formal education regarding art?
I haven’t gone to any post secondary school for art, but I did pay for a couple of courses on anatomy from a professional teacher, each course being 8 weeks long. I don’t want to say their name because some people seem to really dislike me and I don’t want any negativity going their way. Other than that, I studied many art books! Having a wide variety of teaching tools available is great, on top of having someone tell you where you’re going wrong is absolute top tier. I made most of my art progress under that teacher.
How long did it take you to become a successful full time artist?
It took a very long time. Probably 5 years before I was living off my work completely. I started off part time until I got let go at my bakery job and then I was sort of forced into a full time position for art. I was supported financially until the first 5 years were over basically.
Do you have any other unique skills aside from art?
Nowadays I only really draw, but I enjoy voice acting in my animations, I used to crochet a lot and would make dog sweaters, I can make 3D models and almost do the whole process on my own, I have the ability where people open up to me almost instantly in real life and they can be total strangers. I also like cake decorating! Apparently this is common with people who have ADHD. What’s it called… Jack of all trades, master of none, but better than one!
Who are your favourite characters you’ve created?
I have a really hard time getting attached to my characters because I felt like they weren’t really mine when first creating them or implementing them into my stories. If I had to say though, my favourites would be Madison, Alex, Riley, Clara, and Brad from my Chemistry Class series. I need to draw more illustrations of them honestly. I’ve been too busy with comics!
What other artists have influenced you?
Will update when I remember to, but here’s the list so far!
Cyan Capsule
Sabs_Art
CalmDraws
Dotsuco
Rinotuna
HotGlossed
CoughyToffeeX
TFiddlerArt
What's your artistic process?
When I create comics, first I begin with getting a story idea or inspiration or a hook. I begin to write out a summary of what I want to happen in the story, plot points, story beats, and then the personality of the characters and how they’d interact in that situation. Then I flesh it out, edit it, and write it in a way that makes sense to me so I understand what needs to go on each page for when I begin the storyboard. When I do get to it, at this point in my career I understand paneling very well and how to grasp a readers attention and where things should go or how big a panel should be. Some things written out may not actually look good when paneled out, so some minor edits will take place. Then once most of the comic or chapter is sketched out, I begin lining and coloring one page at a time. If I do lines all at once, I get carpal tunnel. Once I start catching up to what I’ve got sketched, then I begin the sketching process again. If it’s a shorter 30 page comic, I definitely will sketch everything beforehand, but if it’s something way longer like Chemistry Class, I’ll sketch about 20 pages at a time and catch up.
How do you handle criticism?
I handle it well. Years on 4chan taught me that. There’s a huge difference between actual constructive criticism and people being obtuse or mean just because the content isn’t something they like. People saying “this art is wasted because she draws this and that fetish” isn’t critique. I can simply ignore it and shrug it off. Telling me respectfully that you’ve found inconsistencies in my story or the character acting in a way doesn’t make sense, or telling me that I’ve forgotten to draw clothing on a bench for the umpteenth time, that is constructive. I listen to them.
I appreciate the people that actually do want to critique my things and know how to tell me it without swearing or being disrespectful. Of course this doesn’t mean I need it sugar coated. Just polite.
What are rumours/gossip surrounding you, and how accurate are they?
That I’m a Nazi. An antisemite. A racist. These statements exist because of some awful tweets made under my account name but weren’t actually me.
Long story short, I was in an abusive relationship where I was manipulated and controlled by my partner from a young age. It took me only about a decade to grow a back bone and leave him. He was my first serious relationship that started when I was 15, lasted for almost 9 years, but continued on as a twisted version of friendship for a few more years after that. He used my account to gain clout because I had more of a “reach” than his own account. Now, I’ve moved away from him. I’m in a healthy relationship. I’m not controlled or being put down. I could write a whole essay to explain in depth what happened, but I’d rather forget it and stop bringing it up.
Anything on my twitter regarding slurs, politics, racism, or extreme viewpoints are not my doing and were posted by my ex. He would twist words and manipulate me into thinking that my opinion and his own were one in the same. As he’d post, he’d convince me to trust him and that the slurs and controversy would create talk about me and that “any publicity is good publicity”. By the way, if you happen to see any of these tweets, please link them to me as I’ve been trying to purge them from my life, but twitter sucks at searching.
I am not a Nazi. I am not an antisemite. I’m not a racist. Sometimes I do have feelings of prejudice from traumatic events that happened to me when I was a child, but they disappear the moment I catch myself thinking them and it doesn’t stop me from making any sorts of friends. In my heart I don’t care what background someone has. I don’t have extreme political opinions. I always try to come from a place of understanding if someone’s view oppose my own. This doesn’t mean I don’t think someone can be harmful with their opinions or that they can’t be wrong. I just think it’s important to understand people if you want them to try and understand you. I am not transphobic. I understand the internal struggle they are facing and I understand it’s very difficult. If they choose to transition, it’s not my business and I will support them.