Mari Andrew is a writer and illustrator who gained notoriety through her popular Instagram account @ByMariAndrew. The page features her drawings and writing, which are beautiful and insightful. Each one feels like a hug to your soul. Her first book, Am I There Yet: The Loop-de-Loop, Zig-Zagging Journey To Adulthood comes out on March 27th, 2018.
From @bymariandrew Instagram
To celebrate, we’ve compiled our favorite illustrations from her Instagram.
About Mari Andrew
Mari Andrew draws inspiration from her own life and the world around her. She writes often about her winding career path, which has all been in service to her passion for writing. At first, as a writer, Mari Andrew had few successes. After many rejections, at 28 years old, Mari Andrew began drawing as a new creative outlet. Her doodles clearly resonated with people, as her following has grown to over 760,000 people on Instagram.
Mari Andrew is a self-proclaimed sensitive person and optimist. Among other topics, her work muses on the difficulty and intention that being optimistic requires. Also, Mari Andrew writes and draws about the beauty she finds in the world (and in her newest home, New York City). In addition to her work of a more serious tone, Mari Andrew also writes humorously about her friendships and dating faux pas.
Last year, while traveling abroad, Mari Andrew was affected by Guillan-Barré Syndrome. A rare illness that affects only 1 in 100,000 people, Guillain-Barré can lead to temporary or permanent physical paralysis. While traveling abroad in Spain, Mari Andrew became temporarily paralyzed from Guillan-Barré. As a result, she underwent months of physical therapy. This experience and struggle gave Mari Andrew a perspective on ability and mental health that she had not had before. Mari Andrew’s time with a physical disability, and her struggle to recover emotionally, mentally, and physically, are all influences in her work.
Mari Andrew’s vulnerability and honesty is part of why her fans love her work so much. Her willingness to be open, personal, and candid is refreshing. As a result, her account is a welcome oasis of self-care in the curated and sometimes superficial world of Instagram. We know her fans cannot wait for her book to come out. To celebrate, we’ve gone through every post on Mari Andrew’s Instagram (almost 900 of them) and compiled our top 20 favorite illustrations below. We hope some of these make it into her new book!
Mari Andrew: 20 of Her Best Illustrations
1. Life In Three Acts
This drawing is everything we love about Mari Andrew. It is simple, honest, relatable, wry, and optimistic.
2. Career Path
Mari Andrew’s winding career path is a source of creativity and inspiration for her. Like many of us, she has faced some ups and downs, some right choices and some wrong. But each one has been part of the journey that led to her current success!
3. Monthly Heart
Every month Mari Andrew releases a drawing of her heart and what is filling it. Each one is wonderful but this one from a past March, is one of our favorites!
4. Scents of Seasons
There is nothing quite like summertime, and Mari Andrew perfectly captures all the dreamy scents of the summer season.
5. Compatibility Pie Chart
What makes you crush on someone? Sometimes it can be as simple as a very good sweater.
6. Modern Dating Problems
We know these too well!
7. Awards Nobody Gives Out
A striking way to say get out there and follow your dream. Just do it. Inertia is hard to combat. We all know the feeling of a dream or aspiration that we are waiting to start. The book in your mind and the marathon you think about aren't the same as the book you wrote and the marathon you ran.
8. Museum of Rejections
Rejection can be a lonely feeling. Mari Andrew makes her followers feel less alone by opening up on the rejections she faced before her present success.
9. Lovely Nameless Feelings
In this drawing Mari Andrew puts to words those lovely nameless feelings we get in moments of intimacy, anticipation, relief, and comfort.
10. The Gifts of Being Single
For Mari Andrew being single is a gift! On Valentine’s Day, she shared with us what she loves about being single.
11. Self-Care To Do List
Mari Andrew has brought us a few of these beautiful, stress-free to do lists.
12. Recovery
Mari Andrew's experience when she was temporarily physically disabled from Guillan-Barré Syndrome left her with a lot to process. With sensitivity and care she shares her experience of life on the other side of trauma. Part of her caption on this post offers explanation, "I'm grateful for the wisdom that comes with a brief visit to hell on earth, but it doesn't exactly look like a new lease on life. Post-traumatic growth is certainly real, but complicated."
13. Sources of Power
Always a voice of resiliency, positivity and empowerment, Mari Andrew shares her sources of power.
14. Which Painting Are You Today?
A quiz where any result is a good one.
15. Identifying the Problem
When it takes you two hours to realize you are feeling grumpy and terrible simply because you were hot.
From @bymariandrew Instagram
16. Haunted House
The most terrifying haunted house is the one in your head.
17. Google
The most relatable Google search queries. We are still waiting to figure out what lemon water actually does.
18. Best Bathing Suit For Your Blood Type
This cheeky parody of best bathing suit articles is hilarious.
19. International Women's Day
Such a sweet illustration to celebrate women from all over the world.
20. Adulthood
The elusive final marks of adulthood! Presumably Mari Andrew's book will be full of wisdom about the road to becoming an adult. We can't wait for more where this drawing came from.
Until the release of Am I There Yet:The Loop-de-Loop, Zig-Zagging Journey To Adulthood on March 27th, Mari Andrew’s fans can look at this list or her social media for their dose of feel-good illustrations.
Mari Andrew’s fans have taken to Twitter to share their excitement for her new book, which has already gained a place on an Amazon best seller list.
Latasha Booth/Facebook
GayFamilyValues/Facebook
@OGentertained/X
@KharayKrayKray/X
