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Escape into this world I've been building!
What’s Up Internet Friends,
When I was a kid, I was obsessed with escaping into other worlds.
The worlds of Dragonball Z, X-Men, Final Fantasy VII, Akira, and Spider-Man captivated me. I didn’t just watch them. I didn’t just play the games. I didn’t casually flip through the comics.
I saw myself in those characters.
I lived in those worlds.
Read more here!
What’s Up Internet & IRL Friends,
All good things must come to an end… even Onion City Memories. 😢
As my current solo exhibition reaches its final days, I’d love to invite you to a special closing night celebration at Connect Gallery — an evening centered on community, storytelling, and creative expression.
Read more here!
Happy Friday the 13th.
Valentine’s Day is around the corner… which means love might be in the air — but a little bad luck might be lurking too.
If you haven’t experienced my Onion City Memories exhibition at Connect Gallery yet, this might be the perfect night to change that.
Read more here!
Hello Internet Friends!
In honor of my ongoing solo exhibition, Onion City Memories, at Connect Gallery, I’d love to invite you to a special two-part community event designed to bring you deeper into the world behind the work.
Read more here!
What’s Up Internet Friends,
Happy New Year!
I’ve been wanting to make one of these “year end recap gallery”-illustrations for years. Forever inspired by @devinellekurtz whenever she posts one. I recently saw @derekdomnicdsouza post one and was like ok, I’m doing one this year! I skipped self-portrait day in November and I skipped a birthday portrait too, so this is all I got for the people 😂.
Read more here!
What’s up Internet Friends!
I’m excited to officially announce that my solo art exhibition, Onion City Memories, will be coming to Connect Gallery in Chicago on January 16th, 2026.
📍 Location: Connect Gallery 1451 E 53rd Street Chicago IL
📅 Opening Night: January 16, 2026
🗓️ Exhibition Dates: January 16 – February 27, 2026
Save the date!
Read more here!
What’s Up Internet Friends!
It’s my birthday so naturally I’m thinking of this year’s fails 😅.
So… remember that incredibly optimistic plan I made?
The one where I said I’d finish the last 30 pages of my comic book in the final 12 weeks of the year?
Yeah.
That didn’t happen.
At all.
Not even close.
Read more here!
What’s good internet friends!
ICYMI I wanted to reach out to let you all know that I somehow dropped 3 apparel collections in 3 months.
Read more here!
What’s good internet friends!
Missed me last week? Yeah, blame the world’s tiniest germ factory (aka my 10 month old). That cold had me questioning my entire existence, but we made it out alive.
Here’s what went down while I was half-dead and sniffling:
🎨 On Twitch:
I still managed to stream on Tuesday night and worked on my next comic page. Progress is progress… but if I’m serious about finishing this book by the end of 2025, I either need to clone myself or discover time travel.
🏛️ Neighborhood Adventures:
While wandering around, I stumbled on a local art gallery that’s closed more than it’s open. The owner said it’s because they don’t get much foot traffic. My takeaway? Mental note: never show my work there. Love the honesty though.
👕 MUDDY MERCH Drop:
Despite my immune system failing me, I launched the Muddy Merch Essentials Collection! We’re talking:
A fresh new hat 🧢
A clean tee 👕
Cozy sweatpants 🩳 (ok, technically 🩳 = shorts emoji, but you get the vibe)
I’m hyped about this drop, and I hope you like it as much as I do.
✨ What’s Next:
More streams, more comics, less baby colds (hopefully), and maybe an actual functioning immune system.
Peace,
Muddy
What’s Good My Internet Friends,
In our last check in I share my latest painting titled “Passion, Pain, & Demon Slayin,” which is centered around a new bounty hunter character. As I mentioned before, all of my upcoming paintings will have a comic book illustration that will tie into the themes within the painting. The comic book page will basically portray the events leading up to the moment captured in the painting or portray an alternate storyline around the subject of the painting. I’m really hype to do these for every painting.
READ MORE…
What’s Good My Internet Friends,
For those who don’t know or haven’t heard, I have been working towards a solo art show as well as my next art book. This exhibition will be a showcase of 9 paintings alongside 9 comic book illustrations of the narratives behind those paintings. You can read more about the ideas and the plan for the show here!
With that said, I’m excited to share that I’ve finished the 3rd painting out of the 9 paintings for this show. This piece, titled “Passion, Pain, & Demon Slayin,” is centered around a new character that I am debuting here. This character’s name is Muddy Indigo and he’s a bounty hunter from the American wild west who fell asleep in a jail cell in 1899 and woke up in the cell of an intergalactic jail in the year 2135. He managed to escape with an interesting cell mate and from there they both began a new life of intergalactic space bounty hunting. READ MORE..
What’s good internet friends. It’s been a while but I’m hype to share what I’ve been working on this year. If you didn’t know, I have been working towards a solo art exhibition that I am actively pouring my creativity into. I’ve been brainstorming ideas for this showcase since last fall and I’m excited to reveal some insights on what’s to come.
The creative journey is still ongoing and will continue to be a culmination of countless hours of creative exploration and artistic expression. With that said, I want to bring you all along and take you with me on the road to Onion City Memories.
“Onion City Memories Part I”, will be the title of this exhibition and it will be one of many. I intend to work towards a goal of an annual art exhibition that will bring people into my world of Onion City, where all my original characters, concepts, and creations exist. Onion City is a futuristic alternate reality heavily inspired by Chicago and other places that I have lived in and visited. READ MORE..
I’ve said this before, but I’ll say it again because I truly believe this. If you’re an artist and/or creative with limited time due to a 9-5 or any type of day job, I highly suggest incorporating an early morning creative routine. I still truly believe this because since investing in a sunrise alarm clock this year I have been getting up comfortably around 6 AM, with no need for a snooze button. This has given me 1-2 hours before having to get ready for my remote corporate job and I’m planning to start even earlier.
Read MoreHello my creative internet friends!
You’re here because you’re a creative person who might be having trouble staying motivated to make art consistently. This is something that all artists and creatives struggle with on a daily basis, myself included. I thought that I should share some tips of what I do when I’m having a hard time. If this is something you're struggling with right now, I encourage you to keep reading this blog post.
All artists and creatives go through ups and downs, highs and lows, days where you're just like why am I even doing this? Nobody cares and nobody is paying attention to this great work that I’m creating. Nobody is watching these process videos that I spend so much time on or nobody is reading these poorly written blog posts. You might look yourself in the mirror and think, “Damn, I'm literally trash.” Sorry to be ultra-negative but look, as Erykah Badu once said, “I’m an artist and I’m sensitive about my shit,” and sometimes, us artists, we're sensitive sally's. And that’s ok, that’s what makes us great! Just know, that you're not alone when dealing with them lows friend.
Sometimes when I’m struggling with motivation, I realize that I might be mentally fatigued from either working too much or comparing myself to other artists on Instagram, and/or social media, who seem to be pumping out four masterpieces a day. This is never a good idea or a good habit to develop. Whether it be comparing yourself to others or overworking yourself to the edge of your limits. Both bad habits can become a recipe for disaster and burnout.
For me, when I come to this realization that I might be mentally fatigued, I actively take a break from both scrolling on social media and making art. What I do with this newfound free time is consume media that stimulates me in a positive and inspiring way. For example, recently, my creative spirit was a bit low, and I was unmotivated to work on any of my art projects. I couldn’t figure out why I was experiencing this slump so the first thing I did was get off of Instagram. I did this because seeing other artists appearing to be super productive can be very depressing when you’re already feeling unmotivated. I chose to do nothing and just chilled out that day while watching the movie Blade Runner 2049.
I LOVE this movie.
I think that it's very visually pleasing and it is a tremendous source of inspiration for me. Watching it gets my creative juices flowing and simultaneously gets me super motivated to at least pick up my sketchbook. Blade Runner 2049, for me, would be a great example of media that can be positive and inspiring. So, I highly recommend that artists who are feeling unmotivated to not beat themselves up and take a break. The break could be more productive than forcing yourself to create. Go and re-watch your favorite movie, open a comic book that you enjoy, or watch your favorite anime. If you’re not into any of those sources of positive media, then listen to some music. When is the last time you replayed one of your favorite albums from front to cover?
Now if you do all of that and you still feel down in the dumps or unmotivated then it's time to reflect on two things. The first thing to reflect on is why you even do this. Why do you make art? That question always serves as a powerful anchor because usually the answer is that you do it because you love it and it's your passion. At least that's my answer when I ask myself this exact question. I use this question to think about all of the special moments in my art journey that made me feel like I was meant to do this. We've all had some type of positive moment that keeps you going and sometimes you NEED to reminisce on those moments.
The second thing you should reflect on is the last six months of your art journey and think about all of the small wins that you had that you didn't sit back and celebrate because you just kept working through them. We all do this too often. We make a sale, and we keep it pushing. We get some props or some love from an artist who we really admire, and we just keep working through it. You get a nice comment from a supporter who's been holding you down for years and we just carry on. But best believe we take time to give energy to the negative moments, the internet haters, and all the shitty comments that we receive on social media. You’ll think about that for weeks, and months, but you have got to stop doing that for your own mental health.
What we need to do more of is think back on all the positive moments and celebrate our small wins as we reflect on them. Take time to reminisce on what you have accomplished. the perfect time to think back on these small wins is when you’re taking this break from creating otherwise you will never make time to do so. I'm actively trying to do a better job of this. I recently sold more merch than I've ever sold before and I kind of just kept working through it. Life as an artist/creative sometimes feels like a constant mode of “on to the next project” or “I need to make more products and make more sales”. It never ends, and if you just pause for a moment and think, “wait this is a milestone, it might be a small one but still a milestone,” these wins will help keep you going.
One last thing that I personally do when I'm having trouble staying motivated to make art is I like to watch interviews of my favorite artists. This can be your favorite musical artist, visual artist, or literally any type of artist. Chances are, there's a big artist that you look up to or admire and chances are, that they've done some type of interview with some type of publication. Personally, Hebru Brantley is one of my favorite artists of all time and he's probably my biggest art influence and I encourage you guys to check him out. When I watch a Hebru Brantley interview and listen to him talk about his grind to success I'm immediately gassed up to work and just feel ready to go.
These are just a few of the things that work for me to get my creative spark back and get me motivated again to get back to work. Hopefully these tips work for you as well and hopefully you read something new, or you were reminded of something you already do and you're going to do more of it now to keep yourself motivated. I hope you found value in this and if you did or didn't let me know either way.
Hello Friends!
I can't believe we’ve made it to the last 10 days of my Kickstarter campaign for my upcoming art book “Reaching New Heights”! I wanted to start by saying thank you to everyone who supported and helped get the project fully backed within the first week. It was really amazing to feel the support right away and I can’t thank you guys enough for that. READ MORE..
The big day is here friends!
My Kickstarter campaign for my new art book “Reaching New Heights” is live! I’m excited to share that this 124 page art book will include a 2020 compilation of my raw sketches, a step-by-step character drawing tutorial, my favorite marker & ink drawings, digital artwork, traditional paintings, creative projects, and the prologue to my first comic book. This is my biggest project to date and I have created some exclusive reward tiers for you guys. You’ll find stickers, bookmarks, a pin, and a print included in the various reward tiers. I’m especially excited to share the exclusive Collector’s Edition which includes all of the extra goodies. The Collector’s Edition will be limited to the first 25 backers, so be sure to get those while you can!
Also, I would really appreciate it if you share this LINK with anybody that you think would enjoy a new art book to add to their collection. Let’s not forget that everyone who backs this project will get their name printed in the special shoutout section of the art book. Your support will ensure the success of this project!
Thank you!
What’s Good My Internet Friends!
It’s been a while since the last email but there’s a big project brewing! If you haven’t heard yet, or read the subject line, after 3 months of hard work, we finally have a date for the release of my next art book. I’m so excited to announce that on April 27th I will be launching a Kickstarter campaign for my new 124 page art book “Reaching New Heights”! READ MORE..
Today I put out the first ever, artist interview on my channel. I sat down with @AlvinSurreal and we talked about his come up, how he got into art early on, and what he's done to get to this current level.
We talked about surrealism in his art as well as his creative influences. Alvin shared a lot of his experiences and what he had to do for opportunities to present themselves.
Alvin spoke about the importance of making art for yourself first. And how that will lead to opportunities based on what you’ve manifested through both your work and the energy you put into the world.
I hope you enjoy the interview and make sure to tell me your favorite moment from the interview in the comments!
Click here to check out the full interview!
Peace,
Mahmud
What’s up my internet friends!
Some of you may already be aware of this but I recently put together a 5 question SURVEY around the subject of how I can help you guys, creatively speaking.
Based on the responses I received I decided to make a VIDEO about making money online off of your artwork.
I specifically speak about 4 ways that I’ve personally made money off of my artwork this year.
So, if that’s something you’re curious about or interested in, make sure you check out the video and hopefully these tips will help you level up your art business!
I would love to hear from you all in the comments on whether these tips were valuable or not.
I hope to see us all making money off of what we love to do.
Hope the rest of your week is chill.
Mahmud
Hello Internet Friends,
I hope all is well. I wanted to reach out to you all to ask how I can help you creatively? I've always loved to share information with fellow creatives and if I can share in a way that is more specific to your needs I'm here for it. So I put together a 5 question SURVEY. I would love it if you could answer these questions in the survey link above. The survey is anonymous FYI. I hope to be able to help you creatively based on the answers you've submitted.
Thanks,
Mahmud