Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Muriel is Famous


The Adventures of Fat Muriel

Muriel is a rabbit in real life, yet in the world of cyberspace she is a charming heroine, who narrates her intrepid adventures in the Big Apple.

This past January, Blanca Benavides, a junior and an illustration major at Parsons School of Design, created the blog “Las Aventuras de Fat Muriel en la Big Apple”- a Spanglish blog where she relates her day-to-day activities and thoughts through illustrations, under the pseudonym of her rabbit Muriel. “Sometimes you can be exceptional by being someone else. So when I draw as Muriel I feel I can do and say much more than by just being plain me,” Blanca says.

She portrays Muriel as a protagonist, who leads a life parallel to her own. In her art, she represents people who Muriel encounters, song lyrics that express Muriel’s feelings, and endeavors that capture Muriel’s unique sense of humor. From her attempts to be fit and try out a Tae-bo DVD to her “Valentine’s Day fail”, Muriel’s blog entries and illustrations manage to entertain her increasing number of followers and keep them tuned in for her upcoming escapades.

Every day new blogs are being created. Though this denotes new competition for bloggers, it also creates new opportunities for them. Through her blog, Blanca has been able to promulgate her art within minutes, communicate with other illustration bloggers, and gain a growing amount of recognition for her work- work that would have otherwise remained unseen by many.

In the sphere of interactive media, Muriel has become a reality, a projection of Blanca’s life as she perceives it, and an art form that is able to interact with its public.

By Mariale Espinoza

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