Got a question about the comic? Email me at imy(AT)illoluv.com

How much is ‘Imy’ based on your own life?

The short answer: Not so much. Most of what I wrote about is taken from real life experiences, but the comic is definitely not to be taken as a literal representation of my life!

The longer answer: When I started the comic, I drew Imy and her boyfriend to look like me and my husband. I didn’t know where the comic was going to go at that point. I just wanted to try it out. After about 8 strips, I figured I really liked what I was doing and I was going to continue this. But I was also realizing that people were starting to think that the exact things that happened in the strips were happening to me. So I decided changing Imy’s hair color would separate her from myself. I even devoted an entire strip to it.

Like I said, I pull from my own life and my own encounters to create the strip and its stories. But it’s definitely not a literal interpretation. I do not have a mean older sister. I have 2 half-sisters and a half-brother who are 20+ years older than me, and wonderful people. ‘Mia’ is more of a by-product of all the people in my life who always felt they knew what was best for me, even when they were quite wrong.

I do not have a friend who drags me to the gym. I have been dragging myself there on my own accord thankyouverymuch. However, the friend who ‘Kat’ is modeled after is the gym girl in my group of friends, and the inspiration for me finally investing in a gym card which I’ve used tirelessly.

I don’t have a spacey bar that I go to called the “Hover Bar” filled with orange-skinned barbie-girls and bad boy bands. But I do go to a “sky bar” where you can see much of the city from. And while Stockholm is filled with Barbie girls, I haven’t seen them at that bar, and no live music plays there either.

I do have a pretty awesome niece though, but I haven’t spent so much time with her that I’ve been able to have an impact on her music taste, since she’s way back in NJ. (very unfortunate for the both of us!).

I could go on with the specifics, but I think you get the idea. Yes, it all comes from my life in one way or another, but don’t take it literally, at all!