Girl Online: A Look Behind the Screen

Bash: Ina Bisou’s digital paintings look like illustrations from one never-ending fairy tale… a disturbing tale that invokes too many emotions to remain memory holed forever. One in which majestic black stallions and porcelain dolls stare at you from the corner of your eye, where body horror and mutilation are customary. In a reality far, far away from our own, everything is a pastel dream.

Her paintings are explorations into the duality of beauty and profane. One often used description is “creepy cute,” which is somewhat insultingly simplistic given the intricacy of her work. Maybe something like “daintily macabre” or “morbidly petite” might be more fitting, but still a far cry from accurate.

Spotlighting the sweetness of her doll-like faces would obscure how they are frequently attached to carrion-like figures, twisted perspectives of the female body and proportions that would make supermodels seethe with jealousy. Fixating on the frills, lace, and stuffed toys would ignore how often they are stained with blood.

Ina: Thanks for having me, we almost missed our chance.

Bash: Yep. I’m not very punctual, please don’t kill me!

Ina: Don’t worry, I won’t… At least, not yet. Hahaha

Bash: nervous gulp Haha Okay, hopefully these questions are worth the wait. :3

I read in a past interview that you were online a lot as a kid. How did that shape or influence you as an artist growing up and where you are now in your journey? And what were some websites that you used before that aren’t around anymore?

Ina: I came online when I was around 11-12, I spent many, many hours per day online after school, playing games and exploring virtual worlds. I was very young when I discovered my enjoyment for fiction, personas, and fashion.. I didn't have the proper vocabulary to articulate or fully understand, but I feel it's connected in some way to my love for dolls, which was my primary love during this age group, each doll had their own name, style, "aesthetic"; and they were all controlled by me. At the time, no I did not think my dolls were real living people with their own brain and actions doing things whenever I looked away.. I didn't watch Toy Story. They were all puppets for me to control, I was their god and they were my beautiful dolls that I cared for! So I guess each of my online personas as a child in virtual worlds where I'd spend my days, maybe they were a similar extension of me. It wasn't really me, was it? Or simply a vessel I had control of. Of course lines begin to blur. Sometimes we like to think we are disconnected and it is not real in any way... but seriously and actually, especially at this age.. it was NOT real. It did feel more real than anything else did at the time. It was my 'real' life, my better life where I could be anyone I wanted and look any way that I wanted to. The website i favourited the most, which isn't around anymore, was Club Penguin. My desired domain to express my many, many personas along with other girls doing the same thing. I was a little pink penguin, with cool hair, amazing outfits, and lots and lots of coins, lots and lots of friends, and lots and lots of drama. I probably changed the look of my avatar over five times during every session I’d be online. I loved clothes and visuals a lot. When I wasn't on a virtual world, I was exploring Youtube videos for similar subjects. Despite looking like a little tomboyish creature in the physical world, I had so many visions in my head of bigger ideals that weren't possible for me as a young kid. These days, sometimes drawing and creating things can feel like this still, when you have such a seemingly grand idea in your mind and you have to struggle to put even a fraction of how it makes you feel onto a canvas. But that's part of the continuous joy and fulfilling challenge of creating, which some lesser beings refuse to engage with. Oopsie ..

..I had so many visions in my head of bigger ideals that weren't possible for me as a young kid. These days, sometimes drawing and creating things can feel like this still, when you have such a seemingly grand idea in your mind and you have to struggle to put even a fraction of how it makes you feel onto a canvas.

Bash: You post art daily. Do you make a piece a day?

Ina: Most days yes, some days I don't if I don't feel compelled to. This is a very frequent question I get: how am I able to post so many fully rendered drawings? Firstly, I feel compelled to create some sort of visual, story, or aesthetic a lot for whatever reason, but it wasn't always drawing; It was other things back then before I discovered illustration. I was doing things like collages, physical and digital, mood boards, websites. These days I still do these things if I don't feel like drawing, I've added writing as another form. My drawings can take around 1 hour, sometimes 11 hours.. it just depends on how detailed it is. On average, they take around 2-3 hours; and sometimes I will do multiple in one day if I felt very inspired... and there are a lot that I do not post... Some days I will draw for no hours, that is usually on days when I go outside because I am too tired to function afterward. But some days I draw for like, 14 hours, this is due to autism.

Bash: Girl Online ↗ is noticeably more white hearted and girly compared to some of your work that is definitely macabre. One word you used to describe it that i liked was cotton candy lol. Many people don’t know, but this is actually a collection you’ve waiting a long time to drop. Was the shift in tones between this project and your other art, such as Momento Moru ↗, something of a gradual change, or do you find that you can switch between aesthetics easily?

Ina: It's funny because some people come across my account again and act all surprised by the content, but if you scroll back the change was extremely gradual. In fact, there were cannibalistic girls eating flesh all the way back in 2023... they were just more kawaii while doing so. For me, when I look back I can see how hard I wanted to achieve something like what I am doing now, but my skills were simply not there yet. I only started digital art around 2021; and I still have so much to learn.. but i am close to getting results that match the visions I see in my mind. It's almost 2026, so of course my style will change just as I am ever changing in my real life. It's one of the most exciting things about life, seeing how each day shapes us for better or worse. Over the years when I drew girlonline, which was early 2023.. so much has changed and happened. When I look at the art it transport me to an earlier and more simple time in my life. I can pinpoint where I was when drawing the traits, and I can pinpoint all of the references I found on my previous macbook. The 2023 pinterest and tumblr algorithms formed and shaped girlonline as much as my own hand, I think that's special.. it's special to me, therefore it is… When it comes to my current art, I've been grasping more at things that formulate inside of my own head because of the added life experience. But it still turns into weird amalgamations with all of the new media I've consumed over the years, such as a shit ton of movies. I still love drawing cute stuff but I feel so drawn and compelled to draw weird shit right now, that's just what I'm at and the vibes at the moment...Yes I can draw weird doll girls being battered and damaged but I'm still sitting under a baby pink blanket with my six plushies and monchhichi's next to me. Drawing things doesn't make you a mentally deranged person that is a risk to society, people that inject their morality into art are annoying. It's just art, it's just fiction and that's the best part... I do eat people though, and for that I should be punished.

The 2023 pinterest and tumblr algorithms formed and shaped girlonline as much as my own hand, I think that's special.. it's special to me, therefore it is.

Comparison: Ina's earlier lighthearted art (top) and some of her darker works of late (bottom)

Bash: You also did a lot of work on other NFT projects such as Kemonokaki ↗, so I think it’s safe to say you are able to illustrate different art styles. How important do you think it is for artists to try different styles and techniques?

Ina: By now I have done quite a few different art styles for projects.. it's fun, because it's like doing a new medium. Artists are artists because they can utilize and create all different forms of art; not just one. Digital art, painting, graphic design, collage, writing, video.. even collaborating with ai to make something work. I would say it is important to try different things, because it helps you improve on your desired way of doing stuff. Working on so many different projects while simultaneously doing my own personal drawings means I am drawing a LOT. With each project, I am improving my skills and learning so many new things primarily because of the collaborative aspect of working on projects. Luckily for me, there are so many artists in OC ↗ that have been drawing for years and I am able to see what they are doing and try to replicate and understand why they do what they do. Even if my style is so different, I can take so many techniques and understandings to apply to new work. Always try new things, because worse case scenario; if it doesn't work out you can just delete it and try again. Best case scenario is you found out something that will completely elevate your future work.

Bash: Girl Online… when someone puts it on, they instantly become a girl online. What do you think about online anon identity building? And playing with gender roles? Emphasis on playing, I don’t mean gender dysmorphia, but moreso boys leaning into girl posting, something they might not be able to express in the irl spaces.

Girl Online, while concepted and created in 2023, was shelved and almost didn’t see the light of day. Ina was possibly convinced by many people who remembered found previews and continued to ask for the project’s release.

Ina: One of the first things I realized and fell in love with when going online as a kid, was the fact I could be anyone I wanted. In all of the old virtual worlds which are now lost today as discussed previously.. I'd have a new fake name and persona on each and every one. I was now 5-10 years older than I was in real life, I was cooler, had way better 'drip'... I wasn't a 12 year old girl sitting behind a big clunky virus ridden laptop with blasting fans; on it's last legs trying to not overheat. I was a cool teenage girl, dyed hair in a crop top. I had every accessory I wanted, I could pick any style I wanted to be and change it every single day. I don't believe in being put inside of a box or being confined to just one thing. You are your essence.. when you're online you can exercise what ever thing you feel in the mood for, whether it is your STYLE or your GENDER. It's like how I knew some girls who used to pretend to be cool boys on club penguin and animal jam. I mean, no one needs to even know what gender you are, be girly or don't.. use emoticons or don't.. we don't need to be embarrassed by things we do or say.. as long as you're anonymous (which you should be.)

I don't believe in being put inside of a box or being confined to just one thing. You are your essence..

Bash: One thing i truly respect about you as an artist, is that while quite obviously you are a girlboss OC CEO sacred deer, that’s not something you use to leverage as some women have done in “Web3”. There are some other really great women artists in this corner of the net, and also some mediocre artists overall. Do you see the future of NFT art being dependent on quality of art or will it continue to be rug core with real net artists being in the avant-garde? Or are we past that?

Ina: It's hard to say, I think there will be this weird cloud hanging over NFTs that is just rugcore, scammers, and third world farmers. But is that going to be the majority of space forever like it is now, I don't really think so. The more and more that NFTs as a whole fall to the bottom of the drawer and collect dust, it's actually going to make us closer to ascension. And by that, I don't mean "going to the moon". The more that they are not seen as primarily a financial vessel, the more it can become something for genuine collecting or pairing with another product, with trading as a secondary supplementary feature. Ones that are truly special will gain value because they are beautiful and worthy to collect. But honestly, i don't really know. I'm not an expert on such things.. I also can't force people to stop being weird whenever you drop a project. Some people will always expect something even if you drop something for free. So many artists are scared to drop things because of this, this stifles the amount of enjoyable and beautiful art on the platform. Some people want me dead probably, they're obsessed and tweak when I don't even know them, even when they haven't minted anything I have made or been affiliated with. There's nothing you can do about it. If you want to create something , and you want it to exist to be enjoyed; you have to do it and you can't be scared about it. No matter what you do, someone will dislike you for it.. so just be as annoying as possible if you desire. Like, people don't pull out knives on painters for putting some of their drawings on a table with a price tag next to it on the street, even if you make the art and simply launch the collection and leave it at that, people will expect something more but they can't even name what they want. There is no rulebook to NFTs, people don't really know what to do yet. So I think it's good to make good art the first and main product, and maintain a community space where people can hang out and enjoy their joint love for it, and all art of similar nature.

Bash: Closing thoughts: Ina Bisou. Truly a hidden gem in this space, I think you’ve pioneered quite a few things people don’t know about, and maybe that mystique is one of your best aesthetics. To me, Girl Online is a callback to some of your earlier art that some people might not have been able to see in real time, and comparing it to where you are as an artist now, I feel cross-faded by the feelings I get from seeing both at the same time. A girl Online can be lovely just as much as she can be deadly. Thank you for sharing with us ♡

Ina ♡ (‘ω’)