Have you ever come across a comic strip that seems to accurately depict a local scenario and say exactly what was on your mind? Don’t be surprised if the artist behind one such comic is none other than VulpineNinja.

Her work is known to centre around real life events and real life characters, especially Malaysians.

Not one to shy away from the so called sensitive topics on religion, racism and even feminism, the opinions illustrated in her comic is known to go viral online as well as attract a handful of trolls.

This is because behind VulpineNinja’s casual art style, her cartoons provoke deep and at times heated debates on pertinent issues.

Has she been harassed before? Many times! Scrolling through her Facebook posts would reveal the extent some folks get offended by her cartoons.

For this reason, VulpineNinja has stealthily kept her identity a secret – to prevent anything untoward to happen to her family members or friends.

“As long as they don’t cause physical harm or harass any of my friends or family members then I think it’s best to leave them alone. I can ignore online harassment unless it gets worse.”

The artistic psudonym, VulpineNinja, is inspired by the word “vulpine” which is an adjective that relates to a fox and “ninja”, she says, represents spying and assassinations.

“I like both things since I was a child so I thought combining these two words is kinda cool. I have been using that name since I was 15 and it just stuck,” VulpineNinja tells Eksentrika.

Curiously, she also draws herself as an Hijab-wearing girl with pointy foxy ears.

Armed with only her Wacom Bamboo Pen Tablet and Clip Paint Studio, VulpineNinja is using her art to deliver a public service message.

This is despite her feeling that many still view art as mere entertainment instead of actually learning from the “isi tersirat”

Small effort is better than none.

“I’ve always wanted to draw comic strips on people’s attitude to various things but I didn’t have the confidence to do it.

“I  started two years ago when I finally decided to “just do it!”. It took several months for many people to notice, before this my friends were my only audience,” says the 27-year-old.

The only folks who know of VulpineNinja’s identity are her close friends and family members who have been supportive of her work.

“So far I have not revealed my second life to my workmates.”

In the past two-years, VulpineNinja has come up with five self-published comic books; “It’s not Magic”, “LOVE & HATE”, “Makan Cili”, “Just Nerdy Things”, and “Inktober”. She has also collaborated with several of her artist friends too.

It was her father who first inspired VulpineNinja to draw.

“He used to doodle cartoons for me when I was little and I picked it up from there.”

Taking inspiration from Naoko Takeuchi of Sailormoon fame and Nobuhiro Watsuki, creator of the samurai-themed series Rurouni Kenshin, VulpineNinja gradually adapted her art-style to become more manga-fied.

Through her short journey as a cartoonist, VulpineNinja discovered that the word “offended” is very subjective one.

“Maybe it means when you’re not comfortable with different ideas or thoughts?

There are opinions which are harmful but sometimes you have to take a chill pill and try to understand where they’re coming from.

Vulpineninja can be followed on her Facebook. Are you an artist who would love to showcase your work? Drop us an email to [email protected]