Ardara Chinnock
2001-2018

As a young girl, Ardara’s first artistic influence was in the style of anime and manga characters. She spent countless hours learning to draw their tiny facial features and huge, glistening eyes. At age 9 she took her first formal drawing lessons from comic book artist Ryan Lieb and learned the importance of clean, crisp lines, especially in animation.

Always excelling in school art classes, Ardara tried various styles of art, and every notebook and page of homework had doodles in the margins that even her Math and English teachers couldn’t help complimenting.

In her adolescence, she discovered a network of graffiti artists through social media who created “slaps” or graffiti stickers that could be quickly and inconspicuously slapped onto street signs as one passed by. These artists, who lived in cities all over the world, would often share addresses and mail eachother their slaps to be put up in more locations. Ardara’s graffiti persona was called Jinx, and her characters were cartoonish, with cute faces, broken horns and knobby knees. Many collectors traded slaps with Ardara, and some even did collab stickers, where they would each draw on one side and send it off to be finished by the other. 

As Ardara matured, so did her artistic style. This can be seen by looking at the art on her instagram pages, @manicpixie_dreamgirl_ and @far_fara_art, where her cutesy cartoon images gradually gave way to more serious stylized women, with hollow eyes and multicolored skin and hair. These darker images emerged during her mental health struggles and their bold, moody representations moved all who saw them, especially her peers, many of whom were also struggling with depression and anxiety.

In 2018 Ardara’s life was cut short by suicide. A piece depicting an alien figure in outer space was chosen for its positive feeling, and made into stickers that have now been slapped in beautiful places all over the world. Many of Ardara’s friends have had her art tattooed on their bodies. Many young artists have created work that resonates with her style. Her impact on her community, especially in her art, is still being felt five years later.

​

All proceeds from the sale of Ardara's art will go to benefit the Launchpad Teen Center in Prescott, Arizona.  Please see their website using the button above.  Support these outreach centers that provide a safe place for our kids!

​