The Zest Stories

A collection of interviews, poetry and short stories.

The Awkward Frogs

The Awkward Frogs — the Instagram account turning our modern day foibles into entertaining illustrations. Moaning millennials appear in froggy form despairing over disastrous first-dates and terrible texts, whilst sipping on green juices in an attempt to rectify previous drunken escapades. Whether you’ve found yourself listening to that young couple blithely chatting about their trials and tribulations on the tube, or couldn’t help overhearing someone’s conversation on the bus the morning after the night before, or cringe as you recall yourself loudly lamenting modern life; the froglets will resonate. As a firm fan and longtime follower I’m delighted and excited to share some quick questions I had the pleasure of asking one of my favourite Instagram accounts.

How did you come up with the idea for the account? And why was a frog your animal of choice?

I remember obsessively drawing frogs as a child, but I’m not completely sure how the frog theme materialised. It wasn’t until a couple of years ago that I decided to make the froglets into social observations.

How long does it take for you to do each drawing?

Roughly half an hour. I really enjoy the process and find it very cathartic.

This time has obviously been very strange for everyone, as a creative have you found that lockdown has helped or hindered your inspiration for the froglets?

I can’t get out and about as much as I’d like to and that definitely is a hinderance. However, there’s always a lot of inspiration to be found in new and abnormal situations.

Where do you get your inspiration for the illustrations?

Listening on public transport. It’s a gold mine.

You’ve amassed an amazing following on Instagram! It’s a brilliant space to express yourself and share your work, but do you ever feel the pressure to constantly create for it?

With Instagram there’s a lot of illusory pressure to keep ‘active’ for your followers. But it really just depends on what you want from your page. I decided to draw frogs for myself - if other people enjoy them, that’s great. Taking away the added stress to post ALL the time is very freeing. Nowadays I just post when I want to.

What are the plans for the future of the froglets?

Something ‘ribbiting’ (?) (I’m sorry but I’ve wanted to use that for ages.)

Annabel McLean