The Struggle Bears: the Art-Block Avengers!
This year at Comic Invasion Berlin, a pastel‑coloured crew of bears by illustrator Hong Le became the heart of the festival: Struggle Bears.
Each bear embodied a familiar creative struggle while playfully echoing our 2025 theme of Dis_ability. They brightened our posters, guided visitors, and brought a gentle warmth to the main festival at the Museum für Kommunikation Berlin in May.
Some time after the festival, over coffee and a plate of tiny cakes on a sun‑lit afternoon, I sat down with Le to talk about imagination, process, and the unusual journey of designing our festival mascots.
How The Bears Were Born
Hello, Le! It’s so lovely to see you again. We are still reminiscing about your adorable bears. What was your initial idea in creating them?
Hong Le: Hi, Amé! Thank you for having me. I felt really honoured – though a little nervous – because I’ve always loved CIB. At the time, I was going through an art block and wanted to create something I could truly connect with. My first idea was to design a team of mascots, almost like superheroes or Power Rangers, who face struggles together and ultimately combine their strengths to “save the world” through comics.
Did you base their struggles on your own experiences?
Le: Mostly, yes. The only exception is GranPower‑Bear, who represents age and wisdom – I’m not quite there yet, haha. But the others definitely reflect my own challenges, like struggling to start or finish comics.
Making of the Struggle Bears
Can you describe your creative process? Did you go for your usual practice of creating characters?
Le: Yes, pretty much. I start with sketches, then write notes to expand their traits and stories. The bears specifically came from me drawing lots of bears in my part‑time job – they also felt fitting for Berlin. From those early sketches and notes, they naturally grew into a little group with distinct personalities.
How did you approach the colour choices?
Le: I used the official CIB palette as my foundation. That made things easier. Dreamy became pink, Teary became blue – each colour reflects a personality.
And do the bears have genders?
Le: No. I didn’t assign any because I wanted people to identify with them freely. To me, they’re simply bears.
Oanh’s Delivery Service
Do you have a favourite character from your own comics?
Le: Right now, it’s Oanh from Oanh’s Delivery Service. The series also includes Cam the tiger – “cam” means orange in Vietnamese. Cam is big, soft, and really fun to draw. I get to explore a lot of expressions in that series.
Can you tell us more about it?
Le: Oanh is a Vietnamese woman who delivers flowers with Cam. It’s less about the deliveries and more about representing Vietnamese culture. For instance, in one episode, she makes a delivery to a small Vietnamese restaurant. As a Vietnamese-German who grew up in a Vietnamese household, drawing these scenes often reminds me of my own childhood.
Tools of the Trade
Do you have a favourite animal?
Le: Not one favourite, no. I draw many bears, but they’re not automatically my favourite. I also really enjoy drawing Cam the tiger, even though tigers are trickier. My main goal is always to make the animals look cute.
Your go‑to art supplies?
Le: I primarily work digitally, using Procreate on my iPad. For traditional media, I prefer fineliners as I often work with fine lines. In the past I used watercolours frequently, and more recently I’ve been enjoying acrylic markers from Arrtx.
Any final thoughts?
Le: I would like to thank CIB for giving me the opportunity to design and illustrate this year’s mascots. It has been such a rewarding experience, and I’m delighted that you like them as much as I enjoyed creating them.
As the festival energy settled, Le’s bears continued to stay with us simply because they felt real: playful, imperfect, and full of heart.
We’re thankful to Le for bringing this memorable team to life, and we look forward to seeing where their creativity leads next.
Here’s to more stories, more characters, and the spark that keeps us making comics!
