About Mini Gabi

Mini Gabi is a misfit girl with a rebel attitude who doesn’t like to be told how to think. 

She is a cartoon character who likes to share wisdom. In her opinion, the more we remind each other of how wonderful it is to be unique,  the less we worry about not being good enough. 

When you live an authentic life, you inspire others to do the same. 

Her mother used to say:

"If you don’t have something to die for, you don’t have something to live for".

This inspired her to travel around the world and discover new ways of thinking.

Unfortunately not everyone she met was as positive as her mother;  and to protect herself from negativity vampires,  she started spreading daily reminders to stay true to herself.

Her biggest fear is to lose her freedom. She would literately rather be a lollipop lady, then sit in an office looking at emails all day!

Some think she has an attitude problem, but she learned the hard way that if you don’t stand up to bullies, they take over. Mini Gabi has real distaste for generalisations and cliches. 

Aside from death, It all depends!

As well as spreading empowering words on the streets of London, Berlin, Athens, São Paulo and many other cities, she has also shared inspiration in offices, homes and murals.

Her rebel ways have led to collaborations with other brands, from modelling street hoodies, to spreading female empowering messages around the world. 

Her biggest dream is to live in a more equal and diverse world. Her mission is to continue sharing motivation.

Get in touch with Mini Gabi for collaborations, custom artwork, murals, illustrations, influencer/ brand ambassador and licensing.

Or just to say hi.

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About Gabi Almeida, the creator

Short Version

This is ME!

Nice to meet you,

I am an artist inspired by graffiti,  street art, anime and comics... most of my work is around a character called Mini Gabi, who likes to spread messages around the world...

I got into this style of cartoonish art after having a head injury. 

At the time, I was a singer songwriter, recording artist,  but because of the injury, I had to put that on hold.

Whilst recovering, I had the idea of creating a character to go out on adventures on my behalf ...But the character had ideas of its on, took over and decided to appear on paintings, the streets, murals, cartoons and products.... she found a magic pen that only writes inspiring notes, and decided to go around the streets spreading the word.

 

Long Version:

Hello my friend,

I am Gabi Almeida (AKA Mini Gabi)

I was born in São Paulo, Brazil and as a teenager I was sent to England by mistake.

Let me explain...

I was meant to go to the U.S, but the agency organising the trip made a mess of it, and I was sent to the UK instead…....Long story short, I fell in love with the country and ended up staying..

I grew up in São Paulo, a concrete jungle with the most amazing street art, and one of the biggest Japanese colonies in the world.

My mother was an artist and my grandparents art dealers, as well as the inspiration from the city, I grew up surrounded by paintings & art books of great masters.

Although I started drawing as a kid, my first career was in music, first as session guitarist, and then as a solo artist, and even so I used to design my album covers and posters, music was my main work. I wanted to give more focus on my art, but kept postponing it until one day everything changed - whilst running, I fell down, hit my head on the wall : ( bang ! 

I suffered from really bad post concussion syndrome and couldn’t go back to music. in fact I couldn’t do much - most things  made me sick  : (

Books were too hard to read, tv aggravated my dizziness, sound was impossible; and light even worse.

I discovered that comic strips were less demanding on my brain then full texts, so I started reading comics and drawing cartoons slowly….this is where my artist journey really began -drawing was the only thing that didn’t make me dizzy!

So I created my first character Mini Gabi!

I used to draw her in different adventures doing things I couldn’t do and this has really helped my healing.

Once I recovered, I was invited to exhibit the drawings I had produced during this time in a small gallery in Berlin (where I was living  at the time)

It was a great experience so I decided to continue with my art full time - loving every minute of it!

Since then, I have been creating paintings, illustrations, taking part in art shows and illustrator fairs, creating street art and outdoor pieces for coffee shops. My images have been used by other brands and I have also started an online shop selling merchandise and prints.

Right now, I am developing new characters for the Mini Gabi world and developing a series with the character spreading inspirational messages around the world.

Sure music is still a passion of mine and at the moment, I am learning animation.

I would like to produce a music video with animations of my character playing  music.

I love to collaborate with other artists, entrepreneurs and brands and would love to hear from you if you interested in a brand collab.

Besides art, I really enjoy listening to self development books, walking in nature and drinking coffee! 

I have lived in London, Berlin, Barcelona,  Sydney and I am now based in Kent just outside London.

Thanks you so much for reading my story, I know how time is precious these days and I am very grateful for your time!

Xx

Mini Gabi Mural at Dragon Co Working