This Artist's 100 Days of Badass Ladies Is Inspiring on So Many Levels

Oakland, CA-based artist Gillian Dreher [1] is using her talent for a cause, and we love everything about it. She's been drawing inspirational, kickass famous women and characters as a part of her 100 days of badass ladies series, with 20 percent of the proceeds going to Girls Inc. [2], a nonprofit dedicated to supporting women. Here's what she told me via email about why she decided to do it:

"I started the project in April as part of Elle Luna's #The100DayProject, during which participants do one thing every day for 100 days. I lost my mom to cancer late in 2015 and had been thinking a lot about how strong she was and how inspiring she was to me and to everyone who knew her. In thinking about her, I realized how much I look to all the strong ladies in my life as daily sources of strength and inspiration. I thought this project would be the perfect opportunity to highlight some of these ladies to share their stories."

She added that her favorite part about the project was hearing from her friends and social media followers [3] about the ladies that they look to as muses and pillars of strength in their own lives. "The series that I illustrated is very personal to me and tells a bit of my story, and it's been amazing having people reach out to share their stories with me in return!," she wrote. "Drawing is such a meditative process and it has really helped me deal with the issues I was facing following my mother's passing."

As far as the organization she chose to donate partial proceeds to, here's what she had to say about it:

"I decided to donate to Girls Inc. [4] because their presence in Alameda County where I live is amazing and inspiring and feels absolutely essential, so I really want to support them to make sure they stay as strong as ever nation-wide. I also love how they are devoted to the whole process of supporting and fighting for women, from running programs for girls to supporting pro-female legislation."

See 20 of our favorites now, and check out her shop for all 100 [5] inspiring prints!