She was once a graphic designer until she rediscovered drawing during lockdown. Now the Paris-based illustrator saves up peaceful moments from her life, then turns them into beautiful, calm artworks.
You always try to look for a theme in people’s work. A thread that stitches it all together. Not a style, per se. More of a “what motivates this artist to draw”? Marie-Lou Garcia’s soft, serene artworks celebrate moments of calm in her life. When she’s most relaxed and happy. I feel calm just looking at them myself, finding peace as I head down to London for another busy week.
“I am inspired by trips, holidays, or simply daily times,” Marie-Lou tells Creative Boom. “I make a ‘mental image’ of a moment, an atmosphere, a colour palette or a pattern, and it finally takes form when I am mentally ready.” That often happens during a break. ‘Figolu au bord du Tarn’, for example, is about an adventure with a best friend. “We hitchhiked with one goal: seeing the sea! She was eating a Figolu near the river, and this scene was so poetic for me. So I kept this moment in my head during the rest of the trip. Once the journey was over, I drew it on the return train.”
Figolu au Bord du Tarn
I’ve found the same with writing. I’ll save these little moments for later and enjoy revisiting them when alone. It’s taken me a long time to “be present” and not immediately think of blog posts to write, stories to dream up. But that’s probably because I see writing as a passion, not the profession it’s become and the lines get blurred. Illustration was once a hobby for Marie-Lou, too, and only became her full-time thing during the pandemic. “I have always drawn. But during my graphic design studies, I completely stopped,” she says. “I found creative fulfilment elsewhere for 10 years. It took the 2020 lockdown for drawing to come back with a vengeance.” She bought a box of oil pastels, and after six months of practice, she felt she wanted to go pro. “Little by little, I finally left graphic design in favour of illustration.”
The creativity extends to scarves and textile pieces, made to order. Does that change anything when a drawing has to live on cloth and be folded, worn and washed? In a former life, Marie-Lou worked as a textile graphic designer, so she learned about placement on garments and how to keep things readable on fabric. “Making my own textile was, for me, an obvious step and a chance to play with my drawings. I have to think about the drawing’s size, the details, the way the scarf folds around the neck or the head. It’s another way to think about composition.”
Portrait de Simon
If you’re as taken by her work as I am, then you can order a print, scarf or risograph via her online shop – a decision she made when she ended up with more drawings than she could cope with. After a quick look at fine art printing options, she invested in her own printing machine and now makes everything herself. “I also learned everything behind the scenes: managing stock, cleaning scans, orders, printing tests, and of course taking pictures for social media!”
Among her many portfolio projects is a graphic novel, which she began two years ago with Pauline Faivre, a friend and author. “We had a shared desire to write about femininity and the feminine heritage passed down from a mother to a daughter. The graphic novel explores these themes: the mother-daughter relationships and the maternal grief. A subject that Pauline treats in a poetic and introspective way.”
Flamboyant
Then there’s Studio Sthéno, a creative graphic design and illustration studio she co-founded alongside designer Léa Laforest. “Since I’ve been working, I’ve never just had one job. I’ve always worn several hats. Teaching and graphic design with Sthéno nourished each other for several years. Then illustration let me approach the image differently, which nourished my graphic design and gave me new perspectives on how I teach. Nowadays, I decided not to juggle it all, so I stopped graphic design and reduced my teaching time. As for the rent, I could just say that the illustration work pays the studio’s rent!”
It sounds like Marie-Lou is like many of us: always exploring and adapting, being open to change wherever the wind takes her. These things might come from personal life events or stressful periods, or from a hunch that feels like the right next step. No matter, choosing this path is never easy. Has there ever been a job or moment that nearly broke Marie-Lou? Yes. Right after her studies. “With no income and no direction, I felt a little lost. It was hard! I had some pretty mediocre internship opportunities in Lyon, so I wouldn’t just ‘do nothing’. Finally, I found a permanent contract at Kenzo Kids, and I left after two months for an opportunity in Paris. I left everything – my recent flat, my job, and later my love life. Parisian life opened up so many possibilities for me, and it ended up changing me a lot; I found my place.”
Colère
Browse her website, and you’ll see it’s set in Dindong by Clara Sambot from Bye Bye Binary. Was that a considered choice? And how much do the politics of who makes her tools matter to her? It’s very important to her, she says. “When I created my artistic direction, I was looking for a militant font, a theme you can find in some of my drawings. This political dimension is important in my work and in my personal life. Even if I’m not as active as I would like to be, I like talking about politics, and I have convictions. This is why I like to play with a little bit of insolence in my drawings!”
Illustration has had a rough few years between shrinking budgets and AI. And it’s not been easy for Marie-Lou either. “It’s necessary to find a way to satisfy all budgets,” she says. “When it comes to AI, I’m internally angry; I try to educate my family about the damage caused by AI-generated images. ‘No AI’ collectives, associations, and people fighting AI-generated images inspire me and make me feel more creative. AI had better watch out; we are not going to let this happen!”
Champ de Maïs
For someone who has already weathered a few storms in this ever-changing industry, what advice does she have for other artists just starting out? Funny enough, she says not to worry about mixing hobbies with work or doing things your own way. “I think the border between creatives’ jobs and personal life isn’t so clear in this case. This is exactly what I like. Sometimes it happens that you start working at 10PM, after a lazy day; you can’t order inspiration. No two days are the same, and that is what makes this job beautiful.”
More than anything, she says, “Don’t overcontrol things, and don’t be afraid of freedom”. Now where did I put my notepad?
