art. • Interview: Léo

• Start by introducing yourself

Heyyy my name’s Léo! I’m 22 and I live in Lyon. Though I saw most of France, I lived in Perpignan, in Grenoble, in Paris and in Rennes.

I’ve been drawing forever. Even before I could write, I was already holding a pen. But I really started to study art theory and anatomy when I was 12.

• How would you describe your style?

I really like sharp and messy lines and I hope it shows. But on the other hand I also love clean detailed artworks where every stroke has to be perfect. Most of the time I draw my friends and they happen to be pretty girls so I believe my style is now to draw pretty girls *laugh*.

I’m not quite sure I'm good enough yet to have a proper artstyle, I wouldn’t even be able to tell you what an artstyle is, but I’m starting to be happy with the way I’m drawing and it’s all that matters!

• Who are your biggest artistic influences?

I love photographic composition, mostly in cinema, and because of that I was in a cinema licence for my first year at university. It was super interesting and I learned a lot of useful knowledge that I am still using nowadays in my compositions.

Tatsuki Fujimoto is my favorite mangaka precisely because we share this love for cinema. His compositions are fantastic and I really love his messy art style (and the same goes for Gege Akutami whose lines are so sharp and messy, each chapter is delightful).

When I was a teenager Laura Brouwers (IG: @Cyarine) and Quinni (IG: @quinniart) were my biggest influences, and to this day I still admire Cyarine’s artwork and carry the memory of Quinni with my love for stars.

Today my favorite artists are Crisalys (IG: curisaris) with her sharp and colorful artstyle and Heikala (ig : heikala) who makes very calm and soft watercolor pieces. I am also a big fan of religious art from the renaissance and its references into today’s pop culture.

• What is your creative process like?

I spend a lot of time looking for references; I look around when I walk, I scroll on Pinterest, look at the newest art posted by artists I like or pictures of my friends on Instagram, go to museums, play video games, read manga, have a look at my artbooks, etc.

Most of the time I am thinking about what I want to draw. But I cannot draw everything because I don’t have all the free time I wish I had, so I only draw what I feel is ready to be drawn. Though, this feeling of being ready only comes from an impulse. If I suddenly want to draw it, then I will. Following my desires rather than being logical about what to draw gives me a boost; I know what I want and my hand just has to follow.

When I was a teen, I didn't like digital art. I first used alcohol markers (Promarker and Copic) when I was 12 until maybe I was 15. Then I discovered watercolor and fell in love with it. I still own a very pretty watercolor set that I love but I don't really use it anymore. I had my very first tablet when I was like 13, a Wacom Intuos Pen & Touch Small, but I didn't really like drawing on it.

A few years later, I bought a new tablet, the same brand but the newest model, and started to really like digital art. At the time I was using Paint Tool Sai, which is not the best drawing app but is still good, and later moved to Clip Studio Paint when I turned 18. I only used it for a few months because I received my Ipad Pro with Procreate at the same time, but Clip Studio Paint is such a good drawing app I can only recommend it if you’re looking for one. This leads us to Procreate that I use on a daily basis. It is very intuitive and has everything I need to draw correctly, I couldn’t ask for more.

When I start a drawing, I start with the general composition of the piece. What are the shapes, the subject, the lighting, the mood? Most of the time I know what I want to do rather quickly, but sometimes it can take me a few hours to decide. Once it becomes an unreadable mess, I start my sketch on top of it. Most of the time I do sketch and line with the same tool on the same layer. Actually I do both at the same time to the point I can't differentiate between my sketch and my lineart. When everything is clean, I add some colors. I am trying to express the most by using the fewest colors possible. My three main colors are: a carmin red, a purple-ish dark blue and a warm yellow. Then I add shadows and lights, some effects that I like such as adding grain to the picture and voilà.

• How often do you draw and what motivates you to create?

It actually only depends on how much free time I have during the week, but to generalize I would say that I spend a few hours every week to draw. Though, whenever I can't draw I would simply use that time to look for references.

My motivations are quite simple; I just love art. I want to express the love I feel for what I see. I am not a very positive person but there are still a lot of things that make me very excited in life. I love light, I love when things reflects in a mirror or in a puddle of water, I love rain, I love flowers, I love cats, I love mecha, I love cyber, I love fashion, I love when people make efforts to look pretty, I love deep feelings, pain, loneliness, loyalty, love, I love stars, and what I like to draw the most are demons.

I feel the need to draw what I love, maybe as a memory of the love I felt at the exact moment I let my pen slide. Whenever I feel, I draw, for only art could be the eternal vessel of those ephemeral feelings. But I also have a dream to fulfill, I want one day to be able to publish a book/comic of my own. I know what I want to do, and my only regret for the past decade was that I was not drawing fast enough, that my strokes were not confident enough.

Fortunatly those efforts were not in vain as I just kept drawing faster and more confidently, piece after piece. From time to time, I realize that most of my life is spent on making art, thinking about art and loving art, but I’m okay with that.

• What do you struggle with when making art?

My anatomy is still not perfect, I should draw more naked people maybe, but it’s good enough for it not to look like anatomical abnormalities. What I still struggle with is my use of colors; I’ve read tons and tons about color theory, but I feel like I can never achieve what I aim for. Maybe I am not bold enough? I think I should try experimenting to reach a new point of view about colors.

I also used to struggle a lot about my pieces not being perfect. Everything had to be pixel perfect (I would truly zoom and spend minutes on a bunch of pixels because they were a little different or I don’t know what) and I realized that nobody would even notice it, that even I wouldn't notice it when I see the illustration again. In the end I stopped caring so much, because there is no point. It is time consuming and it will only lead you to be disappointed in your art.

• Have you worked on any projects? What are your dream projects in the future?

I have drawn a few commissions, usually for friends. Once, I had a quite famous Youtuber that payed me to draw her flyers for a convention (to be honest I don’t even remember her name). When I was in Tokyo I drew posters for events at my residence, such as the Halloween party. What I liked the most was to work with my friend Bye2 (IG: bye2smosh, Spotify and Soundcloud: Bye2); I made her a cover for a song she released on Valentine’s day and she was so excited about it, it made me very happy.

I already mentioned a little about my projects earlier, but I would really like to write and draw a comic book. Especially in the genre of dark fantasy, without any words. I saw a lot of comics ending up with so much text they looked like novels. However I saw beautiful movies that told so much with so little. The technique is called show don’t tell, and that is precisely what I aim to do with my comic. I would also love to draw and write something about the cyberpunk genre, this time with text.

• What art styles or medium would you love to try one day?

I cannot stop thinking about how much I would love to try oil painting on an immense canvas, something way taller than me. Regarding art style, I think that I should try something that would better suit dark fantasy.

• I heard you spent a year in Japan, how has your experience there influenced your art?

Changing my whole surroundings had quite an influence on my art. It helped me establish recurring elements that I like (such as the colors I use, low quality art, etc). Because it was all new, everything was subject to bring inspiration, and I just kept drawing and drawing. It helped me understand illustration better from Japanese artists that I like and brought me new things in life to enjoy that I may end up sharing through art. It felt very nice and refreshing to create there.

• How do you FEEL about your own art?

I’m happy to be decent at drawing, I can create things that are close to what I picture in my mind. But this is definitely not enough, I barely feel anything when I look at my art; it does not move me and surely it barely moves anyone else. There are a few pieces that I like, a lot even, but they are not the best I could ever produce.

I mean I’m pretty sure that I would be unsatisfied when I will be facing the apex of my art in many years, but that is part of it. The more frustrated I am from not painting the way I wish I would, the more it pushes me to become a better artist. I’m happy to draw and to be honest that’s all that really matters about my art to me.

• What message would you like to share with the readers?

Give your best in whatever you do. The world is a beautiful place with you <3