Interview by Rhys Stacey

Meet Adrien Gaudin. A recent addition to our Bright Family, his work is often recognizeable by its renderings of vegetation to thought-provoking depictions of the natural world’s vulnerability. Adrien’s portoflio is a testament to his love for nature and dedication to environmental preservation.

Adrien’s agent, Ed Palmer, shared a few thoughts about working with him:

“The quality of Adrien’s work is surpassed only by the affability of his personality. Adrien is a joy to work with an is always looking for ways to evolve his style and add to his portfolio. His deep affinity for the natural world is evident in the subject matter he often chooses for his pieces and the characters he is able to develop are both commercially attractive and sincerely thoughtful.”

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Talk us through your creative process. How do you approach a brief?

My creative process is pretty straightforward actually. For the illustrations, I work mainly on my iPad using Procreate. When I receive the brief from my client, I first do some research on the internet to find out everything about the subject and make a few moodboards for inspiration. Then I draw some quick sketches (between 3 and 5 most of the time) to get a better idea of what the client wants and know where they want to go. Then I move on to the final clean phase and add the colours.

Your work is aesthetically unique to you, how do you approach translating your ideas to the page?

I love creating my illustrations in a simple, colourful and fun way! I often start by posing my characters and then building the scenery around them. Playing with anatomy often helps me build my visuals. For the colours, I’m not going to lie, it’s rare that I get the perfect color pallete on the first try. I try out a lot of different moods and sometimes the colour will even make the drawing evolve!

Who/What have been your key influences as an illustrator?

To be honest, I’ve had a lot of differents phases in my artistic career. During my studies I was mainly interested in realistic creations with science fiction and fantasy worlds. I was very inspired by the work of John Howe, Jean Baptiste Monge and Bastien Lecouffe. When I started my professional life, I had to completely rethink the way I created to be able to make a living from this passion. I wanted to free myself from the rules of the realist style: play with shapes, anatomy and colours. Bringing pop and joy was my new motto. Artists like Rafael Mayani, Maïté Franchi and Lucas Wakamatsu have become my main inspirations today.

How did you begin illustration?

I started illustrating thanks to my father. When I was 8, he and I set ourselves a kind of challenge by forcing ourselves to draw every day for 10 years. The promise was kept, and I learnt to draw in my own way. I remember the scans we used to make of the Tintin albums to understand how Hergé drew his hands! The learning process was pretty chaotic, but it worked!

What’s your favourite part of the illustration process?

My favourite phase is colouring! With tools like Procreate, it’s so satisfying to set up. Creating an atmosphere, having good consistency, directing the eye according to the colours is something I really enjoy!

To an up-and-coming artist, what’s one piece of advice you would give?

A graphic style is something that is constantly evolving, so don’t be afraid to look at your work and ask yourself questions such as: What do I like? What can I improve? What do people like about it? What could help me make a living from it?

What would be your dream brief?

All briefs that focus on natural subjects are my dream briefs. If I’m given free rein in my choice of colours, that’s the icing on the cake!

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To work with Adrien, get in touch with Ed Palmer here.