@ateliermouette

Instagram: @ateliermouette
Website: www.ateliermouette.fr

1. What’s your story? Where are you from?

I’m Florence, born in France in the French Alps and I live with my boyfriend in Montreal, Canada, since 2018 now! I’ve been working as a freelance illustrator for a bit more than 5 years now and I love it! I’ve always been drawing since I was a child and I sometimes wonder what my mini-me would say if she knew that drawing would become her job. I also have a (very cute) Corgi named Newton and two cats, they are kind of my children I love them so much even if they make way too much noise!

2. Tell us about your aesthetic.

I would say it’s pretty colorful, I often use warm tones and for a few months I absolutely love to play with transparencies and textures, it adds so much depth in my work that I’m always looking for ways to improve that part of my illustrations.

3. What is your favourite medium and why?

I mainly draw on my iPad using Procreate, sometimes on Photoshop too. I love the freedom it gives me to experiment with all kinds of things and being able to draw wherever I am! But I’ve been recently getting back to more traditional tools as gouache or pencil and it has been nice to step back from screens a little.

4. What is your artistic process like?

I keep collecting images/photographs I like and I’m always thinking about the things I would like to talk about throughout my illustrations. I have a ton of sketches (some I will probably never finish haha) and I like to make clean sketches before working on the colors. Clean sketch, clean mind!

5. Who and/or what inspires your work? 

It might sound a bit cliché but I’m inspired by everything around me: from the way the sun is playing in foliages to colors, textures and shapes in the streets… I also love to use personal topics such as mental health, childhood memories… the possibilities are endless and to me, I think an illustration speaks more if we really put a piece of ourselves in it. If I have to share names of artists I really love, I’m always inspired by the work of Nina Cosford and Olivers Jeffers!

6. What role does art play in your life? How does it change the way you view the world?

It has always been there I think, I’ve been drawing since I’m a little girl and it helped me shape the way I see the world around me. As I’m autistic I also believe art and autism are bound together as the way I see and experience the world is directly impacting my life altogether. I’m the one who is always telling people to look around when I see teeny tiny details they would have not seen otherwise and as much as it’s not easy every day, art is a great way to make my life a bit more calm and fun.

7. Where did you study?

My background is a bit weird, I have a high school diploma in Applied Arts, then studied to become a graphic designer in Lyon ( France). I wanted to become a graphic designer but after four years between high school and my first graduate school I’ve been kind of burnt out by drawing every day so I tried something else. That’s why I did a 5 years degree in communication. At the end of my studies in 2016, I realized I really disliked this field but these years helped me figure out what I really wanted to do and I still learned so much in other fields such as sociology!

8. Where do you see yourself in five years?

Tough question! As I’m not living in my birth country it’s always hard to know where I will be in five years as living abroad is shaping a lot how our life is turning so I don’t know, for the personal part, I hope to become a Canadian citizen! For the work part, I would love to publish a book. Five years seems short but who knows?

9. What about in ten?

I’m trying to work on more editorial projects so I hope by then it will be more frequent! But besides that, it’s really hard to see how our life will be in ten years so I just hope to be happy and fulfilled with my daily life.

10. What do you hope to achieve with your art?

The part I like the most in my art is talking about subjects that matters to me, it’s always very touching when people find themselves in illustrations I publish and to me, it’s the best part: to share stories and emotions that connect people together.

11. Now, tell us a little more about you as a person: what is your favourite food?

I’m a huge pasta lover! I’m part Italian from my grandmother so I guess that’s why? I could eat pasta every day but my favorite is my own vegetarian bolognese recipe, simply replace meat with textured vegetable protein, marinate it with soy sauce, add some carrots, onions and a can of tomatoes, add some tomato concentrate, salt and pepper and voilà!

12. Favourite book?

It’s hard to choose from! Lately, I absolutely loved reading Sally Rooney books and I can’t wait to read what she will write next, she’s such a good author! I always have a ton of books I’m reading at the same time and as much as I love fiction, I also particularly like to read essays (feminist essays for the most part), at this moment I’m reading a book by Bob Joseph called “21 Things You May Not Have Known About The Indian Act”.

13. Favourite genre of music? 

Based on what my Spotify is telling me each year about my tastes, I mainly listen to indie folk/rock but I also love listening to 60’s/70’s/80’s music (especially soul or jazz artists). I just jump from one style to another, I think I would be a really bad DJ but it works for me! I played the piano for a few years and I still listen to a lot of pianists (Alexis Ffrench is my current favorite).

14. What are your hobbies? 

I draw a lot but I also always have a camera with me so I do both. As for a lot of illustrators, it tends to be difficult sometimes to separate my hobby from my job but it is so nice to be able to do what I love each day! I read a lot too (and I buy too many books at once obviously, I can’t help it) and I’m very fond of interior decor!

15. If you weren’t an artist, what would you be?

I think I would love to still have a creative job, maybe being a writer or a photographer… my entire life is based around creating things and that’s what makes me happy every day! But if I had to do something completely different I would love to work with nature, maybe around birds? Being an ornithologist would be a dream I think! Either way, nature has to be involved!