I had the pleasure of emailing artist & illustrator Marguerite Sauvage about her work…

1. Tell us a bit about yourself…

Hello, nice to meet you, I’m Marguerite Sauvage. I’m a French illustrator based in Sydney, Australia. I’ve
start to work as a freelance illustrator in 2001 and I’ve drawn for various clients and projects through the
years, press, publishing, advertising, exhibition, game design, etc. I also draw occasionnaly as a concept
artist for animation or work as a freelance art director. First of all I’m passionated by art, image, graphic
design and illustration.

2. How did you become an artist? Did you study the subject or are you self- taught

I’m self-taught, it’s somehow why it took me a while before defining myself as an artists I guess. I draw
from my very childhood and spent night and day drawing in my teenage years while studying science then law and journalism.

3. What artistic medium do you use?

My hand and my brain. A 3mm 2b pencil. Paper. Computer, a 21UX Wacom Cintiq and Photoshop. A
scanner and a printer.

4. What kind of music do you like and do you think that it influences your work?

 

It depends of the work. If I want to cool down I can listen to Lakmé or this kind of etheral classic music,
or more modern chill out music like Lemon Jelly. When I want to be happy and energic I can listen to the
Divine Comedy or the Blonde Redhead..I’m very eclectic in my tastes!

5. You create a lot of images of females. Is there a particular reason for this?

Yes : market ! No, just joking, I’m not 100% honest by saying that. I also love drawing women, a woman
corpse is easily esthetic, pleasant to draw. I think also that when I draw women, as I’m also one; with a
woman body but also a woman life with all the intimate tricky or beautiful things it implied; I can project
my sensibility much better. It’s a much natural medium. Nevertheless most of the time I’m also asked to
draw women. It’s a circle.

6. What message, if any, are you trying to say through your art?

I want to make life prettier. I want to share, to be generous. I want to make people feel pleasure, feel
well, happy, by looking to my illustrations. I think real life is enough complicated to give people more
questions about it or bad-feelings. My illustrations are eye-candies, that’s all. But yes, sometimes there is
more in my drawing, but it’s not really something that I control.

7. Do you think that you need to possess any certain qualities to become an artist?

The question of being an artist is vast. For example cooking for me is definitly art. Or doing great
cocktails. Or being a prodigious gardener. I think it’s a combination of having curiosity, very important,
with being sensible and then being active on creating something.

8. What percentage of your time is dedicated to creating images and what percentage of time do you
spend marketing your art?

Half half, unfortunately. Nowadays you have to be super active and present with all the variety of media.
If you choose to make a living of your art, you have no choice, even with great representatives.

9. What and who are you inspired by?

Too many people. If I stay in illustration : René Gruau, Bob Peak, Robert McGinnis, Mary Blair.

10. Is there one experience in your life that you profoundly remember that has contributed to you being
where you are today?

Unfortunately the profound life experiences that contribute to make an artist of you are not always the
fun and nice ones. Art and imagination are also a great escape. I got the chance that it led me on this
path; it allowed me to do something concrete, to find a channel of expression. Hard working and luck are
also strong factors.

11. Do you sell your work? If you do, do you sell prints or the original images?

I sell my work through some galleries and exhibition like Arte Limited or Light Grey Lab. Most of the time
it’s prints as my final arts are digital. I never keep my sketches and line drawings because I do them on
common office paper. Nevertheless I just started few months ago to go back to traditional tools and
paper. So soon, more original art for sale !

12. Do you do commercial work? If so, who have you worked for?

Yes, that’s the way I pay my rent, bills and taxes. I’ve worked for Elle, Apple, L’oréal, Pinguin Books,
Louis Vuitton, Marshall Field’s, Azzaro, Instyle Magazine, Cosmopolitan, the reader Digest, Nivea, Orange,
Citroen, etc.

13. Do you think that it is important for an artist to do both commercial and personal work? Which one is
more important?

If you chose to be an artist and have absolutely no constraint of money, you can do only personal work
and just improve your art. Unfortunately I’m making a living of my art, so if I wanna eat I have to do
commercial work. Also I’m an illustrator, working in applied art. It’s totally different than being an artist
working in fine art, for example, who live from exhibiting his personal art. I don’t think there is really
boundaries between these to faces of art in a matter of ART speaking. I just think these are two totaly different “real-life” worlds and, so, markets. Only few artists have crossed the line between.

14. How important is the artist to their work? Do you think that if you have seen an image of an artist
does it change the way you view their art?

You don’t need to know the artist if you appreciate the art. Sometimes it’s better. There is a lot of genius
that were totally awful peoples in private life; and a lot of good peoples that unfortunately suck in being
artists.

15. Is there any part of being an artist you don’t like?

You have to, must, should, question yourself to be a good artist. But not too much…

16. Do you know of any artists that you would recommend to be featured on this blog?

Colonel Moutarde, Charles Santoso, … plenty.

17. What are your plans for the future?

Doing more personal and traditional art. Working more in concept art. Keeping to improve my art.

18. Do you have any advice for aspiring artists?

Keep up the good work.