ADÈLE LEYRIS
ADÈLE LEYRIS
[Episode 5]
Welcome to the fifth episode of the Creative Minds Project with my friend Adèle Leyris.
Adèle is a French-British designer and illustrator based in London, who I met while working at an ad agency. She came across as an influential leader who encourages and invests in her team and is on her way to lifting her industry into a more inclusive one. But today, I’d rather pay my respect to the amazing illustrations, with which she filled her Creative Minds Project notebook from cover to cover. Her drawings are exceptionally well-crafted and are inspired by the beautiful shapes that nature offers. She spends a lot of time observing and drawing what she finds in the wild during her travels. During our conversation, we talked about how she designed her career as an illustrator while keeping it interesting and challenging, and some of her most effective creative habits, which I think would be a practical benefit to most. Adèle is a confident, capable, and courageous creator, and I’m so happy to include her notebook in this project.
Q: Can you tell me a little about your background and how you got into illustration?
A: As a kid, I was never a fan of reading and used to spend all of my time imagining the story solely based on the illustrations of my picture books. From then on, I knew that this is what I wanted to do when I grew up: draw pictures. That idea somehow got lost along the way and I didn’t truly realise I could make a living out of drawings, so I shifted gears towards visual design which seemed more promising at the time. I never stopped drawing for my personal pleasure and started to get jealous of the illustrators I was briefing when I was art directing. After 12 years in the advertising and digital industry, I decided to work hard on shifting my career toward illustration. Alongside my full-time job, I drew every day, went to events, and meetups, entered competitions, subscribed to the AOI (Association of illustrators), and set myself some specific goals as I went. Getting outside of my comfort zone was the only way to make a change! I’ll never say it enough. Slowly, my projects were getting noticed and I worked on more and more illustration projects for advertising and branding. This got the attention of an agent. And The Bright agency helped me access areas that I had no contacts in, such as editorial and publishing. Slowly that balance between design and illustration is shifting and even though I haven’t yet quit my full-time job (because I love it too much) I’m getting more and more exciting opportunities in illustration!
Q: In a more intuitive sense, how did you learn to draw?
A: I’ve never felt that I’ve “learned” to draw. That is the one thing that the youngest of kids can do before they can even read, write, or talk! The only difference is that I never dropped the pen/brush/crayon/felt tip. I never once had the thought “Drawing is for kids, I should stop”. Why stop when you’re having fun? And then the more you draw, the better you get. Simple as that.
There’s another thing I thought I’d bring up, it’s the use of the words “talent” or “gift”. First of all, so many people can draw infinitely better than I can out there. Secondly, it insinuates that my hard work had nothing to do with it.
Being a good illustrator (or artist for that matter) takes two essential things in my opinion:
1. Looking inward: Work hard on your development
2. Looking outward: Look at what everyone else is doing (and not only in art) and learn to truly observe the world around you.
As an illustrator, we need to be able to have an opinion on the world to be able to illustrate it.
Q: What are the types of illustrations you like to do? What kinds of subjects or exercises do you seek out?
A: I am always very attracted to natural subjects. This can range from botanical watercolours for a sustainable Tea company to mountain landscapes for an outdoor clothing brand. The closer to my values the better. But more importantly…
… I am always up for a challenge. Getting a project that challenges what I can do and forces me to learn a new technique is what excites me most.
eg: 360 illustration experience, animated watercolour video, interactive storybook, etc… What next?!
Q: How do you keep your passion and curiosity alive? How do you keep practicing and growing?
A: Being an illustrator often means being a researcher. Depending on what your subject matter is, you occasionally have to become a botanist, a journalist, a scientist, etc.
You have to be curious, and that will naturally forge your beliefs and develop who you are as an illustrator.
Then from a visual language point of view, I would say: Trying something new! There are only 2 possible outcomes to this: Either you love it and it feeds into your work, or you hate it and it helps you identify who you are/are not as an illustrator.
I also recommend challenges. I know we don’t have time, but it doesn’t have to be big. Even a 3-minute challenge a day will evolve your practice so fast. For inspiration on challenges, I look at Instagram and try to discipline myself. The most famous ones are #Inktober, #the100DayProject, and #DrawInYourStyle. Sharing your work regularly actually creates professional opportunities (like my puzzle) and many conversations with fellow illustrators (which is essential for your sanity).
Q: How does your career as a designer influence your illustration practice and vice versa?
A: For a start, the 2 disciplines are very similar in the sense that we answer a brief with a visual that needs to communicate something (either a brand, an emotion, a message, or a story).
Being a designer means I know how to package up my work and sell myself as a Brand. I would say that at least half the work is about how you present your illustrations and market yourself to find clients/projects. At least at the start.
Studying illustration has also helped me in my design work. I am now spending more time figuring out how to communicate visually in the most efficient way, as well as bringing the audience on a journey by telling a story.
Q: Assuming you have achieved some level of contentment, what’s your formula for a fulfilling career?
A: (My formula for a fulfilling career is) variation and challenging yourself.
And if your current job is not bringing you that, go and look for it elsewhere (side projects or a new job!). It’s through learning and being proud of your growth that we can truly be happy professionally, in my opinion.
Q: How’s being back in university?
A: Haha. I was a little worried at first as it involved a lot more reading and writing than I thought an MA in illustration would be. I do recognize that it’s made me grow massively. I’m learning to spend time researching and familiarising myself with the subject before picking up a brush. I know it makes my work more rich and more interesting to the viewer, and it gives me more credibility in the business.
It is tough to juggle with work though, I can’t lie. But it worked well with the whole lockdown situation last year. I’ve done a few short courses in the past years (wood carving, character design, illustration…) but a Master’s degree (2 years) is a beast and I feel I’m struggling to put enough time into it. I’m still learning a great deal though, and it’s all that counts really. It just means I’m having to sacrifice a little of my private life for a few more months...
Q: What projects are you working on right now?
A: I’m working on some animated watercolours for a French Tea brand. It’s pretty cool working out the mechanics of how the motion is going to work and preparing the illustrations accordingly. It means that I have to be flexible with my usual way of working. Working like this can be a little stressful as you never know if it’s actually going to work until you try it out. So there’s not a lot of room for error, especially on tight deadlines.
I’m also in the process of developing an interactive graphic novel of my own. But that’s going to take a few months, if not years, so stay tuned.
Q: I heard that you never leave the house without a notebook. What a great habit! How has this helped you?
A: I never leave the house without my sketchbook yes. I feel nervous when I don’t, in case I have a thought or if there’s a scene I’d like to immortalise.
I use sketchbooks to develop ideas and practice drawing. But most of the time, I use them to record things that I’ve done and places I’ve been. They are so much more personal than a photo, as they include the emotional state I’m in when drawing, and are more subject to interpretation than a picture will ever be (in my opinion).
As David Hockney says, photography is unable to express the sensation of being in a place: “Photography is like looking at the world from the point of view of a paralysed cyclops for a split second”.
Don’t get me wrong, I love photography too, in fact, I never leave the house without my phone either, just in case. But I always see the difference in my sketches between drawing from life and drawing from a photo. And that’s because the photo has filtered out some of the sensations. Anyway, I could talk about this for hours…
I often thought that my sketches were different from my professional work. Different techniques, different styles, and different expressiveness, but over time I have realised how much it feeds into all of my work. And if I don’t sketch for a while, my work is going to be a little rigid and shy. It’s just like physical exercise, training is essential for good performance. You get a little rusty occasionally but it comes back quickly.
Q: Finally, can you tell me a little about your notebook for the Creative Minds Project?
A: I love the idea of Creative Minds because it’s just so interesting to see how other Creatives work and think!
A sketchbook is something so personal, it’s a window on someone’s soul, and I always feel privileged to see other people’s sketches/notes.
I started this sketchbook during the third lockdown so a lot of it was actually done when stuck indoors: Online life drawing, flower studies… I then got my first vaccine jab (which I document in the sketchbook) and slowly started to travel in the country again, drawing landscapes and people living their lives outside of home. So this sketchbook has a special value to me, whether I’m happy with the drawings or not, it’s marking something historical and I know I will enjoy flicking through it in 10 years. Maybe other people will too!
