Interview with Julie Mellan

Hey Guys!

Today's post is an interview with Julie Mellan!
Julie Mellan is a renowned Illustrator based in Lyon, France who specializes in animal illustrations for children.

Julie Mellan

 It might seem stupid but: work ! Drawing skills don't appear from nowhere ! Practice, practice ! 

I am super thrilled about todays post as I absolutely love Julie's work!

Hi Julie! I spotted your work first on Instagram and I absolutely adore your art. Tell us something more about yourself...are you professionally an artist or is this your hobby? 

Hi ! Thank you for your interest ! Yes, I'm a professional illustrator, I mostly work for children books.

I love the expressions captured in this picture!

Since when have you been into art and how did you learn it? 

As every kid (I guess !) I drew with pencils and markers; and after high school, I entered a french art school named Ecole Emile Cohl.

Isn't this just adorable! Super fun expressions!

Are you more into hand drawings/paintings or digital? 

Traditional art ! I paint with watercolor.

What tools do you use for churning out such fabulous cartoons? Readers who are starting off in art will definitely want to know. 

I use watercolor. With this medium, the paper's quality is really important, perhaps the most important ! I work on Arches paper, l love it ! 

Any art tips you want to give to my readers? 

It might seem stupid but: work ! Drawing skills don't appear from nowhere ! Practice, practice ! And draw what you like, if you love dogs, draw plenty of dogs. You'll have fun, and your work will really be the reflection of your personality !

You draw animal art mostly from what I have seen. Is that your favourite style? 

Yes, when I was a child, I started drawing with Disney characters, and now, I still love animals, its fun to draw, and cute !

This is my personal favourite. Worthy of being framed and hung in the living room!

Can you give information of any books or published work that you have done? 

I mostly work with a french publisher named Lire c'est Partir and they have published about 10 books that I have illustrated.

Who are your favorite artists who have inspired you? 

Disney animators, like Glen Keane (and his daughter Claire Keane !), or Chris Sanders, or classic illustrators like Mary Blair, Beatrix Potter, Ernest Howard Shepard, Richard Scarry, Annette Marnat... and many others I forgot...

Do you have any favorite art blogs? 

I don't really follow blogs, but Instagram profiles instead. I love the works of Aida Zamora, Cory Loftis, Ira Sluyterman Van Langeweyde, Diana Pedott, Taryn Knight, Tom Booth, Genevieve Godbout... and once again, many others I forgot... :)

In awe with the detailing on this one!

It was wonderful talking to you Julie. Thank you for gracing my blog!

Julie Mellan's portfolio here: http://juliemellan.ultra-book.com
And Instagram profile here: https://www.instagram.com/juliedessine/

Baby blues

Hi everyone!
I have been away for over an year now with a very valid reason this time!
We have a new member in the family now and he is a bundle of joy!
I promise to post more frequently now though....so keep watching this space as we plan to talk to some established artists for inspiration!

Copic Fever

I have been coloring a few print-outs of Disney Princesses using a mix of my favourite Copic Markers and Camlin brush pens.
I am just practising blending using brush pens and am already greedy to buy some more Copics :D
I have a very small set at the moment and am on a budget, so I settled for the Camlin brush pens which only cost Rs. 195 for a set of 12. These are water based markers are are pretty good for the price.
But they aren't Copics! You know what I Mean!

Elsa

The Little Mermaid

Mulan

Random Cute girl!

Mulan

Disclaimer: I picked these pictures from the internet and these are not my sketches! I have  only colored them :)

I

Ever since I watched Shankar's movie "I", I have been smitten with so many aspects of the movie,one of them being the beautiful locations of China where a part of the movie has been shot.

This is a cartoonised version of Amy Jackson in one such location called Lexiaguo.

Some pictures of Lexiguo while I am still smitten..

Tangled up!

Thats my attempt at untangling Copics with Rapunzel from Disney's Tangled.

I only have a small set at the moment, so the purples and greens had to be done with crayons :|

I really like the second image that was created on Adobe Photoshop by lowering the saturation.

Looks pretty vintage doesn't it? Me likes!

My Copics are here!

I finally have laid my hands on copic markers!! :D
Here are my first few retro doodles (Idea courtesy: Christopher Hart)  colored with copics.
Hope you like it! :)

 Copics used:

FACE: E00, E02, E11, R20
HAIR / COSTUME: E29, E35, Y15, Y17, Y38

Back !

Hello everyone!
It's been forever since I have posted on the blog....unforgivable really!!
I am gonna make an effort to post regularly from now on..promise! (ahem ahem :P)
Here are some Diwali snaps to start with!
P.S.: My Neocounter died! sob sob :'(

Desk-Top Doodles!

Spent some time doodling on my desk today! was supa-fun! hope you like it :)

Back with doodles!!

Been a long long time since I posted anything on the blog. Posting some whiteboard doodles.

Some more on their way....I promise! :)

Betty Cooper

Elizabeth Ann Cooper a.k.a. Betty Cooper, is one of my favourite character from Archie comics, after Jughead that is. I tried drawing some Betty model sheets, of which I colored the first two figures. Will post some more after I color them up :)

Pic 1: Clumsy Betty had a great fall!!

Pic 2: Betty - All excited!!!

Diwali Fun!

Some Diwali pics...tried my hand at Flower-rangoli this time. Was a lil bored with powder based rangoli that I make every year. Been busy gorging on sweets this festive season , which accounts for the absence of new doodles...I hope these make up for it :)

Ganpati Bappa Morya !!!

The Ruby Brooch

THE RUBY BROOCH : A short story that I wrote "Once upon a time" :)

Simpsons Makeover

Just a small post on the Simpsons. I thought it would be fun to give them a change of clothes :)

Waiting...