Meeting with genius illustrator Marc-Antoine Coulon
For Marc-Antoine Coulon, becoming an illustrator was a childhood dream. Recognizable by his glamorous style and precise lines, he knows better than anyone how to capture a look, an attitude, to sublimate it and set it down on paper. With his brush strokes, he skilfully alternates black strokes – thick or shaded – with a mixture of colors, revealing the fragility that emanates from each personality, especially in the eyes… His magnificent watercolors are movingly accurate, and instantly immerse us in his world.
Through his sketches, this virtuoso of the brush reveals his very elegant perception of the world of fashion, perfectly conveying the spirit, style and chic of Parisian women. Following in the footsteps of his idol René Gruau, Marc-Antoine Coulon has given fashion illustration a new lease on life, with his signature pure lines, sophisticated tones and an obvious breath of modernity. Today, in partnership with the Jacques Herbin brand of luxury inks and stationery, he is launching his nude color, which he has always used as a base for his faces… A meeting with this genius artist who tells us about this latest collaboration.
How did your passion for illustration come about?
Marc-Antoine Coulon: I feel like I was born with it! My earliest childhood memories all have to do with drawing. It’s more a passion for images in general. I think I became an artist because I couldn’t find the images I wanted in real life.
Is the color Nude, which you use for the faces in your illustrations, your own creation?
M-AC: Yes, it’s a blend that I use as a base for all skin tones. I patiently created it for several years in small bottles, as my limited technical knowledge did not allow me to make it on a larger scale. Jacques Herbin inks offered to produce it in large quantities and market it worldwide.
This secret color is now on sale at Jacques Herbin. You’ll be a part of posterity! Are you comfortable sharing your magic potion with other watercolorists?
M-AC: There was a real gap in the ink market. It’s easier to find pure, clear-cut colors. As for sharing, it’s a rather pleasing idea. I can’t wait to see how other artists can make it their own; it’s already started this summer in Japan (where the ink was launched as a preview), with some very interesting proposals. It’s not the tool that makes the artist, it’s how you use it. Each artist is unique in his research, just as his fingerprints are unique.
How do you go about creating your designs? Do you work with photo databases?
M-AC: It depends on the project or commission; I can work from photos or live. These are two different experiences, but both involve an intense intimacy with my model at the moment of realization. This intimate live experience is all the more powerful because it’s reciprocal: I can only render on paper what the model gives me. It’s a collective and disturbing work. In our hectic lives, we lose the habit of stopping, settling down, looking into each other’s eyes for a long time to do something beautiful. For a long time I wasn’t comfortable drawing in public, precisely because of all the intimacy I shared. Now I’ve tamed that aspect. It’s magic to make your model forget that you’re being watched.
An icon (or icons) you can’t get enough of sketching?
M-AC: I thinkInès de la Fressange is the woman I’ve represented most often. I’m an unconditional fan of its graphic beauty, so deliciously perfumed and so alive… She is closely followed by Catherine Deneuve and Mina!
The most unusual project you’ve worked on?
M-AC: Fashion Weeks because you have to react very quickly in a very limited time. I have to turn in about thirty drawings in three days. Madame Figaro gives me a great deal of freedom to choose the outfits I illustrate from a closed list of runway shows, which is both exhilarating and quite destabilizing. They’re like my Olympic Games!
Nude by Marc Antoine Coulon ink is available from Jacques Herbin from September 4.
Coming soon to Paris Select, all the secrets of Marc-Antoine Coulon’s latest book… For lovers of Paris and other fans of the illustrator, it’s already on sale in bookshops!
