The PoArtMo Anthology Series: Interview with Azelle Elric

Hello everyone!

Welcome to our PoArtMo Anthology Series, which celebrates the artists whose work appears in The Auroras & Blossoms PoArtMo Anthology: Volume 4.

Today’s guest is Azelle Elric. She contributed pieces of art to our anthology.

Auroras & Blossoms: Tell us all about the inspiration behind your pieces.

Firstly, thank you very much for this collab! To work with you all on a PoArtMo Anthology is always a pleasure!

In most of my drawings, I am inspired by Art Nouveau artistic movement and Mucha’s symbolism, particularly long-stylized, wavering hair that I find calming to draw! “Rapunzel” is my own little challenge to draw an illustration inspired by a fairy tale. Using pencil and blending stump was particularly satisfying in an attempt to transcribe a magical/ethereal atmosphere (or so I hope at least LOL!).

A&B: How does a poem, story or creative piece of art begin for you? Does it start with an image, a form or a particular theme?

Most of the time it happens by accident, with papers and inks, or whatever is in my kitchen. “What if I put turmeric powder on a wet blank paper?” “What about mixing tea and blue ink?” lol! There are a lot of random results in my creations, I find it particularly entertaining to mix several techniques and see the final results of these experimentations! It is all the more entertaining, since these results would be totally different while using the same products from one work to another.

A&B: What is your own artistic background?

While looking back at my artistic path, I can pinpoint two main influences in my artistic work, Mucha who is one of my favourite artist and Japanese animation.

I admire everything about Mucha’s artwork: his use of colours, his precise and delicate style, his wonderful ability, and facility to suggest movements and fluidity within a static picture! “Cycles Perfecta” (an advertising poster for a British company manufacturing bicycles) is a perfect example. The female figure with its stylised wavering golden hair suggests both motion and trepidation, while riding a bike.

The second pillar of my artistic growth is without a doubt Japanese animation and Japanese culture. Since childhood, Japanese animation always fascinated me because of its storytelling and their designs that I found more aesthetic than most Western productions (even now I still think the same way! I am not very objective on that, LOL!)

For instance, CLAMP is for me an amazing Japanese collective art group of four female mangaka. I found their artwork absolutely fabulous! It is a beautiful artistic parallel with Mucha and the Art nouveau artistic movement.

A&B: Does your work have any specific themes or social commentary we should identify with?

Not really! It is just a need to doodle at first, I really love to experiment with things. Maybe I have a real interest with feminine faces and their transformations.

I love to challenge myself, since 2010 I try my best to do one doodle a day, the easiest thing to draw was feminine faces with floating hair (LOL!). Several weeks ago, one of my friends told me that my art was interesting, since while drawing more or less the same type of things, the results were always different.

So, I ask of myself to push my own limits and discover new artistic techniques: pencils, fountain pens, pens, watercolour pencils, calligraphic pens, ink, coffee, or tea stains…all of these materials I have dabbled with, and it has been an amazing journey for me. However, I have never tried collages, digital drawings or digital paintings though. Maybe I should have a try at them one of these days. After all, the first step is always the hardest but the most rewarding!

A&B: Tell us the most positive and uplifting advice you have been given while working as a creative person.

The most uplifting advice? Maybe “never give up” or “do what you love”, two pieces of advice given by my best friend a long time ago. It is plain and simple. To be original among other artists in these times when social media networks spread at top speed is difficult and complicated!

However, if I could add my own artistic touch among other artists and to be able to brighten the day of someone looking at my art, I would be extremely grateful for these opportunities.

Bio:

Azelle Elric is a happy French girl who loves cats, Japanese animation, and drawing.

Website: https://www.instagram.com/elric_azelle

Azelle, thank you for answering our questions and supporting Auroras & Blossoms! We know that people will love your work as much as we do!