Hello art community!!! Today I’m talking with Raphaëlle Barbanègre about the publishing industry and the challenges of illustrating picture books. Such useful insights and tips!

For those just finding me - I’m Madalina, an artist and illustrator who loves discovering and talking to many fellow artists. I now share these conversations through monthly interviews available to read for everyone :)

Raphaëlle Barbanègre is a French children's book illustrator known for picture books such as Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs, Le Krapoukoff, La Dent et Eve, and many more. Her illustrations are elegant, colorful and packed with detail and texture. And there's no lack of humor! She makes masterful use of the negative space and creates dynamic compositions. Raphaëlle is a versatile artist who really knows how to use art tools to communicate stories and move the reader!

✿ Hi Raphaëlle and thank you for joining forArtists. How would you describe your artistic journey that led you to where you are today?

Hi Madalina, and thank you very much for this interview. As far as I can remember, I have always drawn. So when I realized (around the age of thirteen) that I could make a job out of it, shiny little Raphaëlle was over the moon: “What? I can have a job where I draw at home WITHOUT meeting anyone? Magic!” (I’m still very pleased about this aspect of my job :D).

I studied for 4 years at the Emile Cohl School of Art in Lyon, specializing in illustration and then…the real artistic journey began… I was very enthusiastic and motivated and my number one goal was to be published. So I accepted everything and of course I was ripped off by unscrupulous publishers. But that didn’t stop me and step by step I learned how to negotiate (and recognize a bad proposal).

After a few years I was happy because I was able to earn enough money to live (precariously, but still), but I wasn’t satisfied artistically. I realized that taking uninterrupted commands led me to be artistically unsatisfied because I didn't have the time to draw for myself and I felt like my work wasn’t matching my personality. And, most of all, I was exhausted. I was working nights and sometimes weekends, all for poorly paid projects that in the end didn't really make me proud.

At this moment I had the great chance to have one of my books selling well and I started to receive royalties. This money allowed me to stop taking all the jobs I was offered (reasonably of course, I still had to pay my rent…) and I took time to explore what I wanted to do artistically. I drew a lot, contacted authors I loved to propose to illustrate their stories. And more importantly, I started to write my own story. I had the opportunity to develop a book project that was entirely mine, my own universe from A to Z. It was awesome and luckily I found a publisher who liked it. It was really a big step in my career. Since then I continue to make books with my own stories and illustrate other people's stories only if I like them!

✿ You have illustrated many books. Which one has been the one you have struggled with the most? And which one still has a unique place in your heart?

The one I struggled the most with is definitely The Krapoukoff. It’s the first book where I also wrote the story and I worked A LOT on it!! I made tons of sketches and rewrote the text maybe 100 times..I was so anxious nobody will like it!

A book very special to me is Les saisons de Montréal. It's a documentary book about the city of Montréal through all the seasons. It’s sort of my love declaration for this city where I lived for almost 10 years and which I miss very much now that I live in France.

✿ How has the publishing industry changed over the years?

I feel like the industry is more and more in an overproduction strategy and, therefore the financial conditions tend to be weaker and weaker, it’s really hard.. Meanwhile, the increased number of talented illustrators is a real richness for the industry, and I feel like the authors have started to fight more for their rights.

✿ What do you focus on most when illustrating a story?

First, I would say that I want to create a coherent graphic universe that allows me to be faithful to my style but also enhance the text. Then, I work a lot on the compositions because I want to capture the highlights of the story.

And finally, what I love the most is hiding funny little details in my illustrations. Sometimes these are just silly little creatures, but they could also be additions to the text, or some little jokes that help the reader better understand the universe or the characters.

✿ Lately you've been creating more traditional art, and I particularly love the illustrations for Les enfants du froid. What techniques and tools do you rely on the most?

For the colors I work with alcohol markers. I love to work with transparency and they’re perfect for that. I used to work with watercolor, but I’m finally more spontaneous and at ease with the markers and of course I don’t have to wait for them to dry :)) For the details I work with a very thin pen, as I love to fill my illustrations with tiny little details.

✿ How important are colors in your work and which ones do you lean towards the most?

I think the colors are very powerful, I love the colors! I don't have any favorite colors (well, I lied it’s pink, but not necessarily in my work:), so it costs me A LOT in markers, as it might take me some time to find the right palette for a book.

The choice of colors depends a lot on the story and the universe. For example Snow White and the 77 dwarfs is a very colorful book: each dwarf has their own color because I wanted them to be a multicolored, messy tribe around Snow White who is simply white, black and red.

I can choose a dominant color for my book, for example the blue in La Dent et Eve because it’s a vampire story and so obviously takes place at night. The choice of color may also depend on the publisher: for my latest book Les enfants du froid, the publisher had only two colors available. So I had to think how to illustrate all that I had in mind with just two colors. It was a really cool exercise!

✿ What were your biggest influences when you first started out? Have they changed over the past years?

I’m not sure they have changed much over the years because they are multiple: medieval painting, folkloric art, comics and of course Jacques Demy’s movie “Peau d’âne” because it’s simply the best. I always struggle to define what inspires me the most…

I love sumptuous and traditional illustrators like Gustave Doré, Kay Nielsen or N.C. Wyeth. I love vintage graphic illustrators like Eyvind Earle, Mary Blair or Miroslav Sasek. But I am also very influenced by the work of Jacques Sempé, Quentin Blake or Tomi Ungerer because they seem to have the perfect recipe for storytelling: sensitive, expressive and funny.

✿ How do you maintain a consistent style across digital and traditional media?

I have no idea!:)) I don’t know if I have a consistent style. Do I? It doesn’t matter anyway as the most important thing for me is to draw the way I feel at the moment, the way the text or project inspires me.

✿ What would you suggest to beginner artists who want to enter the publishing industry but are struggling to choose a specific painting technique and style?

I would say: Go with the wind, draw and draw and draw again and you will find your way.

I don’t think that an artist is defined by a tool or a technique but by their universe, what’s on their mind, the unique way of seeing things and people.

✿ What projects are you working on this year?

I’m very pleased to work again on a book with Davide Cali (the author of Snow White and the 77 dwarfs) with digital illustrations (maybe in neon colors, finger crossed). And I’m also working on a project where I will also write the story and this one will be made with traditional media.

✿ What people don't know about you, the person behind the art?

I love to collect religious kitsch objects and sometimes paint over them.

☆☆ To learn more about Raphaëlle's work you can visit her Instagram and website.

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