10 French Female Illustrators You Shouldn’t Miss

No secret, illustrators present an active community all over the world and always keep an eye on what is going on in the field: illustration trends, events, publications as well as new and famous names bring inspiration and creative spark day in and day out. Today, let us introduce 10 French women illustrators who you wouldn’t like to miss. Welcome to explore a bit about their backgrounds and styles, and check their artworks.

Malika Favre

Malika Favre is a French illustrator based in London. Her style was born by the op art and pop art meeting. Line, shape, and color are three tools that make her creations immediately recognizable. Known by French beautystas, thanks to her numerous collaborations with Sephora chain, Malika Favre is one of the most successful French illustrators. Besides her collaborations with fashion brands and personal works, she has also created elegant magazine covers for The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Metropolitan.

Check the collection of Malika Favre’s illustrations we shared earlier

Margaux Motin

French blogger and illustrator, Margaux Motin became popular after editing her first comic book “J’aurais aimé être ethnologue” (I would have loved to be an ethnologist). This comic tells her everyday life as a freelance, mum, and single with humor and self-mockery, which are integral parts of her works and bring success to each of them. There is also the case for the graphic novel, “La femme parfaite est une connasse” (The Perfect Woman is an Idiot), which appeared in a collaboration with the Girard sisters.

Pénélope Bagieu

Known for her female illustrations, Pénélope Bagieu started her career by a blog “Ma vie est tout à fait fascinante” (My life is absolutely fascinating). She created a Josephine character for Femina magazine, also got published in 3 comic strips, and hosted a comic review on YouTube for Madmoizelle web magazine. One of her last and the most successful works is the “Cullottées” comic book, which pays tribute to 15 women from all times whose actions have changed society.

Johanna Olk

Johanna Olk’s illustrations tell about everyday life melancholy. Born in Bretagne where “the landscapes are raw and the people are simple,” she has transmitted this simplicity and local aesthetics to her illustrations. These linear monochrome portraits became her signature style. She is also well-known as a tattoo artist who recently collaborated with Bernard Forever, a temporary tattoo brand.

Mügluck

Yellow, blue, red, patterns – Mügluck’s gouaches, influenced by cubist artists, illustrate the pages of Slate, Les Echos, Le Parisien, and Elle, the most-known French magazines. Currently based in Montréal, this French artist draws inspiration from the style of the 1920s, fashion, and her dog, Pablo.

Chloé Bourguignon

Tablet or ink drawings in black & white, ironically twisted by Chloé Bourguignon, that’s the key to her success. The young self-taught Parisian illustrator, inspired by old photos and poetry, recently had the opportunity to collaborate with France 3, Slate and Gucci.

Angéline Mélin

Ultra-chic long-legged girls with fish lips—it’s about Angéline Mélin’s artworks. Graduated from the Berçot Studio, she is now a Parisian fashion illustrator known for having created numerous advertising campaigns for premium brands such as Boss, Nina Ricci, Galeries Lafayette, Cartier, etc. She has also contributed to Do It Paris City magazine and Elle Québec magazine and illustrated the “Paris c’est chic” fashion city guide.

Cécile Dormeau

With her overcoming illustrations, a young artist Cécile Dormeau celebrates self-acceptance and body image and aims at breaking down stereotypes about perfect women. In addition to personal artworks of women as they are, she worked for Durex, Asos, Google and drawn for GQ and Neon magazines.

Agathe Sorlet

A young illustrator and animator based in Paris, Agathe Sorlet became famous thanks to her Instagram page. Indeed, by publishing her artworks every day for three years, she became one of the most trendy illustrators now. Her colored and soft-lined illustrations about women and love delight more than 490K followers today. Her clients include prestigious French brands like Princesse Tam Tam, Sisley, and Le Chocolat des Français.

Sabrina Chess

Freelance illustrator, art director, and designer Sabrina Chess is obsessed with women swimmers. She uses digital illustration, drawing, watercolor, and engraving techniques to express that passion. Through her pop and pastel “poolside” illustrations, the artist honors feminine curves. Her minimalistic and abstract artworks are conceived in parallel with an augmented reality app that brought the swimmers to life with animation. She worked recently with Orange and France 5.

More lists, design examples and sources of creative inspiration are coming soon, keep up with the updates.

About the author
This is the guest post by Anastasiia Kondratieva, designer 360°, a graduate of The School of Design and Arts TALM, artist, researcher, and fashion addict based in France.

Review the current trends in digital illustration, read about history and modern state of poster design and learn the basic principles of visual storytelling with illustrations.