Chloé Bertron, an illustrator playing her flaws to create personable charm

Chloé Bertron is a Swiss-French artist studying at the Haute école des arts du Rhin. Currently in her fifth year Chloé admits that she has “always been interested in visual arts, but it’s only after being here for three or four years that I thought seriously about illustration.” This decision is informed by her time on a longer degree course, her initial interests of “restoration, pastry cooking and architecture” are identifiable in her illustrative work.

A further interest of Chloé’s is creating editorial work. She is hoping to write her own book which she can add visual content too. To inspire her work, the artist is a keen traveller, “I totally fell in love with Iceland. I’ve also been to Thailand and Vietnam.” On a trip to Thailand she discovered a publication that has since informed her practice, “At Bangkok airport I found a magazine with very old Thai drawings, it has since been my biggest inspiration to draw characters, before that I really didn’t enjoy drawing them. I also really like watching old Persian miniatures.”

Chloé explains that she often feels unconfident in her illustrative skill, “Actually, I’m not a good drawer, but I work with my flaws.” In this sense her work is elevated by it’s niche naivety, layers of felt tips and colouring pencils, warped shapes of characteristic plants and animals, alongside cut and paste letterforms. Chloé also feels it is compulsory to not limit her work to one style or medium, “I try a lot things, I don’t think it’s necessary to have one defining style, but one that element that never changes is the colour I need to work with. Especially red! And black, green, pink, yellow, blue, all of them. I like it when it looks dramatic.” Each of these elements build a portfolio of natural, personable charm.