Elodie Lascar’s illustrations are inspired by “confident, beautiful women half-naked on the beach”

Marseille-based illustrator Elodie Lascar was inspired to become an illustrator after reading comic books during high school. Her work is a lot different to the graphic novels she used to pour over and instead they all have an ethereal charm about them. “I live by the sea and it has a big influence on my work and the colours I use. I often draw scenes where the sun shines, or where the sea and swimming pools aren’t far away,” explains Elodie. “And it’s very rare there isn’t a woman in the picture. My favourite thing to draw is a woman smoking a cigarette.”

Other characters in Elodie’s portfolio include a Venus de Milo lookalike, an eccentric opera singer and woman laden with bangles and beads. “I like drawing with coloured pencils and felt pens, but in the last few months I’ve been Riso printing my images,” says Elodie. “First it’s a black and white line drawing and then I put in the colour on the computer.”

Elodie finds herself drawing lines over and over again to get it perfect, as for her, the linework is the most “concentrated part of the work” and the colour offers the mood and evokes certain “feelings” in the illustration. “My inspiration comes from what I see everyday as I have no imagination,” Elodie says. “Lucky for me, I see many confident, beautiful women half-naked on the beach.”