Illustrator Lisa Carpagnano invites you to “imagine the links” between her calming compositions

Before starting any piece, the Brittany-based illustrator Lisa Carpagnano begins by drawing boxes. These boxes then inform how the work will be laid out, with Lisa slowly deciding what object, figure or landscape she wants to feature within each. Then, when she’s filled in the “rhythm and atmosphere” with colour and texture, Lisa invites the viewer to imagine the links between her compositions. Inspired heavily by teen movies like Julia Ducournau’s Raw (Grave) and Emma Seligman’s Shiva Baby, the illustrator frequently references adolescence in her work – female friendships, nostalgia and paradoxical emotions.

Lisa initially began her creative career as a graphic designer, graduating with a masters degree from L’école Estienne, going freelance and then sharing a practice with a friend for four years. It was a six-month trip to Japan, and “discovering a country with a very different and inspiring visual culture” that pushed Lisa to pursue illustration. On returning to France with a series of drawings she had created on the trip, she soon signed with Paris Valérie Oualid agency and now works full-time as an illustrator.