Camille, 30, a former expatriate from Toulouse in France who has been living in Belgium for eight years, tells us how she satisfied her love of art and her need to do illustrations with tattoos. A rescue in extremis for the former Beaux-Arts student for whom the passage through the corridors of the academy almost meant the end of her artistic career.
Your drawings have a character close to children's illustrations, have you done any?
I have always drawn. As soon as I could reach things with my hands, pencils were the first! My parents still have photos of me at the age of two where I can be seen making shapeless scribbles. My father was an artist and he watched me make my way, without interfering too much so that I would not be influenced too much and would make my own experiments. I really liked illustration but I never got the chance to do it (professionally speaking, with a contract). I went to art school in Rennes, where I was turned down when I showed the illustrations I was doing on the side. So I just kept doing it in my corner until the tattoo crossed my path and carried me.
How does this happen?
Tattooing literally saved me. My art studies were not going well at all, I fell into a depression. At the same time, my mother got a tattoo. The result was not crazy, the tattoo artist was not a person who drew... and yet my mother wanted to give me one for my 19th birthday. I wasn't too keen on going to this tattoo artist, so I went to see other tattoo artists in Toulouse to get an estimate. At Eskimo, then at Henrik Tattoo where artist Gorbalex was working at the time - who finally tattooed me - , Romain Triptik, Freako Rodriguez. At Eskimo they were working and nobody was available. I stayed at the reception without making any noise and without daring to disturb... But I was watching! I really liked the decoration and I was already very impressed because there was art... everywhere! And not like in the vernissages where people are stuck! At Henrik's, too, two-metre-high drawings finally got to me. I wanted to do that. Gorbalex set up his shop in Rennes and I started to spend more time in his shop than at the art school.
Tell us about your references, what is your graphic culture?
I grew up with Disney, like many Europeans, but also with a lot of comic books. The little Spirou, for example, was a reference point for my chubby little characters, the "bouibouis" as I call them. And then, when I was 13, I fell into the manga pot and that was it, I ate animation until I was thirsty. I also saw my first Miyazaki film when I was 10, Princess Mononoke, and it marked me to the point of monopolising the loan of the video cassette from the village media library (laughs). Finally, if there is one artist I worship, it is Alfons Mucha. I couldn't even understand how someone could produce such beautiful things.
This sketchy, drawn side is something you like to keep in your tattoos. Is it technically difficult?
I have to tell you that I never really thought about it. In all honesty, I suggested it to a client one day and I loved the vibe of it. You have to draw the lines in a different way, it's more flexible and less academic, it makes you think about your construction lines because you're cheating: the pattern is already done, you don't draw it and you don't invent it either, so you have to rewind in your head what you've done in constructing it to give the same effect on the skin, making it look like you created it directly on it. There's an energy that I can't bring to the "no sketch" tattoos.
Your world is very soft and comforting. Is it important to you that your tattoos feel good, that they bring something positive to your clients?
I always work with my clients in a supportive way. It's important to me that the collaboration goes well. I am very sceptical about the massive consumption of tattoos that some people do. It's really gratifying that people have enough confidence to entrust me with a piece of their skin for life. It's not trivial! I try to put my clients at ease, some would say I pamper them too much, but I can't help it, that's just the way I am! They suffer enough during the tattoo.
Among the themes you like to work on are animals and little princesses...
The tattoo apprenticeship had forced me to review my drawing technique, I had to relearn my working tool. The 'bouibouis' lent themselves well to this re-education: they are small (but not too small!) and allowed me to do my hand properly. And what better way to put colour everywhere than with Disney and little animals? Nature gives us infinite variations, it's a precious source of inspiration that man has always had. It's amazing that everyone can do everything in their own way, with their own artistic background.
Compared to the pleasure of drawing, what satisfaction do you get from tattooing?
There is a technical constraint that is crazy in tattooing, because your support is alive. That's why I see it as a collaboration. If your client doesn't stick, you can't express yourself to the full extent of your creativity. You have to scale down your plans if they are very "soft", but you have to find solutions quickly. It chews up my brain sometimes, but it's a mental gymnastics to keep my feet on the ground and not to forget that behind everything you do, there is a human being. Honestly, I sometimes come home after a 6 hour session and I'm completely out of commission, like I've run a half marathon. Drawing is more... Between me and myself, it's more personal and intimate because I'm drawing at home, in my cocoon, and nobody interferes in the process. When you finish a tattoo, you feel like you've signed a sports contract and given it your all.
You are very attentive to your clients. That's the secret of a good tattoo, the quality of the exchange with your client?
Yes, it is. I don't really like it when people talk to me about carte blanche, it leaves me with too many possibilities and I quickly get lost! In my case, the clients come in by email first, which makes it easier for me to do my work, and then I have a face-to-face consultation. This stage is very important, because people see me drawing their project in front of them, and at the same time I talk (or not, sometimes!) with them. It gives you a bit of time to get to know people's personalities and make them feel comfortable. And then they see how you design the project. They realise that there is a lot of work behind it, and that it is not just an execution. They can give you advice on the spot. If the idea is not technically possible, I explain why. Often the final result is a mixture of the client's ideas and mine, everyone puts their own spin on it.
Creatively, how do you stay inspired?
Tattooing and drawing are extremely time consuming, sometimes I wish I could go to the cinema or exhibitions more often. It's also one of my faults, I can't see when I've run out of energy and I get burnt out! In a way I'm very grateful to do this job, but sometimes I just wish I had more free time to dream a bit. Lately, I've started reading again and I'm rediscovering how to engage the imagination that's in my brain, which has been a bit amorphous. I deplore a bit the world we live in, it's a bit like what I was saying about nature, and it may seem simple... However, it's when I'm the least stimulated by the human world that I'm the most creative. In the quiet and in nature, I find my childlike soul, and I let my brain imagine and create. Everything is just immediacy since social networks, and I was trying to keep up with it but in the end, it's limiting me more than anything else (I look like a very boring and quiet girl, but it's the truth lol). I'm not against a good movie, but sometimes I watch it in three nights because I'm so tired.
Are there any tattoo artists that you particularly like?
I have to admit that I have a preference for tattoos that lean towards Art Nouveau. I like a lot of different styles because I admire the compositions as much as the personal touch of the artist, the colours or the purity of the line. Sometimes it's not my cup of tea but I admire the technical performance of my peers! I have great admiration for Gogue, Teresa Sharpe, Filouino, Hannah Flowers, Emily Rose Murray... And so many others.
Do you have other means of artistic expression?
I did a bit of everything when I was in art school, we did sculpture, painting, collage... What I like best is painting, but often I don't have the time to do it. I think I would have liked to do a bit of sculpture, but I would need a large studio and a whole double life to do everything I wanted. As a child and teenager I did a lot of dancing and almost went to the conservatory. I used to pass on emotions through my body, when it was too stuck inside. But this is a path I had to leave aside to have more time to draw!
There is one subject you talk about openly and knowingly and that is autism. Can you tell us a little about this struggle that drives you?
I was diagnosed at the age of 27, and thanks to one of my clients (see here the importance of exchanging with clients, eh! ) with whom I used to talk a lot, who gave me the name of her neuropsychologist. I don't really know if it's a struggle or just the lack of knowledge of the subject in the eyes of the world that upsets me so much. When you get your diagnosis, it's your whole life that you go over with a fine-tooth comb to finally be relieved: "No, I wasn't crazy or weird, I was just born different". There are still associations that are convinced that they will cure us, whereas autism is a neurological condition that is different from the norm. I know that some people will cry drama because I am capable of being autonomous, but that is precisely what makes it so difficult: I am in the category that has no mental deficiency but I understand perfectly well my peers who do. We are too often pushed to try to fit in, and when we have crises we are taken for animals. We just need the public to be informed, it would solve a lot of problems and it would calm a lot of things down. I'm trying to raise awareness and make sure that people who are lost like me can finally get an answer. + IG : @cammiyutattoo Wallifornia Ink Shop Rue Albert Premier 2, 7100 La Louvière, Belgique. Telephone - +32 (0) 489.14.11.18 https://wallifornia-ink.be
