Laure Marchand

I was born in the Bouches-du-Rhône and spent my childhood between the lovely forests of Burgundy, my mother's homeland, and the garrigue of Marcel Pagnol.
As a little girl, I wanted to be Snow White, Cinderella, to get lost in Wonderland, or sometimes to be able to twitch my nose like the witch in Bewitched, all while daydreaming over the illustrations of Sarah Kay.

A dreamy child, I had long since invented a fairy-tale world where I could take refuge whenever I liked.

“Then she fell into a long, very long sleep…”

I drew the way all children draw, without knowing that it would become a real passion.

I am self-taught, and I began by sketching mainly landscapes and still lifes. Drawing appealed to me greatly, but I was never completely satisfied with my “subjects of study”.
One day I sketched a little elf in a landscape, and it felt so natural to me that I continued down that path.
Since then, I have devoted my drawing to all the little characters who accompanied me in my childhood and whom I have been so delighted to find again. I now love bringing them to life on a sheet of paper.
I went on to combine my passion for drawing with the world of fairies, as well as my passion for certain periods of history.

My inspirations are quite varied but often revolve around fairy tales or the fantastic, since I appreciate the gentleness of the illustrations of Meredith Dillman or Delphine Gache as much as the darker drawings of Tim Burton or Barbara Canepa.

I have been working in adult vocational training for 20 years, and I have been a registered freelance illustrator since 2008. I balance my time between work that is very rewarding on a human level, my family life and my passion for drawing.

Keeping a touch of magic and childhood is vital to me.

I will end with my favorite quote:

“What makes the poet? Is it not love, the desperate search for the slightest ray of sunlight playing on the floor of a child's bedroom?”
François Mauriac.

My work as an illustrator

I dreamed up my prints like a prince's kisses,

a little naive and childlike, they speak to your inner child, the one deep inside you who never really grew up.

Imbued with melancholy, they tell you of lost worlds, of the melodies of your childhood that have flown away forever.

Sometimes you will bite into the poisoned apple; other times, it is a frog that will awaken you.

Often, it is little woodland fairies who look deep into your eyes and say to you:

“Remember”

My illustrations are made using different techniques, either traditional, with watercolor, acrylic and colored pencil, or digital painting in Photoshop. I always try to distill magic and gentleness into the way I paint, whether traditional or digital.