Audrey Malo is a Quebec-based artist who sells her work in her etsy store, Cendrille. The girls she depicts in her paintings are sometimes melancholic but always well dressed; they manage to be sweet without being saccharine.
How do you decide what the girls in your drawings will wear? Do they reflect your own style?
I don’t really plan anything when I draw, it is mostly intuitive. Once the face is traced, I just sketch something that looks cute and that feels right with the personality of my character. I’ve been told my girls look like me and I think this is a bit true, they wear what I’d like to wear every day. We share a common interest for dresses, bows, hearts and red lipstick!
How did you dress when you were a girl?
I had two distinct phases when I was young: from kindergarten to age 8, I was really into princess dresses and would always wear extravagant puffy-sleeved floral dresses in class pictures. Ponytails and bows in my hair too. Then, at 9, I started wearing glasses and got braces so I didn’t feel really cute. I was just wearing what was “in” at the time - jeans and brightly coloured t-shirts, and tennis shoes. Basically my mom would help me dress up until I was about 11. Then in high school I was a goth, but that’s another story.
What are your favourite artistic mediums? Are there any out there you have yet to try but you would like to?
I’ve been painting with opaque watercolours for a while now and this is most definitely my favourite, as the colour always comes out very bright and dries fast. I’d love to try inks — as well as be taught how to do it properly!
The “Mes Bons Amis” series is very cool, and a bit of a departure from the pretty girls you tend to draw — can you tell me a bit about how those came to be?
They just popped into my head all of the sudden and I drew them really fast, all one afternoon. As much as I love girly nice things, I have a dark sense of humour, and I wanted to make a series with characters that were funny and not typically pretty like my usual girls. I have a vivid imagination but sometimes I forget that I could use my work to depict a story, which I should do more often!
Tell me a little about your process. From where do you draw inspiration?
I don’t really have a process. Drawing is something I’ve done my whole life, so this comes naturally to me. Only now I’m trying to draw every day, mostly in the afternoon while watching TV. Clothes have always inspired me and always will, as well as people who are creative in every aspect of their lives. I want to be like them. I think a lot of people like me can say that flickr is a great provider of inspiration from all around the world !
Interview by Anna Fitz
