Sit Down With Our #090 Featured Artist
Emily Rouleau
Featured Artist / #122 ScrawlrBox
My name is Em and I go by emrouleauart online. I’ve always loved art, probably even when I was a newborn but I can’t remember that far back. I am self taught and have been posting my art online for the last 6 years. I like to do experiments with art mediums and techniques, though I’m probably best known for my little characters.
We love your style! Your work blends realism with a soft illustrative charm. How would you describe your artistic style??
Thank you! I suppose I would describe my current art style as whimsical and sometimes goofy when it comes to my characters and illustrations. And when it comes to my other work such as the colour pencil practice drawings that I do, I would say that it’s soft, blurry, and colourful. I Love mixing muted colours with highly saturated, bright colours, and I love a blurry background.
Do you plan your colour palettes in advance, or is that something that evolves as you work?
With a character drawing or illustration that is from my imagination, I usually have a bit of a loose colour palette in mind before I start. Although if I feel like I want to add something else at the moment then I will. I rarely stick to a solid preplanned colour palette, as much as I do love how it looks when I see other people’s work that employs it.
How do ProMarkers influence your creative process—do you plan your work differently when using them?
Most of the time when I use alcohol markers now, I use them as sort of a base layer wash of colour. Then I do all my details in colour pencils on top. I love alcohol markers, especially how they blend, and how they can be used in a painterly way.
You’ve worked with many mediums—coloured pencil, gouache, pan pastels, oil. How do you decide which to use for a particular idea?
I usually use a combination of a photos aSometimes I come up with an idea to go with the medium I use, and sometimes I have an idea where I will pick the medium to suit it best. For example, if it is an illustration that is more graphic, I will be more likely to use gouache. If it’s a study of a photo reference for practice, I usually use colour pencils, and maybe oil paint or pastels, because I really enjoy the soft edges I can achieve with those tools.
What artists or art styles inspire you right now?
Chris Hong is probably my biggest inspiration, she does such beautiful work. I also really love the work of Nick Runge, and Chris Piascik. The list is very long actually. Some others that have been very inspiring to me are: Emily Hughes (emhuesart), Timothy Vonn Reuden (vonnart), Tina Tran (imawonder), and Abigail Larsen. To name a few.
Describe your perfect day off...
My perfect day off would honestly be doing my nails while watching horror movies. Also sketching and cuddling my toddler, but not watching horror movies with my toddler, that would be insane.