After drawing with pencil for some time, he decided he needed to challenge himself and picked up a biro, now he’s worried he’ll never go back as he loves drawing with them so much. It’s a complicated way to draw, but he sure as hell has mastered it.
The discovery of comic books sparked a young Florian Meacci’s penchant for drawing at the age of 13. The books inspired him, and he knew that he would be a happy man if he could draw everyday for the rest of his life. And that’s exactly what he does now. Growing up in the south of France in the town of Marseille, he moved to Montpellier for his studies. He fondly recalls to me a beautiful student town where he studied Graphic Design and had the most amazing four years of his life. This student town sounds too good to be true; beaches, a beautiful city and eye-opening people from all around the world. As there were no illustration studies available in France, Graphic Design was his next best option as the course incorporated many technical classes giving him skills in nudes, painting and water colour.
On completing his diploma Florian decided on a move to London against the other option of Paris, met a girl one month later… and the rest is history, four years on he is still here. It hasn’t been an easy ride, he’s had his fair share of bumps in the road. Starting his career in Graphic Design for an East London company that went bust, he then ventured into another project that also crashed. Florian decided it was time to shut down the computer and go back to his original passion of illustration. He has free-lanced ever since.
With clients such as Dolce & Gabbana and H&M he is evidently doing very well, Florian knocks on wood at my congratulations of his success. He admits that it’s not easy, and the freelance world is fickle. Some months are manic, while others he’s left wondering what to do. He explains to me that the problem with being a fashion illustrator is that you can’t ever really just work for someone else, there are few jobs that require full time illustrators.
I always like to do something edgy…drawing just to draw can get boring.
Florian’s portraiture style always has something of himself added into it. Taking inspiration from everything, he adds “I always like to do something edgy… drawing just to draw can get boring.” Maybe this is why his illustrations draw so much attention, they draw you back for a second look to try and figure out the story. Whether it be a dark twist to a models face or a watercolour injection to a black and white image, Florian certainly adds his own edge to make each and everyone of his illustrations unique. As a self confessed comic geek, this is what pushed Florian to be an illustrator. He used to re-draw the pictures from comic books as a kid and this is what pushed him to be an illustrator. When working on a piece, Florian explores his surroundings and uses the internet as a major reference source, picking up styles and pieces of inspiration and weaving them into his own pieces.
One of his latest projects was a collaboration with his best mate in Paris. His friend organised it as a way for them to see each other; he booked the event exhibition space so as to ensure Florian’s presence in advance. In this same fashion, they decided to split the alphabet so that one half wouldn’t be complete without the other, the exhibition was titled ‘ABÉCÉDAIRE’. While both illustrated with biro and the whole alphabet fits perfectly together, there are distinctions in between the two as an expected result of two different artists. It’s interesting to consider how each were influenced by their background and surroundings when illustrating these letters as a result of living on other sides of the English Channel.
As Florian put it simply, “two universes put together, and a very cool experience.” I like it. I like it a lot. It’s not just the end result that counts, but the experience too. That’s the story we love to capture here at Gather.ly, so we can’t wait to see where his path leads and we look forward to working with him again.
