We were lucky to catch up with Lucile Lesueur recently and have shared our conversation below.

Lucile, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I learned the basics of design in college when I majored in Fashion Design in France and in Graphic Design in LA. However, being an “artist” seemed totally out of reach.
I realise looking back now, that I was probably my own obstacle most of the time. My mind would tell me I was not good enough or did not “deserve” to do it, which can seem totally silly now.
If I could go back in time, I would totally tell my younger-self that it’s important to try new mediums and that failing is not always such a bad thing. I truly think that trusting the process is key as an artist and that you grow and learn all your life. The day I understood that it was ok if my illustrations were not perfect and that practice would make the process easier, it unlocked a lot of things in my mind and in my work. Also, As a creative person, it is very important to allow time for new things like taking classes, going to new places in order to keep a creative flow, even if it is not always simple with the busy life most of us live in. Going to college taught me two qualities that I think are essential as a creative:
First of all, to have an open eye on the world around us. Inspiration is everywhere you just need to pay close attention to what surrounds you. You don’t necessarily need to travel the world to be inspired (Even though it is lovely to travel of course) but what i mean is you can be inspired by a rock on the ground, to how someone on the street is dressed, to the light in the sky etc…
And second of all, to be able to bear criticism. You do not need to agree with what people will say about your art but it can sometimes bring reflections or something that is missing in order to evolve. It is often very interesting to hear from people who don’t personally know you because they will have a fresh objective eye about your art.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Lucile Lesueur (or Lucile L on social media) . I am originally from France but I have been living in Montréal (Canada) for 8 years now. I have been illustrating children’s books since 2022 so it is pretty recent.
Before that, I used to work as a graphic designer in licensing, stationery and for the fashion industry.
As far as I remember I always wanted to be an illustrator. When I was little at school I would redraw the little illustrations that were on my books, so I am pretty proud that I achieved my childhood dream.
So far I have 8 books that were published in Quebec and hopefully I will make a lot more. I would love to be published in other countries too one day and maybe even write my own book.
I love illustrating children’s books because I really like exploring storytelling and developing little cute characters and their own worlds.
I am very passionate about colors and patterns so I like to work a lot on that in my art.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I would say that meeting the young readers is the best reward. The kids bring so much good energy when I meet them at books fairs and school talks. It used to stress me a lot to have to draw in front of them because I am used to drawing by myself in my quiet studio and not having an audience. But I have recently started to really enjoy it. I love how they ask questions about how I draw things, why do i do it, and when they give me advice. It’s always very fun and interesting exchanges. 

How did you build your audience on social media?

Currently starting in Social media can be so overwhelming, because there are so many platforms and so many people on it. First of all, I think it is important to stay true to yourself and not post something just because everyone is doing it. Also, we kind of forget sometimes that social media is first of all here to connect with people! If I was starting today, I would mostly engage with people (comment, ask questions, do collabs…). It’s great to share pretty pictures but it is way better to comunicate and build some sort of relationships with other users. I have made so many friends and got a lot of job opportunities through instagram in the last ten years for exemple. Afterwards, I am not going to lie. I have moments where I talk and comment with people a lot and sometimes I have periods of time where I am a lot less present, which is not good because you are supposed to be consistent on those platforme i believe. (no one is perfect hehe) 

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.lucilel.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_lucilel_/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lucilel.illustration/