When you want to do something in your life, you have to do it, no matter what.

I've always wanted to make a career out of my drawings, but I didn't think it was possible to make a living with it. I decided to study animation. It was a safe job and a serious job, but had an artistic side that attracted me. And I kept drawing on the side, as a hobby.

I secretly hoped that this hobby would eventually turn into a job, but even if it didn't, it was fine by me, I drew because it satisfied me.

Drawing makes me happy, I draw because I immediately get something from it, some kind of positive feedback. You know when you listen to music, you instantly get a vivid flow of emotions, of feedback... Drawing is the same to me.

I progressively started to post my drawings online, and one day, I drew a Skull and posted it everywhere online, hoping it would get noticed. And I got an email from someone at Nike. I had won! My hobby had become a full time job! After that, one job led to another...

The great thing with having clients asking me for work is that I get to learn a lot. Clients often ask things that you're not used to do, they're stretching your boundaries. And I'm ok with that, because learning happens when you experiment.

One of the first major experiment I ever tried was to make powder out of graphite and use some brushes to paint with that powder. But the brushes weren't accurate and fine enough, so I went on the hunt for the perfect brush. I ended up finding that the best brush in the world to paint with powder is a makeup brush, made by Chanel. This experiment actually turned into an everyday tool, I use graphite powder and Chanel brushes in a lot of designs to create dust and cloudy textures. It has become part of my style!

I said before that I could live forever drawing even if it didn’t make money. Now, the fact that it made money and is making money is a fantastic bonus, it’s fantastic, it gives me… it’s a full time job now… It feels like it took forever to happen, but for the past 5 years I have lived the dream life of my 15-year-old self.

Alexis Marcou

Illustrator and Pencil artist.