Salt & Skate Life with Artist Emilie Vercez

Emilie Vercez, the creative mind behind Poney-M studio, draws her inspiration (literally!) from what she loves to do, surfing and skating. With her illustrations referring to the skate and surf universes that she is fond of, Emilie creates her pieces with the goal of making something fun. Her process, vision and artwork inspire us to create with passion and awaken our imagination.

Name: Emilie Vercez / Aka Poney-M
Age: 30
Hometown: Lyon
Homebreak: Where the sun shines

Emilie keeps a rigorous schedule to accomplish her goals, while also absorbing the world around her to feed her ideas. When she works for a client, she stays focused and avoids distractions, but keeps balanced with days where she makes illustrations without any particular order. On those days, her work style is quite contrary to the strict client work as Emilie sends daft things to her friends, spends time on internet to watch stuff and goes for walks.

“This part of my job is like my recess, when I have fun,” said Emilie. “There is no intention behind it, nothing that has to be pertinent or smart, my only goal is to make something fun and that makes me laugh. For me the skate or surf culture is exactly that, to be able to spend hours to compose with different elements (natural or not) without getting bored, persevere and start again just for pleasure.”

Emilie mainly works with pencils, paper, her computer and her graphic tablet. Most of the time, her illustrations are handmade and colored on Photoshop. Sometimes she draws on illustrator, depending on her mood and what she wants to say.

“In my creative process in illustration, most of the time I more or less already have the image in my mind, often after something I’ve heard or seen,” continued Emilie. “They is always a trigger moment when I say to myself “Oh yes I want to do this and draw it like that”. If I end my illustration with a smile on my face and that I can’t wait to show it to people so I consider it’s been a good day."