Meet Emilie Seto, an editorial illustrator hailing from Lyon, France, now based in the vibrant city of Marseille. With a unique approach to her work, Emilie divides her time between creating digital illustrations for the press and various commissions, and drawing the picturesque landscapes and bustling streets of Marseille with pencils.

For Emilie, drawing Marseille is more than just a creative outlet – it’s a way to connect with others and explore new worlds she never would have imagined otherwise. Her major creative influence is the city itself – “its harsh and beautiful surface”, she says – as well as the noisy colourful streets filled with cars.

Despite not considering herself a skilled technician, Emilie’s unique perspective and signature style have made her work stand out. “My perspectives are always kind of silly,” Emilie explains. “I flourished when I stopped trying so hard to draw ‘right’ and instead found my very own logic.” By embracing her own intuition when it comes to image making, she has created a body of work that captures the essence of Marseille. Rich, textural colours give Emilie’s work a feeling of navigating a permanent vacation, a somewhat elusive yet familiar feeling. In fact, it’s hard to resist diving into one of Emilie’s illustrations and luxuriate in its tranquillity all day.

Emilie’s work is now gaining international recognition with a series of exhibitions currently taking place in Chengdu and Shenyang, China. As she continues to push the boundaries of her craft and explore new ways of creating, we can’t wait to see what she comes up with next.