Artist of the day: Artist of the day, October 18: Steeven Salvat, French illustrator

Thursday, October 18, 2018

Artist of the day, October 18: Steeven Salvat, French illustrator

Steeven Salvat is a French illustrator, his work is inspired by old black-and-white etchings, but he gives the style a modern twist. He loves to draw with a Rotring pen and china ink—a technique he started employing four years ago.

Salvat has drawn since childhood: it’s his passion. But until recently, he had not seriously considered trying to make a living from it. Now he is dedicating more time to his artwork and beginning to take part in new projects and accept commissions.

He first drew mechanics and gears for a project called Rouages, which started thanks to French designer Adrien Petra from Classic Vintage. “He gave me a nude wooden coffee grinder lamp, and I drew on it,” Salvat says. “I loved the rendering and the feel of it, so I decided to work on a new project inspired by old biological studies, mixed with clockworks, to get the ancient steampunk look.”

To match the old-style feel of the illustrations, Salvat dyes his own paper for this project. He used a 180-gram Canson paper—soaking the paper in a mixture of boiled water and black tea for 15 to 30 minutes. “The drying part is kind of tricky, as you have to put heavy books on the paper to keep it from curling,” he explains. “The last step is to iron it.”

Salvat has also illustrated skateboards. He skateboarded as a teenager and liked the diversity of illustrations on the decks from the different brands. Salvat’s skateboard drawings were commissioned for an exhibition in Paris. “Working on wood isn’t really so different from paper,” he says. “You just have to be really careful, as small particles get stuck in the nib of the pen.”

His future plans include releasing a new series of small drawings, taking on more commissioned work, and perhaps a new drawing on a wooden object.

© 2018. All images are copyrighted © by Steeven Salvat. The use of any image from this site is prohibited unless prior written permission is obtained.