Parisian Artist, Yves Damin
Today I have something deliciously different on my blog! I am happy to introduce to you, Yves Damin, who is a Parisian artist and is my guest on my website today. Just like me, Yves likes to travel, and to also sketch his daily life. He’s never been to Melbourne, but Australia is on his top list of travel destinations. I’ll let him introduce himself and his work to you in his own words. Please visit his sites (links below) and enjoy his wonderful art!
"My name is Yves Damin, I was born in 1973 in Lyon, France. I come from a family of artists, as my father is also a painter. In my early years I was more happy drawing, rather than studying I must say! I could spend hours sketching secretly in my notebooks with my coloured pencils.
When it was time to enter secondary school, I opted for Art School, which was an obvious choice for me. I studied one year at the Ateliers de Sèvres in Paris, where I learnt the fundamentals of drawing and painting. I then studied in a specialized Art School of Graphic Design and Illustration at ESAT (Ecole Supérieure des Arts et Techniques), also in Paris. After graduating, it was time to find a job and I first worked as a Graphic Designer, and then as an Art Director for communication agencies. As this was mainly a digital job, I was a bit disappointed not to practice enough hands on painting.
So I decided in the 2000’s to challenge myself by doing more and more sketching so as not to get frustrated. It was a relief to be back on track with my sketchbooks and my canvases. I joined a few collective exhibitions to find a home with kindred souls. As a big fan of architecture design, my passion was always to sketch in the city. I became very active doing some paintings of Paris, but also of London (my wife is English) or other big cities like Berlin or Barcelona. I became part of Paris Urban Sketchers having a few meetings with fellow sketchers. It’s such a strange combination, because for me sketching is a very lonesome activity, and I discovered a very passionate community of people who enjoyed painting as much as me. It was wonderful to meet local artists in various places, such as England, Italy or painting in Greece.
An American publisher contacted me for the book Sketch City, and I was very pleased to be part of this project. I have the privilege to be also an illustrator for magazines, I collaborate from time to time with French and American magazines: This is a good way to look for interesting topics to illustrate, such as History, Gastronomy or Culture in various articles. I like the journalistic approach of this kind of illustration.
Painting equipment: Most of the time, I use Indian ink for drawing, and I really love watercolour. I think it’s a fast, very expressive technique. It’s easy to carry everywhere, and it gives the artist a lot of freedom. As it dries quickly, it is quite convenient to draw somewhere quite fast and then to move on. It is useful when you like to sketch and paint on location.
For drawing, Pentel Pen brushes are amazing. I use them with Indian ink cartridges. As the ink is waterproof, it won’t smudge with watercolour, even when a lot of water is used. Otherwise, I discovered recently glass pens and coloured inks. It is interesting, because I can choose the colour of the ink; not only deep black, but also sepia, blue, whatever colour I like.
I really wish to come to Australia, the landscape are so different from Europe. Thanks to people like Nick, writing for Melbourne Daily is way to travel virtually for me. I just hope one day to be there and to sketch in Melbourne, it would be truly wonderful!
Kind regards,
Yves
Yves Damin painting on location in Bali
