

I really enjoy sketching in L.A. and California in general. We have great weather all year round, perfect for sketching on location, fantastic scenery, mountains, desert, ocean, and I found interest in the urban landscape in L.A. I also love sketching all sorts of vehicles, and L.A. is full of vintage American cars, trucks, that I never had the chance to sketch in Europe.
My line changed, transformed tremendously over the past ten years, as soon as I started to sketch on a regular basis. I first wanted to record every detail of what I was looking at, but that didn’t excite me at all. It wasn’t spontaneous, and I didn’t see or feel the life in my drawings when I was looking at them later on.
So, naturally, my lines became more and more casual and loose, as I was forcing myself to record everything on paper very quickly and just keep the essence of a subject. I really believe in the economy of the lines, I use the less lines possible to say what I have to say with my sketches, and especially when I sketch intricate things.
I don’t want my sketches to look like a photo, I want them to tell a different story and most of all, I want them to be a sketch. By that, I mean that I don’t want to spend hours on a drawing, I want spontaneity, life, mistakes... there’s no interest for me to sit for a long period of time somewhere and record all the details on paper, I might as well draw from a photo at home if I want accuracy.
Sketching has a sense of urgency that I love, the energy, the life that can come out of a sketch amaze me. It’s about spontaneity, enthusiasm, confidence. It’s giving the feeling of a place, the illusion that every element is here.
That’s why I love sketching so much, I always surprise myself, good or bad, by interpreting what I see as fast as I can."
• Stéphane's blog.
• Stéphane's art on Flickr.
[If you missed our Flickr Fave interview with Stéphane you can read it here.]