Artist Marine Buffard brings illustrative art to life through animation, finding beauty and magique in the small, ordinary things of daily life.

Meet the Artist

I have been drawing since as young as I can remember: I just never stopped. I studied in several art and design schools in Paris, but ESAA Duperré School of Applied Art is the one that had the strongest impact on how I envision the overall creative process into artistic self-expression. I then started my career as a graphic designer and creative strategist but very quickly came back to my first love: illustration.

Tell us about your creative process.

There are two distinct processes. The first one is quite classic: I have an inspiration or a brief and I know from the start what I want to draw and animate. I draw frame by frame until I have the expected or imagined result. The second one is more organic: I draw a frame, and I see where it leads me. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it takes several tries, sometimes it’s surprising. I have been very lucky to have clients who sometimes trust me to keep this process.

What does Magique mean to you personally, and as an artist?

When I think of magique, I think of a couple of things. One of them being small ordinary moments aligned so well that they all of a sudden offer a deep feeling of contentment and happiness. It’s a subtle shift- everything ordinary suddenly becomes extraordinary and you feel at the right place at the right time. It can be from sipping your first coffee in the morning with a good book by the fire or enjoying a ride under the winter sun with the right playlist in your ears, walking your dog and unexpectedly meeting a friend, laughing so hard with your brother that you feel 6 all over again... All of that is magique to me.

What do the words ‘You are Magique’ mean to you? 

A part of my family comes from and lives in a small village on the north side of a Greek island. Everything there is magique. From the extraordinary still waters of the sea, which looks like the heavy oil that we keep in barrels at home- to the quietness, the calm, the emptiness of a place so old that it remembers probably everything from the past generations. It’s the humidity in the air that smells of flowers and rotten fruits. It’s the sound of the waves on the seashells. Everything is precisely where it should be and where it has always been year after year and generation after generation. It holds a beauty that you get to see but also to smell, hear, and just live. It’s the whole experience which makes it magique.

Animations for Hôtel Magique by Marine Buffard