I’ve seen a lot of very exciting things coming from combining photographic imagery with illustration recently.

I’m keen on the simple ‘neon’ characters French artist Céline Artigau brings to life in the form of les fantômes, or the ghosts. This series points to the potential for so many fun things one can do in mixing the two mediums.

Céline has responded to a few questions on her background and her techniques.

How did you get into illustration?

I’ve always drawn, but after studying graphic design and communication in Paris, I started a career as an Art Director in advertising.

The first years were really intense and I had less time for my personal work but it gave me the opportunity to discover and work with very talented illustrators and photographers.

Finally, I succeeded in finding some time for me and my own illustrations.

I start from a photo I have taken of a place that I like or that is meaningful for me. It can be my grandma’s garden in which I spent all my childhood, or the subway that I have to take every day to go to work.

These luminous characters are the souls of these places and ghosts of my childhood. They are like some lonely and abandoned imaginary friends that still follow me and haunt these places.

Concerning the process, I use Illustrator to create my character and then Photoshop to integrate it into my picture.

For my light effects, I use a mixture of layers and blur effects but the precise process is always different from one project to the next.

A basic black pen. My little camera too.