“You don’t need to be right to do art”: introducing illustrator Antoine Nogueira

Date
17 July 2017

Cap-Ferret: a beautiful land near the sea that separates the Atlantic Ocean and the Bassin d’Arcachon. With scenic panoramas stretching only three kilometres wide, this location has inspired the work of graphic designer and illustrator, Antoine Nogueira, since his youth.

“The main inspiration behind this project is the place it is about,” explains Antoine. “In a sense, this series could be interpreted as a sum-up of the childish memories I have…but also as a statement of my progression since I was this little boy enjoying the views of the place I grew up in.”

“To create these images, I used realistic memories such as dreams and thoughts, but also the colours and feelings I had at the time. Memory flies, and that is precisely what I like about being able to express myself through art; you don’t need to relate art to anything concrete in order to be right. In my opinion, you don’t need to be right to do art.”

On the topic of how exactly his experiences transcend into his work, Antoine explains that there’s a duality of factors. “Some illustrations from this series are more about my personal experience. For example, the first one is inspired by a beach near the place where my cousins and I used to go out. There was this platform – which remains there after all these years – which we used to climb on and play,” he tells It’s Nice That. “The second one is inspired by foxes who used to come out during summer nights to eat chicken from my garden. After these two images, I decided to let go and focus on more abstract parts of my memory.”

Having created more realistic paintings when he was a teenager, this developed his technique professionally with a strong technique using oil and acrylic. As he grew older, his visual culture became “stronger” and his understanding of art also developed in unison. “I understood that I could go straight to the point; that I didn’t need to spend weeks on an image for it to be good,” he says. “With only composition and two colours you could create something really balanced and harmonious. Plus, as you are saving time, you could create ten images in a week instead of one – which is really satisfying. Since then I try to get more and more minimal.”

As a current graphic design student, Antoine tries to incorporate many digital mediums throughout his creations. “I try to keep referring to hand made work with textures, patterns and lines. In fact, I always start by drawing and painting before I digitalise it all – and then I improve it on my computer by adding colours and compositions.”

“I intend to keep working on this series for still a while; it relates to my childhood memories and I want it to be as rich as those memories are. I want to pay my respects to the child I used to be.”

Above

Antoine Nogeuira: Un Couché de soleil au Cap-Ferret et autres souvenirs de vacances

Above

Antoine Nogeuira: Un Couché de soleil au Cap-Ferret et autres souvenirs de vacances

Above

Antoine Nogeuira: Un Couché de soleil au Cap-Ferret et autres souvenirs de vacances

Above

Antoine Nogeuira: Un Couché de soleil au Cap-Ferret et autres souvenirs de vacances

Above

Antoine Nogeuira: Un Couché de soleil au Cap-Ferret et autres souvenirs de vacances

Above

Antoine Nogeuira: Un Couché de soleil au Cap-Ferret et autres souvenirs de vacances

Above

Antoine Nogeuira: Un Couché de soleil au Cap-Ferret et autres souvenirs de vacances

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About the Author

Ayla Angelos

Ayla is a London-based freelance writer, editor and consultant specialising in art, photography, design and culture. After joining It’s Nice That in 2017 as editorial assistant, she was interim online editor in 2022/2023 and continues to work with us on a freelance basis. She has written for i-D, Dazed, AnOther, WePresent, Port, Elephant and more, and she is also the managing editor of design magazine Anima. 

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