Hi Peeps!

I’m Malika, your new UK addition to Volcommunity. I am a (very) french illustrator based in rainy London. For those of you who have been to London, you will know it is a very vibrant and exciting place to be. The longer I stay, the more I love my adoptive city.

I have been drawing pretty much since I was a child, sitting in the living room and painting with my mum for hours . She was my harshest critic back then and I remember the frustration or not being able to draw as well as her

Growing up in Paris, I remember drawing girls all the time, dressing them up in very sassy outfits and it somehow all came together when I started drawing the alphabets for “Wallpaper” magazine a couple of years ago.

It was there and then that I felt I became a fully formed illustrator. I realised that it wasn’t about adding details and showing off your skills but about paring things down as much as possible. I like the challenge of creating something so simple that it almost looks effortless.

I was really excited when the collaboration with Volcom came about a couple of months ago. I have always loved fashion and the idea of translating my drawings into fabrics and patterns sounded like a perfect match. When I was asked to take part in the Volcommunity project, I thought it would be a great opportunity to share the things that inspire me and makes me tick on a day-to-day basis.
I am very visual person so I will definitely be blogging more images than words but will try and do it in an interesting way, creating mood boards of inspirations…. almost like a mash up of my week in images.

I also have a plan to do a monthly special piece for the blog, which I will keep secret for now ; )

See you all next week for some sunny snapshots from my Martinique work/holiday!

Malika x