Mélanie's illustrations are joyful and colorful but also full of meaning. When we discovered her work it was love at first sight and we really wanted to bring her to our journal so she could share her passions and feelings with us.

Without further ado, meet Mélanie!

Ahoy Mélanie! Welcome on board. We love having you here with us today because we absolutely love your style. Could you introduce yourself? Where are you from, where do you live, what do you do?

Hi! Thanks for having me! So, my name is Melánie, I'm an illustrator and a designer that lives in Margate, in the United Kingdom, but I'm originally from France.

My grandma is Corsican so I feel that when people ask me if I'm French I feel more Corsican than anything, I have an island mentality.

I spend most of my time painting, drawing and designing bits on my computer and when I'm not doing that I love being at the sea. I love surfing, kite surfing... and just being in the nature. That's why I love living in Margate, because it's by the sea.

So you’re originally from France but you live in England and a little bird told us you also lived in Chile, South Africa and the US. That means you’re a globetrotter! What’s your favorite place you have ever lived in?

I did live in the US when I was younger, in San Francisco specifically. I really loved it, it was by the sea and there was so much happening there but when you travel a lot you realize it's not about the place, it's about the people that you meet and the experiences that you have.

Chile was amazing, eventhough I was only there for 6 months. I was always surrounded by Chilean people because I wanted to experience the country that way and it was great.

Then I lived in London for three years, but I wanted a change of pace. I felt I wanted to be by the sea again and I found a really nice house in Margate. It's a lovely town, people are amazing and there's a really nice community, with lots of people creating their businesses... there's so much energy! So I think my answer to your question would be Margate because that's where I met my boyfriend and so many good friends. It also has the sea and everything I need to be happy!

In the future, I would like to move somehwere a bit warmer and with big waves and wind. That's the best part of being a freelancer, you can do that. We will see what the future holds.

As we were saying, we love your style. We love how colorful and joyful it is, but also, how committed with our planet and our well-being is. What’s your motivation to create?

I feel like I've got different motivations, not just one. But on the most selfish level it is that I really need to feel better mentally so it really helps me drawing or illustrating when I'm not working for clients. The motivation is just to get it out of my head on the paper and I know that sharing will help other people, because we all feel the same about many things.

Also, it's really joyful to create and getting lost in just making stuff from scracth. I really love having a blank sheet of paper and just do stuff for the sake of it.

My last motivation to create is that I can use my skills to share messages. I try to work with eco-friendly brands and I do a lot of work I want to make for free for little charities or small businesses where I can help spread their messages. That's really rewarding, a big motivation to use my skills that way.

In fact, we discovered your work thanks to the amazing notebooks you did in collaboration with the Malaysian stationery brand Ana Tomy, a brand we are also collaborating with. What do you think it's the best part of collaborating with other creative brands or people?

I think the best part of collaboration is that it makes everybody's work better because we come together and we create something that's a mix and match of two or more brains. Whatever comes out of it is stronger and more interesting in a way.

Also I think collaborating makes you grow because you have someone else's opinion and you learn about your work and your values, and that's amazing.

With my collaboration with Ana Tomy it was interesting that it got me thinking what it represents me best and what could I create and do with them that would represent my values.

Collaboration makes you think more about what you're doing and that's always good.

And last but not least, we know our love is mutual (yay!). What’s the first thought that came to your mind when you discovered Don Fisher? What do you like the most about our brand?

The first thought that came to my mind was that your brand was super fun, super colorful and there was fish! You know, I'm obsessed with everything that comes from our seas.

All your Bonitos are beautiful, they're super appealing and they're also true to what there are really in our oceans to some level. I think that's one of the best ways to raise awareness because to make people care about the planet and our oceans we all have to first appreciate them and be careful with them.

What you are doing is showing us how beautiful and amazing our seas are, and that's what I love the most.

Thank you so much for your time, Mélanie! It was a pleasure getting to know you more.

Don't miss Mélanie's posts on her Instagram account and go check her beautiful website!