Marc David: surprising himself in his creative process

Meet Marc David, an artist from Germany with a laundry list of awesome collaborations and exciting projects. He has worked with brands like Warby Parker, Hermès, Vans, Material 3 (Google’s open-source design system), and BW Bank. His abstract and vibrant art style is inspired by graffiti culture. He never knows how his artwork is going to turn out and says that he loves to be surprised by his own art. For this Face This drop, he collabed with 6-year-old Azra for a fun and abstract illustration.

From motorcycles and graffiti to abstract shapes

Marc David was born to be an artist and that was evident even at a young age. He recalls: “I remember that I enjoyed drawing from a very young age. In Kindergarten I drew a lot of motorcycles. I was really fascinated by them back then.” While his fascination with motorcycles didn’t last, his love of drawing certainly did. He explains that he got into graffiti after participating in a summer workshop at a local art school where they did stencils on T-shirts. This was an eye-opening moment for him and from then on, he noticed graffiti all around him.

While he doesn’t do graffiti art anymore, it’s undeniable that the style has influenced his current art quite a bit. “At some point, classic graffiti felt limiting to me because it’s mostly based on writing the same letters again and again. My work slowly switched to abstract shapes which feels endless to me. But the techniques I use today are based on what I learned from graffiti.” 

Developing his own style and publishing his first sketchbook

Speaking of endless shapes and possibilities, one look at Marc’s portfolio will show you how many times he has tested the boundaries of his artistic style. How does he keep his artwork looking fresh? For Marc, it’s as simple as: “I just like exploring new things with my art. The challenge for my work is to create something new with every drawing. There is always a way to push things forward, there is always an object that I haven’t drawn yet and there’s always a colour combination that I haven’t tried yet.” 

Marc has said previously that he doesn’t know beforehand how his illustrations will turn out. For some, this process sounds stress-inducing, but for him it’s exhilarating. He explains: “I like to surprise myself because it’s much more interesting to not know what it will look like in the end.” He even shares that this process pushes his creativity further: “When I don't make a pencil drawing beforehand, I’m much more focused on what I’m doing. It puts some positive pressure on this one attempt that I have to put what I want on paper.”

After years of hard work, Marc compiled his art together into his first sketchbook. This was a real passion project of his, and of his publishing house Chemistry Publishing. He says that the motivation behind his sketchbook was “to give people access to the world of my drawings. I put so much energy into my sketchbooks that it felt like a logical next step to reproduce them in book form and share my work.” This sketchbook is also a time capsule that shows how much his style has evolved over the years. According to Marc, his work has become cleaner and more detailed, while back in 2017 his work was even more abstract.

Working with big brands

We certainly are not the first ones to notice Marc’s talent and unique style. Over the years, he’s worked with industry giants, like Hermès, Google’s Material 3, and Warby Parker, just to name a few. But how did he get to work with these brands in the first place? It turns out that his art style was enough to catch their attention: “I started posting my work on social media and I put a lot of effort into it. That’s how clients became aware of who I am, and I had the opportunity to work on some exciting projects.” He admits that it’s difficult to pick a favourite project, but one that stands out is his design on Vans shoes. “It was the perfect fit because I wore Vans for a long time and being able to add my designs to their shoes was simply amazing.”

From collaborating with brands to collaborating with children

Marc explains that he had never collaborated with children before and that part of the appeal of working with Face This was to try something new. When hearing Picasso’s famous quote, “It took me 4 years to paint like Raphael, but a lifetime to paint like a child”, Marc responds that he finds this super inspiring himself: “Children and beginners are much freer in their approach.” When it came to his collab with Azra, a 6-year-old pupil from the SDN 4 Batu Putih school in Lombok, Marc was very excited: “I liked the fact that she had already created a really cool composition with the four plates. The way she arranged them was well balanced and harmonious.”

Marc explains that his creative process mostly involved refining Azra’s drawing and adding some colour. All the necessary ingredients were already there for him, he only had to take what she had given him and run with it. “She made the sketch, and I realised it.” 

When given the theme of ‘Makes you feel like home’, Azra drew a meal she typically has with her family. According to Marc: “Eating together with family every day is a lovely routine. Maybe she wanted to show that in an abstract way by drawing the meals.” It seems like abstract art is what these two artists have in common!

Finally, what a better way to finish off this interview than with a short but inspiring message to our young artist? From Marc to Azra: “Keep on drawing!”