In a constant evolution of the personal, digital artist Amal Guichard utilizes the residual emotions of her childhood to create imagery reminiscent of her youth. The fragility of the animals she encountered in the small Moroccan town of Ouassane, and breadth of the natural world that surrounded her for most of her life, informs the childish quality of her work as she finds a figurative relatability in the essence of their being. Her sketches are usually completed solely in black pen, so her progression to working digitally is an alternative method of creating the specific environment in which her blurry childhood nostalgia can live. Mutually inspired by her textile design studies at the Chelsea College of Art, London, and her digital art, Amal dreams of transferring the imagery she produces onto her textiles.

What originally prompted you to begin producing the digital artworks that you publish on your Instagram accounts @amalcrossing and @innerhell?

I’ve always been interested in arts in all forms, literature, images in general and wanted to give it a try and have fun creating new things out of what inspires me.

I’ve been drawing for a while now, using mostly just a black pen, so moving to digital was another way to create specific environments by using different textures, layers and colours.

Posting on Instagram is a way to broadcast what I do in an easy and accessible format for all.

So then, what motivates you to continue generating new artworks?

I simply love doing it ! 

I like to spend time on my laptop researching images to use, edit. Finish something then start it all over again. I really appreciate constantly evolving, knowing myself a little more every time I work on something new, sharpening little by little what I feel the most connected with, what resembles me, what I want to pass on...

You just started a degree in textile design - does your practice there ever inspire and/or inform your digital artworks or vice versa?

Of course, yes, textile and fashion are an old-time inspiration, just like digital art is an inspiration for my textile research. I always try to merge both things ; sometimes it can be messy, not working out, but it’s part of the work!

I chose that course especially because I’d like to eventually use my drawings on fabric in different ways such as rugs, curtains, clothes, ...

You say you are often inspired by your childhood. Can you give an example of this in relation to your digital artworks?

I grew up in Morocco most of my childhood, I feel proud to be related to this country. Life there was beautiful in many ways, the environment was inspiring. Although it tends to be quite blurry in my head for multiple reasons - I have really good memories going on holiday to the beach there.

I remember when I was a child, we would often go to a small town called Ouassane, near the ocean. It was filled with dogs, donkeys, sheep, lambs, birds, cows, goats climbing rocks and trees to eat fruits’ skin. One day I heard a noise at the door, opened it, found a little lamb right there and kept it for days with me. It broke my heart when I had to leave... shout-out to this lamb <3

Most of my work prefaces animals, the lamb being one of them. Its innocence, fragility, the idea of it struggling to walk...things I can also relate to figuratively.

At 11 I moved back to France, in the small beach town I was born in and where we’d spend most our summer holidays. Summer there was beautiful, but winter was a different story... I remember spending so much time in my bedroom, a greyish dark blue sky, shutters half-closed, and the sound of teeming rain for days and days...

As a teenager it was quite confusing, I was away from all the beautiful vibrant things I was used to in Morocco, although blurry as I mentioned, and was instead in the middle of the Landes pine forest, mostly alone in a big house... it was such a different vibe but being surrounded by all the nature made me feel grounded and probably inspired some of my work — it obviously meets my Morocco memories with animals and nature there.

My work is totally child-like, as if I was stuck in that time of life where I know that I was happy and innocent, though always nostalgic about something that was missing. Using these feelings and emotions in my drawings and digital edits feels like a mature way to deal with them now, yet it’s never definitive and evolves with time, making my art evolve as well...

What software and/or techniques do you utilize in your practice?

Aside from when I sketch, it’s rather extremely simple, for now I like to use my trusty Photoshop, a classic, or editing apps on my phone, it depends.

Do you have a favourite piece of digital art that you have created? Tell us about it.

I made a horse print a few months back, and it’s definitely a favourite! I’d like to go a bit further with it and utilize it differently, maybe find a way to give it life physically.

Other than that, my collaboration with Ssaliva on @innerhell is the thing that I enjoy doing the most at the moment, I really love his ‘eye’ and how coherent and fluid the collaboration feels even if it’s still in progress!

Do you have any new ideas or projects coming up that you can share with us?

I'm currently working for Oklou, designing her future merchandise apparel. Other than that, Ssaliva and I are carrying on with our joint project, and I'm also focusing on some personal work! :)