Nice Art: Marguerite Sauvage Weaves Free-Spirited Dreams and Couture into SHADE THE CHANGING GIRL #7

Last month, DC Comics Bombshells artist Marguerite Sauvage drew a guest issue of Shade the Changing Girl. The title, penned by Cecil Castellucci and typically drawn by Marley Zarcone, follows the Earth-obssessed alien Loma Shade as she takes possession of a body that once belonged to a mean-spirited teenage girl.

Month-to-month, Zarcone tells Shade’s story with a chaotically psychedelic visual language that is further pushed by colorist Kelly Fitzpatrick’s bold palette. In Shade the Changing Girl #7, Sauvage marries Zarcone’s experimental layouts and visual effects with her own ethereal style.

The Comics Beat recently had the chance to post a few questions to Sauvage to get a sense of her artistic background and thought process while working on Shade.

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Alex Lu: Marguerite, when you were growing up, what was your relationship with comic books like? What drew you to them and what were the books that inspired you as an illustrator?

Marguerite Sauvage: Comic books have been wonderful companions throughout my life. Being European, I grew up on the amazing personal library of my father, full of great French and Belgian titles like The Incal or the Obscure Cities. As a teen I was curious about comic books from other countries and was seduced by manga, specially the ones of Rumiko Takahashi. I was also a huge fan of Image in the 90s and have always been fascinated by Wonder Woman.

Lu: Your background in commercial illustration makes you quite different from many comics artists and I think it shows in your work’s singular style. How did you first get involved with DC Comics?

Marguerite Sauvage: I was trying to get work in comics and my friends suggested that I start with fan art to prove to editors that my style would work in comics. I posted regularly on Twitter and was contacted by Will Dennis who was working at Vertigo, he offered me the covers of Hinterkind after Greg Tocchini. Then, a few weeks after that, I was contacted by Kristy Quinn to work on a Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman story. The rest is history!

Lu: Marley Zarcone has imbued Shade with a powerfully psychedelic visual language. When you first saw her work on the series, what did you think of it?

Marguerite Sauvage: I’ve been a fan of Shade since it first started, so when Molly Mahan and Jamie Rich asked me to do an issue I was thrilled. Marley’s work is wonderful, graphic and modern. I tried to honor her art and used it as inspiration, but the main challenge was to put my own style on it.