Meet Amaël Lemaitre | Cartoon mascots illustrator

We had the good fortune of connecting with Amaël Lemaitre and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Amaël, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I was nineteen years old when I became an independent artist. The funny thing is, it all started by accident and I had pretty much no idea of what I was doing.

At the beginning, I was two things : a design student taking a gap year because superior schools aren’t cheap, and a regional class motorcycle racer dreaming about MotoGP.
These two worlds ended up colliding when I drawn my own little « rider’s mascot » sticker to put on the back of my helmet, as Valentino Rossi’s famous doctor cartoon. When I posted it online, I started receiving a few requests from motorcyclists friends who wanted to have their own. I saw an opportunity, and after a few free projects to test myself, I launched a Facebook page and started a business.
The original plan was to earn a bit of money for six to eight month, to help me getting back into school. I sticked to it. Then, I passed an admission exam and got accepted in a university in Toulon … to finally withdrew my application shortly after : by the time, this little mascot thing had grew on me, and I wanted to give it a real shot.

To me, it was a fulfilling activity, I had found a way to reunite art and motorcycle, my two passions, and I really enjoyed the enthusiastic reactions of my clients, when they received their final product. It felt like selling joy.
It was also challenging, because I had to master new technics, devices, softwares, selling process, and I loved the idea that nothing was really set in stone and I could modulate my own path however I wanted, somewhere along the way (I did stay in my primary field afterall, but with some very cool experiences in press illustration, comics and graphic design, both web and print).
I was mostly driven by all that, but I did also started to believe that there was a void to fill in the market. There was only a few artists in the field, it was never the center of their activity, and there was a lot of people dreaming about having their own mascots.
So, I just went for it !

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
“It’s amazing”, “I love it” or “it’s even better than I imagined” are the kind of sentences I hear (or read) on a daily basis, and it’s probably the most important thing in my job. I love what I do, and people love what I’m doing for them, my journey is filled with positivity and it feels really good. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not bragging about my skills, there’s a ton of artists ten times better than me out there, but I have the chance to work in a field that leads to these reactions. Being a mascot illustrator means working – mostly- for private people on projects that are precious for them, so if you commit to it, of course there’s a good chance they’ll be very happy with the result. Somehow like a tattoo artist, I believe.

Obviously, there’s been many challenges and obstacles to face, and there will be many more to come. I’ve never been great at evaluating my work’s worth, and the first years have been tough because of that. But it did force me to be proactive, to look for solutions and to learn new things. If you can’t afford to pay someone to handle your social medias, to create your website or to produce your graphic contents, then you step up your game. So I spent nights catching up skills in community management, code, graphics, story boarding, video production, branding … Would have I learned all of this in a traditional job ?
And since I did got this knowledge, I had options to use somewhere else. If I learned how to animate shapes in motion design, why not bringing illustration in here ? What if I transposed this hack I learned in print design into AfterEffects to produce my animation 2 time faster ? What if I brought my mascot’s concept in all that to create a tailor-made NFT project ? There’s no limit. Well, except for the fact there’s only 24 hours in a day …

About that, the most important thing I learned is, from my point of view, having your own brand is like owning your own house. There will always be unexpected problems to fix, things to change, plans to redo better and side projects. Some you can do, some you need to learn and some you have to delegate.
Time and money will always be somewhere in the picture, and it’s important to be organized and self-aware in order to prioritize things.
Funnily, I did turn my original money struggle into a strength by developping new usefull skills, but it did turn back into a weakness again when I started spending too much time experimenting with it. I had to balance it with a better understanding of planning, organization and time management (“Eat that frog” by Brian Tracy was a really interesting starting point), and it’s something I wish I’d learned about at the very beginning !

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Stockholm right now. It’s a wonderful city to visit during summer. The Slussen station would be a great starting point for the weekend. From there, you can rent the very cheap electrics CityBikes, and take advantage of the many, big and very green cycle paths ot the city.

I would start by going North on Gamla Stan’s island. Cyclinc along the sea side on Skeppsbron, you’ll have a nice view of the Old City on your left, and the Skeppsholmen island on the other side. You’ll see a beautiful white three-masted ship, the AF Chapman (I believe it’s an hotel), the Royal Palace and the Parliament. Then, pass in front of the Opera , continue to the National Museum and find the Strandvagen avenue, along the sea again, with its colorful big buildings, trees and seaside bars. Take a turn right on the Djugarden island, and make a first stop at what is to me the most incredible place to visit here, the Vasa Museum. In there, you’ll find a breathtaking Gallion-style wood warship from 1628, who spent 300 years sleeping by the bottom of the see … yet is still 99% intact. Unique experience.
Oaxen would be the finest restaurent of the area, but I do prefer the messy atmosphere of the Skroten across the street.
The open air museum of Skansen would be a logical choice for the afternoon, as it’s nearby and one of a kind aswell. You’ll take an immersive trip in the Sweden’s old times, with authentics houses, shops, school and church, alongside costumed actors … there’s a zoo aswell.
Let the bikes here, and take the ferry boat (included in the metro ticket) to Skeppsholmen, to watch the sculptures outside the Modern Museum and take a closer look at the Chapman boat.
Walk back in direction of T-Centralen, through the pedestrian alley of Drottningatan and it’s crowded big shops, and take a look at the Sergelfontänen, Stockholm’s most famous fountain. Then go back south along the Gallerian, where you’ll find the Tak Japanese restaurant. Take the elevator, but don’t enter just yet. Before eating here to end the day, walk on the rooftop and cross the bridge, where you’ll find one of the coolest place to have a beer, with a great view on Ostermalm and Djugarden.

On Sunday, take metro to Medborgarplatsen and head to the Sofo district. Take a look at the Sofia Church, and walk around the shops and bars. When you’re hungry, try the very Swedish meatballs, at Meatballs for the People. If you want the full local experience, go for the mashed potatoes and don’t forget the lingonberries juice.
Then, let’s jump on the CityBikes again, and go on Norra Hammarbyhamen’s promenade. Pedal all the way down, along the water, until the impressive ThaiBoat restaurant at the end. Go around Eriksdalbadet huge pool complex, back to the waterfront, for a very nice 15 minutes ride, where you’ll completely forget that your in the center of a European capital city. You’ll end up in the Tantolunden park, with it’s amazing not-so-little garden houses. Take a look around.
Then, leave the Island and go to Vinterviken. You’ll be on the lake side, where Nobel’s first blasting bunkers are. Maybe stop in the parc and ask locals to join a game of Kubb, a Swedish game with wooden sticks. Then follow the trail south along the water, in the woods. You’ll feel like in the middle of a hike, just minutes away from the red line metro stations of Axelsberg and Mälarhöjden. There’s a lot of nice spots to take pictures or just pause on a rock and enjoy a moment of pure calm.
Café Uddvillan will be a great spot for a drink or a snack outside. Nice view on the lake, tiny old house, and a local band playing for an hour, every Sunday until 4.
You won’t be a real viking until you take a swim in the 15 degrees water of the Mälar lake, so push the ride south to the nice wild beach of Mälarhöjdsbadet. Then gently head back to the center. The closest place to drop the bikes will be at Telefonplan, and you can try the nice burgers and sweet potatoes French fries of the Krubb on your way.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Around the time I started drawing mascots, I found the work of a fellow artist who completely blew my mind. He was mastering motorcycles drawings in a way I couldn’t even imagine, rendering the movements and weight transition with so much power that I actually laughed at his illustrations, out of excitement. He just understood it all, and I believe that anyone who ride can actually « feel » the pictures he draws. I consider him as the most talented guy in our field, ever.

Discovering his work redefined my vision of what was possible and gave me an extra-motivation thorough the years, trying to get closer to his skills, in my own way.
I still remember how happy I was the first time he liked one of my drawings (artists will relate to this sentence). We sympathized somewhere along the road, and even if we never met or spent many hours talking, he took many opportunities to give me a hand.

His illustrator name is Rich Lee Draws, and I’d like to thank him for his kindness and for the great inspiration he has been for me !

Aswell, I have to thank my parents for their support from the beggining, my amazing fiancee who push me every single day and with who I live this incredible journey in different countries, and the countless people who helped me along the way this past ten years. You got me there guys, so thank you !

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amaelracingart/?hl=fr

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amaellemaitre/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmaelRacingArt

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AmaelRacingArt