Interview: Ákos Bánfalvi
Photography: Fabou AKA Mayko
(www.Facebook.com/FabouPhotographer)
Marie-Andrée Baril is a French Canadian model born in the town of Thetford
Mines. She grew up in a small village called Saint-Ferdinand, in the province
of Quebec, Canada. Marie is a mom with 2 kids, Malika, 14 and Damian, 8.
Her artistic journey started early in my life. At the tender age of 3-4 years old,
she was drawing all the time, everyday. She remembers well that she also
liked to draw on herself even before she learned the existence of tattoos.
Marie found herself so cute with all that color on her. She remembers her
grandmother and mother scolding her because they thought it was ugly.
Ironically, her grandmother passed away a few years ago and she was very
proud of Marie and her shop. Grandmother would say to the nurse at the
hospital, “Do you know the shop, Épidermia? It is run by my little daughter
and the shop is lovely.”
Marie has been drawing since she could remember. Her scribbles eventually
became cats, something she would love to draw when she was only five.
Soon, her drawings became more elaborate, with flowers and fairy characters.
“I had a very typical approach. My interest in realistic style started around
fourteen at an art class in school,” she remembers. “We were given the project
of drawing a celebrity portrait. I did a Devon Sawa draw. Without bragging,
I succeeded very well. At the time, it was a real hit at my school,” Marie
continues. “I experiment with all of kinds of mediums, such as oil painting,
watercolor, as well as Fimo dough to make jewelry. I made a lot of tin and
copper jewelry. As a teenager, I also did some sewing to create my own
clothes,” she says.
Around 2006, Marie began to focus on portraiture to refine and polish her
technique. Realistic drawings were really the style that she excels at most.
She likes to use graphite pencil to create her portraits.
Today, Marie is a tattoo artist, tattooing for six years now. She has her own
tattoo shop, Épidermia Ink, in Victoriaville. “I would love to put into ink my
realistic drawings. I work really hard to get my tattoos to the same level as
my drawings. Right now, I work mostly with neo-traditional style. I think my
tattoo style is very feminine,” Marie describes. “I did my first realistic tattoo
on my mom about four years ago, and it was pretty good for my first. It was
a portrait of my daughter, Malika. I admire the work, Charles Saucier and
Mike Gantelme. One day, I hope to be able to get to their level, they are truly
amazing portraiture artists,” she says.
Marie’s career as a model began with luck and perseverance. She was fifteen
years old when she started buying tattoo magazines, and she kept telling
herself that one day, she would be a model in one of those magazines. For
three years, she contacted several publishers by email and Facebook. One of
them wrote her back and that’s when it all began. She loves that her career
allows her to travel and meet people also interested in the arts.
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InkSpiredMagazine.com