The artist Alcatela creates a very colorful map with the good addresses of Nantes

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His specialty? The cards. This is also howAlcatela – Alexis Carlier, real name – made himself known. On social networks, he publishes his card designs from different cities, very colorful and highlighting certain places and buildings. This earned him the attention of the IOC, which commissioned a series of drawings aimed at illustrating highlights of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

After this big work, one of his last creations was the map of Nantes. “At least once a week someone asked me and Nantes? And I still hadn’t been there so I didn’t do it,” explains the 27-year-old artist, based in Paris.

To create his works, Alcatela does not simply reproduce an existing map, he goes to the city in question to take landmarks and feel the soul of it.

The drawings are done by hand, it is not on a real scale, it is as I experience it when I walk around the city.

Finally, the opportunity to go to the city of the Dukes of Brittany presents itself. “I have a friend who was transferred there last year. I took the opportunity to say hello and remember as much as possible about the city that I loved. »

From RATP to the life of an artist

But why the cards? ” I adore mark a memory in a somewhat playful way. I have often done illustration markets. Every time someone walks past my stand, there’s always this thing of find address and to say to yourself ‘ah but yes, I have such a memory at this place’. They always have anecdotes and I really like that side memory frozen in time”, develops Alcatela.

The map really allows you to show a photo of Nantes in 2024 as someone aged 27 felt it.

Passionate about maps, the young man decided to follow training in urban planning and moved to Science Po before working at RATP.

“Ultimately, drawing allowed me to gain the upper hand over reality and my passion became my full-time job”, tells the story of the man who left his job to embark on a completely new career.

Trams as a common thread

But of his experience at RATP, a few traces remain. To create its city maps, Alcatela uses metro and tram lines. “I first draw the tram lines on my map and then I draw around them. The advantage is that in Nantes there are plenty of landmarks that are super easy to draw: Les Machines, the Brittany Tower, the Dukes’ Castle… It was easy to arrange. »

Another step: reaching out to your community. On Instagram, the illustrator launched a survey asking everyone to give his favorite addresses. “I then integrate them into the map. That’s why there are lots of bars and restaurants, especially around campus, in fact, it’s mainly those who studied in Nantes who respond to me. So I place them and then I draw around them. »

Colors to translate experience

Then comes the choice of colors. “For that, I need to walk around the city because I try to choose colors that represent the atmosphere of the city, as I experienced it,” describes Alcatela.

I experienced Nantes as a very airy city so I wanted the blue to stand out. At the same time, there is a really cool nightlife. I wanted to put neon lights with the pink and purple side which stands out a little more than in other cities.

After a hundred hours of work, “time to reference everything, draw and colorize”, Alcatela worked with its printer for the color gradients. “I chose a giclée printing technique which allows the colors to stand out. »

And the Nantes map was born. It was at the end of November that Alcatela shared the final rendering on its social networks to the delight of the “slightly chauvinistic” people of Nantes, the artist laughs.

Alcatela, cards available to order online in two formats. Prices: 35 euros in A3 format (42×29.7 cm) and 60 euros in B2 format (70×50 cm). Available on the Alcatela online store.

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