Meet Sophie-anne Vachon

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sophie-anne Vachon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Sophie-Anne, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

I’ve always been very intimidated by people with clear and precise dreams. The ones who knew what they wanted to become since they turned 5, you know? For a long time, I felt that I needed to find my calling, THE thing I was destined to do.

I grew up making art. Music, painting, drawing, my parents encouraged from the get go, but when it came time to pursue a career, it was clear to them that art was not an option. They wanted to spare me because both of them had studied music and ended up having to pivot to something else.

So I went to school to become a teacher, because almost everyone in my family is a teacher. It felt like the sensible thing to do. When I finished my baccalaureate, something felt off, but I didn’t know what. I kept looking for that big dream, the path I was supposed to follow.

I was teaching during the day, but I continued going to class at night and took art electives just for fun. I had fun, but it still didn’t feel like that big thing I should be pursuing. I started developing an art practice to cope with the feelings of inadequacy I had. This led to doing 2 workshops in Denmark with professional artists from around the globe. I was only 22. I was the only amateur and felt very intimidated, but the organizer who had seen my work reassured me and told me I belonged. She was amazing.

When I cam home, with my then boyfriend (now husband)’s support, I felt strong enough to quit my teaching job and try my hand at being an artist. I felt empowered by seing him work hard at being a full-time magician. It looked hard, but feasible. Things were going to happen for me! Spoiler alert: they didn’t.

During the 3 following years, we married and I became pregnant with our first daughter, then our second daughter. I wanted to be there with our children, so my art took a backseat. I worked with my husband at building his career. I started doing art direction, set building, prop building, graphic design and illustration for his shows. I also built educational guide for the schools where he was doing his magic shows, so they could integrate magic in their class activities. We wrote many books for children about magic and I illustrated them.

Soon enough, other performers started asking for help with their shows. Some wanted art direction, others wanted branding and graphic design work. I also began doing illustrations for magic books and manuscripts. I had both the skill to draw and the knowledge to work for the magic community.

So I never did find that big dream of mine, but I collected pieces of the puzzle along the way and built a career from that. It was only after trying many things and having kids that I gave myself permission to do many different things. Nowadays, when people ask me what I do, I answer a mix of art direction, graphic design, illustration and building learning material for entertainers.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I do art direction and illustration for magicians and family entertainers. That includes a mix of set & prop building, graphic design, branding and illustration. I do technical drawings for magicians and magic publications and am co-editor of a magic magazine.
I also help magicians and entertainers put together their shows and help with writing, stage directing and art directing. I build tools and learning materials so they can better present their shows to family and school audiences.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Curiosity. It’s is key whatever you do in life. It keeps you interested in the world and others. It also keeps you relevant.
Listening skills are a must to work with others.
For so long, I felt I didn’t have a cohesive portfolio and I kept wanting to find my style. Style is something you build by doing. It’s o.k. not to have one right away. Also, it’s going to change and that’s fine. You can have many style and that is also o.k. For example, I do my drawings mostly with black outlines and very few colours, but my paintings are very colourful and super dynamic. I keep on doing both even though they are nothing alike. They serve different purposes.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I love collaborating with artists and editors. I want to highlight what they do so well by bringing a visual langage to their creation. I am most fulfilled when my collaborators feel heard and I have given them the tools to build their universe, be it a set design, a new logo and brand identity or illustrations for their book.

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