Christiane Beauregard’s Illustration Process Shapes the 2025 Directory Cover

Christiane Beauregard’s illustrations begin in uncertainty: rough sketches, close attention and a willingness to follow an unexpected color or shape. That openness has guided her work for more than three decades, and it informed the cover and opening pages she created for the 2025 Directory of Illustration.

The Canadian illustrator, artist and designer is known for detailed digital images, whimsical storytelling and compositions with a distinctive flat perspective. Her work spans children’s media, editorial, advertising and institutional projects. For this edition, she worked with book designer Terri Wright of Book Lotus Productions, LLC, after Wright invited her to use several illustrations to tell a story of inspiration. Tamra Dempsey is credited as creative director. Beauregard designed the cover and end sheets.

A style built by trusting the moment

Beauregard traces her attention to images to childhood visits to her grandmother’s home. Her grandmother had a collection of art that the young Beauregard would study for hours. She remembers where each work hung, and how every piece seemed to carry its own story. That early experience still shapes how she thinks about an image: its ability to affect a viewer matters as much as its appearance.

Drawing was an early interest, supported by her parents. She went on to complete a four-year program at the Institut des Arts Appliqués in Montréal. Her first professional work included illustrations and set design for children’s television. Short deadlines in that setting encouraged her to make decisions in the moment, an approach she says helped her style develop naturally.

Rather than planning away every surprise, Beauregard tries to stay alert to what a process reveals. A shift in color, or the accidental rotation of a shape, might suggest a new direction. Her practice makes room for those discoveries while the image is still taking form.

From watercolor to Bézier curves

Adobe Illustrator became a turning point in Beauregard’s career. In the early 1990s, she helped pioneer its use in publishing through what the source describes as the first fully illustrated digital visual dictionary. The software also offered a way to carry elements of her watercolor practice into digital work.

She is drawn to Illustrator’s precision, geometry and soft blends, and has worked with its Bézier curves for much of her career. The digital medium supports her crisp detail and composed forms, but Beauregard puts the emphasis elsewhere: on the ideas and emotion that emerge through the work. She describes renewing herself, enjoying the process and trusting it as central to her way of working.

Her commissions include work for The New York Times, Harvard Business Review, Canada Post, Evian and Société Générale. Her illustrations have been exhibited and recognized by organizations and publications including the Society of Illustrators in New York and Los Angeles, Communication Arts, Applied Arts, 3×3, Graphis and Digital Arts California. She is represented by Rapp Art.

Building an image through composition and color

Beauregard describes the beginning of a project as a period of chaotic sketching and intense focus. Her task then is to trust what is appearing while staying open to changes. With patience, an idea or narrative starts to become clear.

She develops composition and color together, treating them as inseparable parts of the image. Both establish its atmosphere and mood, and both shape the viewer’s experience. For illustrators working through an uncertain first draft, her account offers a useful reminder: early mess can be part of finding the picture, rather than evidence that the process has stalled.

That way of working also connects to what she hopes her images communicate. Beauregard recalled Wright telling her, “Your artwork makes such a positive statement!” She was touched by the response. Illustration, for her, is a way to communicate, connect and reach people in a meaningful way.

Curiosity beyond the page

Beauregard’s current interests include making sculptures from recycled objects, a hands-on practice, and yoga, which helps her maintain focus and mindfulness. She says she might have become an architect or archaeologist in another life—two paths that suggest an enduring interest in structure, objects and the stories they hold.

For emerging illustrators, her advice is to keep faith with the process when a project takes an unexpected turn. Stay receptive, learn from mistakes and avoid being too hard on yourself. Her shorthand is the “three P’s”: Passion, Perseverance and Patience.

For Beauregard, the 2025 cover brings that advice into a public-facing project: a chance to shape a visual story with Wright and to share images that aim to leave viewers with a feeling. The finished work reflects a practice grounded in observation, technical command and room for surprise.

Cover and end sheets: Christiane Beauregard
Book designer: Terri Wright / Book Lotus Productions, LLC
Creative director: Tamra Dempsey

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