Artist Spotlight: Laila Aissaoui’s Whimsical Observations of a Big City
By Natalie McCarty
Created by @laila.illustrations for Gut Instinct Media
Laila Aissaoui talks about drawing the way some people talk about instinct—something innate, unavoidable, and deeply personal. “I’ve been drawing my whole life,” she says. “It’s always been my safe space. A way to release creativity. Honestly, it’s the thing that makes me happiest.”
Born and raised in London, the 27-year-old illustrator has built a visual language shaped by constant movement and quiet observation. Her work carries the imprint of the city without ever feeling overwhelmed by it. It’s soft, nostalgic, and subtly surreal. “Growing up in London, you’re surrounded by visuals,” Aissaoui explains. “Billboards, posters on the tube… [it] opens your eyes to illustration really early on.” Pair that with a childhood spent in the early 2000s, and the influence becomes unmistakable. “It’s safe to say Groovy Chick was one of my first inspirations,” she adds.
Image Provided by @laila.illustrations
Although art was always central to her identity, Aissaoui’s creative path took a few turns before settling where it always wanted to be. She studied fine art in school before making what she calls a “big decision” to pursue a BA in Photography at university. After graduating, she spent several years working as a freelance fashion photographer, publishing work across multiple magazines. Still, illustration lingered. “After a couple of years, I realized I wanted to pursue the dream that had been planted in me since I was a kid,” she says. “I just thought—screw it. I’m going to become an illustrator.” The pivot felt less like a risk and more like a return.
That sense of coming back—to instinct, to intuition—defines much of Aissaoui’s work today. Her artistic evolution has been fluid, moving from oil painting to gouache before settling into a digitally led practice. “My work has changed so many times,” she reflects. “I’ve gone from traditional oil paintings to gouache and finally found a style that people sometimes tell me is ‘too simple.’” Over time, she learned to trust that simplicity. “Not everyone is going to like my style,” she says. “But I like to think that once you see my work, you instantly know it’s mine. That makes me feel like I’m onto something.”
Her illustrations are immediately recognizable: whimsical, dreamlike landscapes populated by figures that feel slightly untethered, drawn with loose, sketchy lines and colored in muted, nostalgic tones. There is a deliberate resistance to over-polish. “I don’t think too much about the way the body might look,” Aissaoui explains. “I just let go when I draw and do what feels right.” The result is work that feels emotionally accessible and rather open, which is something that immediately drew me in about her style.
That looseness mirrors her creative process. “My process is very quick,” she says. “Once I have an idea, it’s on paper within minutes.” Aissaoui carries her sketchbook everywhere, filling it with drawings that might look chaotic to an outside eye. “They look crazy,” she admits, “but to me they make sense.” Many of those sketches are made in transit. “I’ll pull out my sketchbook on the tube and quickly draw something or someone that sparks an idea.” That urgency remains visible in the finished work, preserving the moment it was first imagined.
While digital illustration allows her ideas to move quickly, she continues to paint in gouache as a more private, exploratory practice. “I have a bunch of gouache paintings in my style that I make just for myself,” she says. “Maybe one day I’ll share them.” For now, they exist as a reminder that not all work needs to be public to be meaningful.
Image Provided by @laila.illustrations
Aissaoui describes herself as an observer: an introverted art girl navigating a city that rarely slows down. “I take in the little things that most people might ignore,” she says. That attentiveness is woven into her work, shaping scenes that feel intimate without explanation. Her inspirations reflect a similar sensibility. She cites Aya Takano and Nara Yoshitomo as touchstones, alongside childhood itself—a period she returns to for its freedom from overthinking and constraint.
Recently, her practice has begun to expand beyond still images. “I’ve started turning my illustrations into animations,” she says. “I’m still very new to it and learning, but it’s definitely something I want to get good at.” She is also in the early stages of writing and illustrating a children’s book, a long-held ambition she speaks about with quiet certainty. “I’m manifesting it,” she adds.
Created by @laila.illustrations for Gut Instinct Media
At this stage, success looks different than it once did. “After years of trying to figure out what I wanted to create, and hearing so many opinions about what I should do, success now is seeing kind words about my work and having it appreciated,” she says. Commissions, print sales, and collaborations have become markers not of validation, but of connection. “Knowing someone likes my work enough to buy it—that’s really special.”
Ultimately, what Aissaoui hopes people feel when encountering her illustrations is simple. “I want people to see the love and passion that goes into my work,” she says. “And I hope they find a way to connect to it.” In an era defined by speed and excess, her work offers proof that paying attention, being present, can be a radical and beautiful act.
