When you look at French illustrator Cécile Dormeau’s drawings and gifs, you can’t help but feel that she ‘gets’ you. There’s also a sense of kinship you feel when you see these illustrations. Working and living in Germany, Cécile is French, has worked as a graphic designer and illustrator, and junior art director in Hamburg since graduating in 2011.

There are all kinds of drawings here – from a woman shaving in her underwear to a tummy tuck selfie to a woman struggling with waxing at home to a woman fishing for men in the dating pool to fighting off perverts on public transportation – these are as frank as they can get. The bodacious babes who fill these illustrations are as cheeky as they are irreverent and quirky.

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Speaking to HuffPost, Cécile said,

“I simply want to draw girls how they look.”

“A lot of my illustrations obviously empower women. I like representing women in a way that we’re not used to seeing them. I want to celebrate women’s weaknesses along with their strengths,” she said.

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

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Not only do Cécile’s illustrations empower women, they also highlight the very real topic of sexual harassment. She said,

“To highlight topics like sexual harassment is important to me. What woman has never (unfortunately) been harasses on public transport? A lot of my followers tell me that they identify with my work, which proves that we really need to speak more about it to find answers.”

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Cécile said that through her art, she wants to convey the message of representing what’s not represented enough – whether it’s something as small as a woman struggling to wax or as big as sexual harassment. Further, she also said that it’s empowering to help other women realize that it’s okay to talk about subjects considered taboo and that it’s okay to discuss them.

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

She said,

“Through my illustrations, I want women to realize that we are all a bit f*cked up sometimes – and that’s completely OK. You’re not alone to struggle and fight with your insecurities and problems. We just have to find a way to speak about it, share it and laugh about it together. We are enough, we are great just as we are.”

Check out some more of her quirky and wonderful illustrations that capture the struggles of the everyday woman:

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Image source: Cécile Dormeau

Featured image source: Cécile Dormeau