Hello everyone, Happy Halloween! This year, I’m dressing up as a tired cartoonist with a deadline for a 200-pages comic and many, many more projects. And it’s not a figure of speech, I DO have a costume ready 😛

You probably guessed by this time that I spent all of October hunched over the penultimate chapter of Utown. I managed to pencil, ink, letter and tone all 21 pages in the same amount of days, weekends included, from morning to night. Now, I’m just stating a fact, not complaining! I’m close to finishing my project, so while this is hard on the body, I’m just having a blast. To keep me glued to my chair, I decided to start watching a French-language cop drama we get here called District 31, while I was working . A lot of people made fun of me (it’s considered really cheesy) but it was just engaging enough to stop my brain from getting bored of drawing. I normally don’t watch anything while on the job (you end up half-watching and half-working) but considering the state of fatigue I’m in, I allowed it. I dream of police precincts a lot now, though.

My friend Mel was able to book our now yearly cottage getaway for 4 days. It felt nice to relax for a weekend, even though I had brought a few pages to pencil (but no computer!) and well… you can hardly call this “work” now, can you.

Some projects are starting, some are ending! My friend Phil and I met with our publisher concerning a book project (hint about its subject: it’s coming out on April 20th…) and I’m jumping on the illustrations full time next week. Bertrand et Moi, the children’s book I’ve been illustrating this summer, is done! Done done! I can’t wait to reveal some of the illustrations!

Oh, and some smart people talked about Hiver Nucléaire during a presentation held at la BAnQ (National Archival Library), as part of a lecture on dystopian cities in comics. Good thing I had a mask on because I had a huge smile all throughout the talk! I can’t believe my books were used a thesis subject, holy shit!

So yeah, that’s been my month. Energy is low, but morale is good! Here’s what kept me going this month.

On the small screen: I already answered that above, but I squeezed in the second Kid Cosmic season. I’m taking a lot of mental notes from this show.
On the big screen: Dune, what else. I won’t even attempt to review it because the best summary has already been written.
Artists: Okay, listen to this. Last week or so, someone comments on my Instagram page saying they’ve been following me and reading Utown on DeviantArt as a teen (it was text at that time). He then says I inspired him to pick up pen and ink and I think “aww, that’s cute”, as I check out his stuff and *insert spit take* HOLY CRAP!! HE’S SO GOOD! Like, I’d rather have him do my comic than me- good. Check out Giles Crawford, is all I’m saying.
And check out C.M Thomas on IG for spooky, slightly unsettling photos on this Halloween day!

Hello, bonjour! September was on steroids, I feel like 4 months happened at once. I’m writing this on a rainy Saturday morning, and I can guarantee a nap WILL happen in a the near future.

The month was off to a weird start when one afternoon, as I was getting out of my apartment, I almost tripped on a tiny cat-goblin right outside my front door. It was clearly lost, so I took it in, started to look for its owner and pretty much had the most exciting week-end in a long time. Part investigation, part you know… having a cat in my house for the first time ever! I eventually found its owner, a neighbour, but I had a good cry the night before we parted. Yuki (its real name) was one ugly-cute cat with bad breath, but dear god, what an adorable little critter he was. I’m glad he was reunited with its owner at the end though!

I spent most of the month working on the Utown chapter 8 storyboard. It took so damn long, I must be the least efficient person at layouts ever! At least I’m fast when it comes to pencils and ink, so that’s a slight consolation. Only once chapter left after this one! When end of project fatigue settles in, I remember that I got very good news concerning Utown this month 😉 More later…!

The four Fonfon books are also almost done as well. I think I colored something like 34 pages in two days this week? I put on District 31 (a daily drama show with cops that has like… 900 episodes) and just… work work work! Anyway, I can’t wait to be able to show some of the illustrations!

And remember when I said I’d taken my old film camera out? Well, I got 3 rolls of film processed and I think I still need a lot of practice! I’m so used to being in total control of my medium and getting immediate result (digital art will do that) that this whole process feels very strange to me. Humbling, that’s for sure. The important thing is that I had fun going out on photo safaris throughout the city.

Will I ever recover from September? Of course I will! In the name of ART!! Here’s what got me excited this month!

On paper: The Dark Knight Returns, by Frank Miller. Fun fact, it’s my first time reading a Batman comic! Analog Photography, by Andrew Bell. It’s like graphic design/film photography porn.
On the little screen: Finished bingeing Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D and got my sleep schedule back.
At the THEATRE!: Le manuel de la vie sauvage. Great adaptation of a great book. I can’t remember the last time I went to see an actual play so this was really refreshing!
Artist: Ash Szymanik. I love the clutter she draws and the proportions of her animal characters. It’s very charming!