Un p’tit post en français pour une fois! Voici mon horaire de dédicaces pour le Festival Québec BD (le FBDFQ) qui se tiendra à Québec du 6 au 14 avril. Je serai au stand de la librairie du Festival de BD! C’est le moment de venir faire dédicacer l’Esprit du Camp, et c’est aussi la première apparition d’Hiver Nucléaire 3 en festival. Dur à croire hein!

(Psssst: j’aurai aussi des copies de mon sketchbook en vente clandestine, hors de mes horaires de dédicaces. Si vous me spottez dans la foule, faites-moi signe!)

Jeudi 11: 14h à 15h30

Vendredi 12: 12h à 13h30 et 16h à 17h30

Samedi 13: 10h à 11h30 et 18h30 à 20h

Dimanche 14: 12h à 13h30 et plus(?)

Oh March, you bring both tax season and spring. You’re over now, so let’s move on to April, a month that offers the hopes of biking and walking around in shoes again.

I feel like I barely touched a pencil in March. I think I was so caught up with the trip to Lyon and my goddamn taxes that the only activity that seemed remotely rewarding was to binge-watch Boruto instead of working on any of my stuff. I was well on my way to finish the Utown scenario but I suddenly found a million other things to do. I’m not gonna lie, this month has been… real rough. Between bouts of procrastination and crippling self-doubt about the grant I applied for, I don’t feel like I’ve spent my time efficiently at all in the past weeks. It’s insane how draining jumping from one task to another is. Chris Bailey calls it “attention residue”, that fog that clogs our brain when we multi-task too much. As a freelancer, this is probably my biggest weakness, and this month has been a hell of a challenge in that regards.

Thankfully, I decided to embark on a project that I had been putting off for too long: making a new sketchbook! It got me so motivated that I managed to have it done in less than two weeks. It was fun, digging around old archived folders, reworking sketches that deserved a second chance and scanning forgotten pages of sketchbooks. Having all these disparate drawings together made me realize that I’m glad I kept a lof-fi analog quality to my drawings, wether digital or hand drawn. It’s starting to set me apart–and I like it. And yeah, I’m gonna say it, I’m damn proud of what’s in that book, even if there are drawings dating back from 2016. Old art isn’t (all) bad art. Putting together this little 32-page booklet felt real good. I’ll put it up for sale mid-April!

I was also tasked with making the official poster for l’Off-Ciel, a pop-culture event taking place in late-March. Making covers and posters might just be my two favorite non-comic related sort of gigs. I’m gonna try to make more in the future. I worked in duo-tone again for this poster, aka the most satisfying method of colouring. I can’t wait to see it printed!

It’s Sunday the 31st as I write this last bit, and I just came back from Lyon, so it’s still fresh in my mind. It wasn’t anything like Japan when it comes to the work load: I had one signing event in a bookstore and one live-drawing event. So this left me and my travel buddy Guillaume loads of time to explore this gorgeous city and to talk to the wonderful people who made all of this possible. Bonus, I even got to hang out with Émilie, my friend who just moved to Lyon like, a week ago.  And as we always do between French-speaking “cousins”, we delighted one another with the wildest, most regional expressions we could think of. Surprisingly, I wasn’t asked to repeat over and over, despite me refusing to change my thick, thick accent!

Of course I could go on about the architecture and the early-spring light and the turquoise of the city’s two rivers but I’ll refrain 😉

Hopefully, all the admin work that weighed me down in March is over. Time to get back into a creative streak! Nonetheless, here’s what got me excited this month:

Reading: The Corner, a Year in the life of an Inner-City neighbourhood, the book that inspired The Wire, my favorite TV show of all time. It’s part fiction, part documentary, covering everything from race, white flight and the slow collapse of working-class manufacturing cities. It’s a stunning snapshot of the 80’s and 90’s and how the war on drugs shaped inner-city life.  My only regret is reading it in French. I’m even tempted to watch the show for the fourth time…

Watching: Queer Eye season 3, between heartfelt tears. Since debuting, this show has done more for my self-esteem than most things. For once, I now own way more button-up shirts than I ever did. A true improvement.

Listening: The english rock band Shame. I cannot get enough. And as it often happens, I’m falling back into oldies, like old, old The Cure, Buzzcocks and The Clash.

Thinking about: Who still uses RSS feeds and aggregators? After Google Reader was shut down in 2013, I migrated all my favorite blog’s RSS feeds onto Feedly and to this day, it’s still my favorite way to get news that isn’t on Facebook or Twitter. I’m grateful for small, one-person blogs that still curate and publish content weekly. I stumbled upon so many interesting and eclectic articles on my daily Feedly browse–content that wasn’t suggested by an algorithm of favorited by some Facebook acquaintance–that I can’t imagine RSS feeds ever going away. I don’t know what I’d do.

The sun is setting later, the light is giving out that certain “spring feel” and despite the relentless cycles of snow, rain and flash freezing, winter is on its last legs. February has also been for the last three years, a dry month for me, a challenge to resist the alluring call of BEER and such. Last year, I treated myself with Jamie Hewlett’s art book to congratulate myself; this year, I’m eyeing the Mutafukaz artbook; I haven’t seen the movie yet but I’m fantasizing about ogling at those incredible Studio 4°C signature background paintings.

Just when I thought I had my share of travels for a lifetime, I was presented the opportunity of going to Lyon, France, for a francophonie event in March. At first, I had a violent internal struggle. I didn’t think I had the strength to dive back into the logistics of traveling, the jet lag, packing and such, but I’m happy I accepted. Lyon and Québec have a long-time partnership when it comes to comics and I’m eager to see that side of the Francophone market. So yeah, another trip in March!

After putting it off until the very last minute, I finally got around to working on a short comic project about my visit to Tokyo. It’ll be part of a collective of local and Japanese artists. We all had to avoid using text to facilitate translation and it turned out to be a real struggle! My very first comics ever had no text because I thought I was an illustrator and not a storyteller, but after a few books, I can’t even imagine not writing in dialogues. I chose a super simple style for this short comic and ended up learning a lot about readability and simplification. I’m really proud of the end result!

And lastly, I got commissioned to draw an actual building! It was a very unusual request but I’m not surprised that drawing endless rows of store fronts and houses would lead up to this. It might even become a thing? Who knows! I’m lucking I got such a charming triplex, complete with original wood cornices and my favorite, varnished bricks. Yes, I have an opinion on building materials… I’m weird like that.

February was short and I drank a lot of tea, but here’s what got me excited this month:

Watching: Umbrella Academy. This series has a lot going on for it, but suffers from subtle and crippling writing flaws at times. It hasn’t stopped me from binging the entire series in just a few days. As a proof of how I like the characters, I even drew Number Five on a whim.

Reading: Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by the late Anthony Bourdain. I watched the Parts Unknown episode where he revisits Provincetown, the first place he ever cooked, and I teared up. I’m in absolute love with the book and I find a lot of fucked up wisdom in his writings.

Artist: Dan Black, who does incredible poster work over at Landland. I’m impressed by the integration of lettering into that sort of old, rust-belt architecture. It’s really outstanding work and it makes me want to have a go at making posters… Their shop is here. God, I wouldn’t know which one to chose.

Bonus: An Instagram of New York doors, and nothing else. Of course, this brings me great joy.

Winter, amirite…

So the start of the year has been… hard. Not having a project to work on per say has given me way too much time to think, which, for me, translates into overthink. It coincides with me being in the middle of writing Utown, my next comic, so I am really up in my brain right now. And it’s intense.

Speaking of which, I’m applying for a grant for Utown. Without going into details, just putting into words the core and soul of this project into well-formatted sentences has proven to be quite a challenge. Utown is the long-time project that I’ve been putting off until I was certain I was ready, so I easily get overwhelmed and emotional when I talk, or write about it. I know, I’m putting all this unnecessary pressure on myself but I can’t help it! On the bright side, writing the grant application has really helped me ground the story and find a good, solid intrigue. I’m having a lot of fun with where it’s going and I honestly can’t wait to start.

Nuclear Winter 2 came out this month! I got my copies and read through the book cover to cover in one sitting. There’s something very thrilling about reading your own book, in another language. It’s familiar, yet very different! I’m always impressed by the amazing translation work the guys at Boom! Studios did. The book itself came out amazing and got a good feedback on Twitter. Here are the few cover sketches I did before we settled on the final cover

I also decided to give my Etsy page a big boost, by adding a few original artwork. Having original line art and marker drawings just sitting in a dusty portfolio drives me insane. Moreover, I don’t do half has much conventions that allow to just display my originals, so they just end up being dead weight. So a little photo shoot and many, many unsuccessful keyword attempts later, I now have a nice selection on Etsy. I already made a few sells, which convinced me to keep maintaining and putting time and effort into my shop. One of my 2019 goals is to make enough passive income to at least pay for my studio space, and Etsy is on its way to become a big player in that. Plus… I really like managing a print shop. Go figure!

January is the longest month ever but… here’s what got me excited this month:

Series: I absolutely loved Sex Education. It’s funny and endearing, it’s bold without being raunchy and it’s a master class in character writing. I can’t wait for season 2.

Stuff: The Baron Fig line of products. What can I say, I’m a sucker for nice stationary and analog journaling/planning systems. I try to steer away from gimmicky bullet journal-y notebooks in favor of cheap, customizable ones but damn, their Clear Habit planner looks gorgeous.

Artist: Lee Gatlin. If “bleeding pen on a napkin” were a style, this guy would’ve invented it. He makes it look so easy. Plus, his little comics and captions are super clever.

Last recap of the year! Turns out I really enjoy doing those, so I guess I’ll keep going!

The few days after I got back from Japan, I was physically and mentally exhausted. I went back to the studio regardless, partly to get a sort of routine back, but mostly to work on some last minute jobs. After at least 3 weeks of not drawing, it was fun to get back into it, especially when working on the Scouts Christmas card.

The one thing I was most excited about was the launch of Hiver Nucléaire 3 at Planète BD. It was my first time launching my own book in a bookstore and it did not disappoint. I was super happy with the turnout and I finally got to pop open the bottle of bubbly wine that had been sitting in my fridge since my birthday. Finishing the Hiver Nucléaire series is a huge milestone for me. It never occurred to me when I started, that a silly webcomic project would end up being a 3-book series. It’s very hard to leave those characters behind, but I’m ready to move on to another comic project, and fast.

So even though I was technically “jobless” in the sense that I had no actual comics to draw, I had plenty of things to fill my time, like comic improv, the Mystérieux Étonnants Christmas special and of course, the holidays. I stayed home after Christmas and I took the time to write about everything that happened this year, and think about what the future has in store for me. I’m not gonna do a long 2018 recap but I can safely say that it’s been a BIG year, in every aspect. I finished working on Hiver Nucléaire as well as l’Esprit du Camp, the two books that were my almost-full-time job for the past 2-3 years, and did the Scout calendar in between, as well as a few other freelance gigs. Nuclear Winter came out in May, which might be the start of a whole new chapter (I hope!) I’m incredibly grateful for all the opportunities I had, I truly am. But I also learned the hard way what it’s like to come close to burning out. in 2019, my goal is to work smarter, not harder. My brain is wired for multi-tasking and it just feeds on distractions, a bad habit that’s getting harder and harder to tame. I know what I need to do to get better… the whole challenge is actually taking the first few steps.

I’m looking forward to next year, I’m (frighteningly) excited about Utown and absolutely terrified by the amount of work it represents. In the process, I hope I can manage to stay sane and healthy, which is really only up to me. So, I wish you all a wonderful 2019 and I’ll leave you with the usual end of the month list 🙂

I was excited for this in December:

Podcast: It’s a shameless plug because I’ve been on the show a few times, but Les Mystérieux Étonnants is still one of my favorite podcasts and one of the few French-language ones I listen to. These guys make you feel like you’re a part of the gang!

Artist: Warwick Johnson Cadwel is an amazing artist with an impressive output. His lines are sharp, he warps and bends backgrounds in a masterful way. He’s a magician with a pencil. His website has a few drawings but he’s really active on Twitter.

Movie: Go see Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse. Go now. I never draw Marvel fanart but I did this the morning after seeing the movie. People liked it so much I had to make a print out of it!

Food for thoughts: Like each year for the past 5 years now, January means I start a new paper planner based loosely on the super overhyped Bullet Journal system. I’m definitely not the type to decorate and embellish the damn notebook, but I do enjoy taking the time to plan sections and calendars and such. My brain is constantly on the verge of overspilling so having a place where I can just dump whatever’s causing me anxiety or stress (meaning: everything), is really important. I barely ever leave the house without it. If I had Horcruxes, this would definitely be the last one, and the hardest to destroy.

So after a week of shaking hands, handing cards, bowing, smiling and wearing shirts and jackets, it was time for part of the delegation to go home. Thomas-Louis and Francis went back to Québec City, while the rest of us kinda did our own things for most of the rest of the week. Now that the “work” part was done, it was time to see EVERYTHING (in Tokyo at least).

Over the next few days, I went back to a couple of places like Shibuya, Asakusa and Akihabara. The morning was usually spent having breakfast at a near-by coffee shop, while making a rough plan for the day. This meant browsing through a tourist guide from the hotel and cross-checking to see if it matched any of the numerous suggestions I’d gotten from friends, and then plotting a train and subway itinerary. And I was off!

Without going into the details of each and single day, there is one thing that struck me about Tokyo; neighbourhoods have themes. I didn’t know Setagaya was ALL thrift shops (well, not really, but there were a lot) so there I was, browsing through perfectly curated, pristine 90’s sweaters, retro sports vests and knock-off band tshirts. Then, there was book alley, which had a mix of tiny claustrophobic shops and big, beautiful stores that displayed the Japanese’s wonderful sense of graphic design. I bought stationary, needless to say. Akihabara had loud rows of anime video billboards, arcades and a dying breed of electronic shops, tucked inside long, seedy corridors. It was a cyberpunk paradise. And as we would find out on the last night, during a walking tour, Kabukicho had… the “sex” stuff. I’m talking hostess clubs, love hotels, gaudy advertisements, the whole deal.

And then there was Ameyoko street in Ueno, an insane row of tightly packed shops, adjacent an elevated railroad. It was too crowded (and I’m too short) to take any good pictures but I knew that I had found a piece of Tekkonkinkreet’s Treasure Town right there.

Speaking of which, I managed to get my hand on the movie’s white art book, which currently retails at $68, for well under half the price, at Mandarake. I think I spent at least an hour in that manga shop, just… lost in a sort of fog, not able to read any of the books’ spines, angry at their fascination for wrapping EVERYTHING, including books, in plastic sleeves. I had to make some tough budget choices but buying that book in Japan felt really symbolic for me. At that point, I had bought only a few souvenirs for friends, a pair of shoes for me (out of necessity), a bit of art supplies and not much else. In a city where buying stuff seems to be a religion, I can safely say that I at least showed some restraint.

Another highlight of the second week was an impromptu visit at the 21-21 Design Museum in Roppongi. I had no idea what the museum was about and the poster for their ongoing exhibition showed only a clay pot and some writing I obviously couldn’t read. So with a few hours to kill, I went in. The exhibition was about the Mingei movement, a folk art and craft philosophy that values the beauty of simple, well-made everyday objects. While I’m in no way a pottery artist or a wood worker, the objects on display, the beautifully translated accompanying text, and the quotes used throughout the exhibition, touched me in a way I still can’t explain. Maybe being surrounded by noise and people and a LOT of city made me especially receptive, but watching a 20-minute video of a guy weaving a basket and a girl painting on fabric, in a dark museum room, made me teary and provided a much needed break. I got out of the museum, feeling oddly serene, and met up with Gautier–who had been to the Mori museum all day– in a smoky, vaguely european-themed café. It was all very artsy.

Two days later, we both decided to go see what I thought would be a Kaneoya Sachiko exhibition at the Vanilla Gallery, but I was a week too late! We went in anyway; the walls were covered from top to bottom by meticulously aligned original manga pages by artist Atsushi Kaneko. And after wandering in awe for a few minutes, I walked into the next room only to find the artist himself, hunched over a Cintiq, drawing. Insane.

At this point, the trip was coming to an end. I was getting a bit homesick, I dreaded the event of (another) earthquake and I longed to be in my own bed. The last event we did was an evening walking tour of Kabukicho, the red light district, and its drinking and social culture. The walk ended at the Golden Gai, an odd, densely-packed shanty-town of micro bars, all with a different theme and a varying level of aversion for foreigners. It was the last night in Tokyo, we had met up with Thierry and Stephanie, it was time for one last beer. We were just getting “comfortable” in the closet-sized drinking hole wistfully named “Not Suspicious”, when two other english speakers (a guy and a girl) came to claim the last two sitting places. After about five minutes of chatting, I discovered they were cartoonists (!), the girl followed me on Twitter (!!) and she was in fact, Natasha Allegri, the creator of Bee and Puppycat. For which series, I did an alternate cover years ago. The world is VERY SMALL.

And the next day, we left.

It’s getting harder and harder to summarize the trip as the weeks pass. There are a few things that stayed deeply engraved in my memory: the weird, informal architecture, the trains, the wires. The smell of cigarettes and cooking oil, the taste of miso. The faces of people we met, the feeling of complete, total humility in front of the work of manga masters like Kim Jung Gi and Mr. Kaneko. The sheer scale of the city that even an avid sci-fi and anime lover such as myself, can’t comprehend. And most of all… knowing that chances like this come around once or twice in a lifetime for an artist. I’m incredibly grateful of having had the chance to visit Japan because of my art, and I hope this experience and the networking we did, will open the door for more artists in the future.

I made a bit of a selfish wish at a shinto shrine but in hindsight, I should’ve added “I can’t wait to come back” before clapping my hands and bowing.

So it’s been a while, hasn’t it! I skipped the October recap, which is entirely my fault and I will blame it on actually finishing my book, while planning a trip and generally freaking out. But nevertheless, I’m here to make amends and to talk about the last two months, but more importantly… JAPAN! As some of you know by now, I spent two weeks in Tokyo, from the end of November to December third, as part of a Quebec BD/comics delegation. Part of the trip was for business/cultural exchange but part of it was also for pure fun and wonderment. A lot of my work was and still is influenced by Japanese comic or video game culture so needless to say that it was like a dream come true. So here is a very abridged summary of my experience in Tokyo, starting with a very busy first week!

Our little French-Canadian, jet-lagged and culture-shocked group consisted of Thomas-Louis who manages the Festival de BD de Québec and who pretty much organized all the trip for us; Gautier, my editor, Francis, Stéphanie and Thierry, fellow comic artists, and Christine, aka Nunumi, an up and coming author who’d been in Japan a couple of times. Thank god she was there to ease us into the rhythm of the country and to translate a few things.

The first week was basically all of us attending activities put together in partnership with the Quebec delegation based in Japan. We gave a talk at Tsukuba University and were addressed as “-sensei”, which I found out, also applies to mangakas, and not only mentors or teachers. I have to admit, I had a bit of an ego-boost at that moment! The talk was hosted by Miki Yamamoto (an insanely talented author and artist), who had visited Montreal as part of the FBDM in May. We were off to a good start!

The following days were spent in two separate “comic book conventions” of opposing scales. The Comic Art Tokyo was in two tiny classrooms at an inner-city university. The Kaigai Manga Festa on the other hand, was held at the GARGANTUAN Tokyo Big Sight, and gathered crowds like the which I had never seen in my life. Oddly enough, despite being halfway around the world, the exhibition floor, the ambiant hum of the crowd, smiling to get people to stop and look at our books… it all felt very familiar. I managed to sell out the few Nuclear Winter copies I had brought and made a few bucks with small prints. Considering the language barrier, I’d say it’s pretty good! One of the highlight of the week was getting to hang out, if only for an hour or two, with old studio-mates Karl Kerschl (who now lives in Japan) and Brenden Fletcher, who gave me a hell of a pep-talk! 

The following activity on our super-tight schedule was a meet-and-greet at the embassy of Canada, with all the protocol and hors-d’oeuvres one could expect. It wasn’t all stuffy and serious though, and I met with authors and publishers and web-comic people, who all seem to be on the verge of some kind of change in their industry. While I’m no expert, I felt like the model of the overworked mangaka slaving on a series for 10+ years, published in chunks in a cheaply-printed catalog (like the Jump), is slowly shifting. To prove the point, Shonen Jump rolled out a new digital subscription service this week, that I assume, will kill their iconic weekly paper anthology… Their is a definite shift in the way Japanese people are consuming mangas, and while comic bookstores are still very much a part of the landscape, I’m curious to see if there is indeed a slide towards phones and tablets.

So that’s the gist of what we actually DID on week one. This was of course, intertwined with a bit of sight-seeing and shopping, but I think I’ll cover my own personal experience of Tokyo in a follow-up post. I wanted to retell the “business” side of the trip because first, it’s the reason I could actually go and, and second, because I believe developing relations with other artists and publishers, regardless of where in the world, is a key part of growing as an indie author. I can’t rely on huge publishing structures right now, especially if I intend to keep on making creator-owned books, by myself. So part of the job is staying in tune with how the media and the market is evolving and that’s done by actually talking to people, be it readers or professionals, wherever they are! Plus, I find it genuinely interesting! I’m incredibly lucky to have had the chance to travel to Japan to hopefully, pave the way for other Quebec artists to visit. It was incredibly enriching, destabilizing, mesmerizing and at points, challenging. I’ll try to gather my feelings and thoughts on the trip for next time, as I write about week 2, which was spent touring the city freely. 

Until next time!

It’s time for another monthly recap! September went by at the speed of light it seems. I spent most of my time at home, coloring Hiver Nucléaire 3 on my slow but surprisingly resilient, 9 year-old Macbook, using a 50$ Monoprice tablet I had bought just because it was dirt cheap. This piece of hardware more than paid for itself and I find the rough surface and sub-par pressure sensitivity perfect for cell-shading coloring. My friend and studio mate Raphael, known as Rabot (go check out his work), did all my flats and honestly, I would be on the verge of a nervous breakdown if it hadn’t been for his help. I’m a sloppy flatter and not having to worry about the holes in the color has made my life a lot easier. I thought I’d share a process shot of the steps I do the colors in. First pass is Raphael’s flats, hence the weird change all of a sudden. I always start with “daylight” colors, no palette, and work from there until the colors kinda make sense! Plus snow!

L’Esprit du Camp had its official launch on September 6th, at Planète BD. A lot of people showed up, Axelle and I signed non-stop for the entire duration; it was a success! Touring local book stores, libraries and small events is starting to become one of my favorite part of the job, way ahead of huge pop culture conventions. I’d rather talk to a handful of dedicated enthusiasts than trying to sell my wares to hordes of strangers. Later this month, we did a small signing at the Millennium comic shop, which also attracted a nice crowd.

And lastly, the 2019 Scout calendar is now out in the wild. I’ll upload all images on my portfolio when I get the chance. Meanwhile, here’s a glimpse of the cover! If you see any Scouts selling the calendars in your area, think about me!

I was excited for this in September:

Podcast: I’m not gonna lie, coloring for long periods of time requires a good comedy podcast. I gave My Dad Wrote a Porno a second listen and it’s just as funny and gross as the first time.

Artist: Every now and then I stumble back on the work of Musa, which I still know nothing about to this day. Still, they  is one of my favorite artist out there and I’m gonna do a proper study of their stuff for Inktober.

Reading: I started reading The Expanse 3 last week because I’m a neeeeerd.

Food for thoughts: The concept of taking a day or at least a moment, to recap, regroup, write, think, has gotten increasingly important for me in the past few years. My brain is in constant state of semi-panic, so unless I do a full stop every now and then, I get antsy to the point of physical pain. Scheduling a Personal Inventory Day seemed like a good idea so I gave it a try. I wrote down a few things, looked out the window longingly, tapped my pen against my lips and such. I’ll try to make it stick for a while, it can’t hurt, right?

It became somewhat of a running joke, but have a hard time remembering events in time. In my mind, everything happened 4 years ago – college graduation, moving in my current apartment, starting being a freelancer, releasing my first book, etc. This lead me to consider doing a monthly recap of what I’ve been working on and what will be coming up. Simple enough!

So August was the second month in a row I decided not to buy a transit pass and limit my travels to a strict minimum, in order to maximize the time I could put working on Hiver Nucléaire 3. This means working from home and not from the studio, which sounds amazing until cabin fever settles in. Some days have been great and productive but a lot were let’s say… sluggish. Thanks to a network of like-minded cartoonists and neighbours, I was able to take my pages with me and work at friend’s or at the Atomic Café in Hochelaga (a place that has fascinated me since it opened 10 years ago). Thank god this place and most of our apartments have a resemblance of AC because this summer has been brutal so far..

So while Hiver Nucléaire 3 is slowly but surely coming along, Hiver 2 got its own color revamp for the english version, set to be released in January 2019 by Boom! Studios. Reworking the colors or the second book proved to be much less of a hassle then what it was in the first volume. I see this process as a great way to learn from my mistakes. Hopefully, the third book will be the prettiest (nah, it WILL be the prettiest). I wish I could share the cover for Nuclear Winter 2 but we’ll have to wait the official press release!

July also marked the end of production on l’Esprit du Camp, a 2 year colouring gig that ended up being much more than commission work. Axelle and I worked our asses off on those 2 books and the fact that we haven’t killed each other during that time makes me consider further collaborations. Who knows!  I’ll talk about process and share a few progress shots after the launch of the book on September 6 at Planète BD. Mark your calendars!

Needless to say, it’s been an interesting summer so far. When it becomes too chaotic (I’m easily overwhelmed), I try to remember that I can’t plan everything and that in the end, being a freelancer comic artist inevitably means having to “herd cats” most of the time. And stay hydrated.

While I’m at it, here’s what’s been getting me excited over the last month.

Podcast: Jake Parker’s amazing “Three Points Perspective” Podcast, especially this episode about networking for artists. An absolute must-listen

Artist: Jorge Monlogo. He’s doing some interiors for the Over the Garden Wall comic and it just blew me away. Solid stuff.

Books: Haven’t read much this summer. If anything, just writing this down might be enough to kick my ass back into reading.

TCAF is almost here! This year, for the first time since I started tabling at TCAF, I’ll have an actual English-language book! Nuclear Winter vol.1 by Boom! Studios comes out that very weekend and I’m happy to be debuting the book at one of my favorite event. Toronto has always given me lots of love, even as I only had French books to offer. It’s time to give some love back, en anglais! I’ll also have the usual convention ware, mainly prints, postcards, stickers and such. I might also do commissions depending on my level of energy. I rather not promise anything and go with the flow!

Lastly, I got invited to a panel called “Country Comics and City Comics” at the Marriot’s High Park room, Saturday May 12 from 1:30 at 2:30.

As Jane Jacobs said “There is no new world that you make without the old world.” In this panel, cartoonists Michael DeForge, Sylvian Nickerson, Leif Goldberg and Cab will talk about how they explore cities in their comics, and how the places they live affect their work. Moderated by Daniel Marrone.

You’ll be able to find me and my pink hairdo on the second floor of the Toronto Reference Library, at the Lounak Studio table! For the entire programming, check out TCAF’s entire programming.

Voici mon horaire de dédicaces pour le 31e Festival de BD de Québec:

Samedi: 12h à 13h30 et 16h à 17h30

Dimanche : 12h à 13h30

Le site dit que c’est pour l’Esprit du Camp et c’est vrai que je dédicace avec Michel Falardeau . Mais je suis aussi là pour signer des Hiver Nucléaire, bien sûr!

Je vais également participer au grand tournoi d’Impro BD du samedi au musée de la Civilisation. C’est spécial parce que y’a 3 ans (je pense), j’ai remplacé in extremis Julie Rocheleau en tant que dessinatrice lors du festival et ce, même si j’avais jamais fait d’impro BD de ma vie. C’est cette fois-là qui m’a donné la piqûre faque ça me fait extra plaisir de remonter sur scène à Québec cette année!

Oh et l’Esprit du Camp est en nomination pour le Bédéis Causa, catégorie Grand Prix de la Ville de Québec… pis je capote un peu….! M’a essayer que ça paraisse pas trop…

Parce qu’une année sans deux mille conventions est pas une bonne année! Voici mon horaire de convention pour les prochains mois. Je vais mettre la liste à jour au fur et à mesure que je dis oui à toute.

Festival Québec BD (FBDFQ)

14-15 avril

En après-midi. Y’a aussi de bonnes chances que je fasse partie de l’équipe d’impro-BD de la grande soirée au Musée de la Civilisation!

Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF)

12-13 mai

Avec Lounak au 2e étage.

Vancouver Comic Arts Festival (VANCAF)

19-20 mai

Festival de BD de Montréal (FBDM)

25-26-27 mai

Pis c’est ma fête.

À date c’est pas mal ceux qui sont confirmés!