Last year this time around, I was making an exhaustive review of my trip to Japan. And now, right now, I’m sitting at home in my sweatpants, with a coffee, and getting ready to review 2019 and plan 2020. But for now, I’ll do December!

You know, good friends will make you change your mind if you’re on a wrong path. I’m lucky enough to have such friends. Initially, I had planned on releasing Utown in English only, out of convenience, or until I found a French publisher. After a talk with my good friend Mel, it became clear: might as well release both versions online, right off the bat. It’s gonna be a lot more work, but it feels right. Plus, translating from English to French is a lot easier than the other way around!

As planned (!!), the first Utown pages were uploaded on Patreon, in early access. What can I say…. the feedback and the love I got from my patrons is incredible. This is why I insisted on going back to making a webcomic; the community! I’m so grateful for everyone who’s been supporting the project since day one. Last year, I still had trouble describing what Utown was about and now, it’s out there, funded, shared, and most of all, read. What a feeling!

For the official launch, I drew this, which is probably one of my favorite picture of the year.

Other than that, I’m writing from the weird liminal space in between Christmas and New Year’s eve (tonight). I lost track of time, each morning I wake up more and more confused–and late. Even if I managed to get some good work done, I’m looking forward to more structure. The holidays can’t last forever (thank god).

December was a tornado of social events, hosting Christmas dinner, comic improv, book launch, aaaah!!! Here is what got me excited (and out of bed) during December.

Reading: Carillon, a self-published book by Jeik Dion and Gabrielle Cadot. It’s like looking at the first second of the collapse of our civilisation, under a microscope. The most unsettling part: it takes place in a loving commune, in rural Quebec.
Listening: Black Casino and the Ghost. The soundtrack to that noir western sci-fi epic comic I’ll never do.
Watching: Haikyu! I rooted more for the fictional Karasuno volleyball team in my living room than I ever did for any real-life sports team. The pacing of this series is perfect. It’s got heart, humor, it’s well written, beautifully done. Sports anime, you strike again!
Watching as well (it’s the holidays, I like TV): Shameless, after a few months of hiatus. The issue of gentrification has slowly been creeping in the past few seasons and I’m taking notes.
Artist: RIP Syd Mead, legendary concept artist, painter, designer, illustrator.

Hello world! I hope everyone has had a good month of November. Did you get your winter gear out? It snowed here, in Quebec. Earliest snow storm in a long while, because if there’s anything winter needs here, it’s a prequel…

November, it seems, was this year’s final boss. As I was planning out my month, I kept having chest pain and sweaty palms. “How the hell am I gonna do all this?” There was a time when sleeping 10-hour nights didn’t make up for how exhausted my body was. But I learned from flirting with burn-out last year, so I took the necessary measures and at the end, as it always does, everything went fine.

Earlier this fall, I took on a big contract involving drawing 80-something illustrations for a kid’s book called “CSI: Ruelle Verte”. Turns out, it was a LOT of drawings! But it was also nice to draw in a simple and straightforward style. I think it fueled some questioning I had for the style of Utown and eventually led me to tweak the character’s designs.

Speaking of which! The Utown website is almost done. The best decision I took all year was to have it done by someone else (being fellow studio-mate Ken Mallar). Delegating, it’s fun and useful! So while the integration is in competent hands, I’m busy drafting character bio sheets, like I did so many times in the past. Only this time, it’s for real! Anyway, it should come online early next year. In a little more than a week, the first pages will hit Patreon. And since November 19th was a special Thank You day for Patrons, I drew a little something for everyone who has pledged in the last year.

November also has two book fairs, one in Rimouski and the Salon du Livre de Montréal. Lanyard season once again! The surreal part was being on a talk with legendary author Enki Bilal and having him sign my dad’s derelict 1981 copy of La Foire aux Immortels, a book that was my gateway drug into sci-fi. I can’t remember anything I said during the talk (probably for the better) but I’ll remember this moment for a long time!

Whew. I’m tired. One last stretch before the end of the year! As usual, here is what kept me sane during November:
Reading: Middlewest, by Skottie Young and Jorge Corona.
Watching: Klaus, which art was as amazing (thank god). The Dragon Prince, my guilty pleasure (elves, dragons, magical creatures), She-Ra. Overall, a lot of cartoons.
Listening: Blackwater Holylight, an all-female doom metal band. I’m in a phase.
Artist: Eva Vilhelmiina. I’m obsessed with colors since I started teaching and I found her through one of my many, many research sessions.

Happy Spooky month everyone! This year, I’m dressed as an overworked freelancer; faded hair color, that sweater, the tell-tale complexion of someone who’s forgotten to soak up the last rays of sun of the year. The wool socks.

I’m kidding, I’m kidding. Partly. It has been a big production month, between churning out illustrations for the kid’s book, Inktober, preparing classes and trying to work on Utown.

This year, I half-heartedly started Inktober, thinking that drawing the Hiver Nuclear characters would be motivation enough to keep going for 31 days. It proved true for the first two weeks, and then, inspiration started to dwindle and as soon as I found myself out of buffer pencils, that was that. Maybe it’s a good sign? I’ve squeezed everything I could out of those characters. Time to move on! Regardless, I did have fun drawing those 24 Inktobers; if anything, it was a good inking practice.

On October 7th, I gave my first Color for Animation class. I don’t think I’ve been this nervous in years. And of course, it went well! What an experience, honestly. It is equal part planning and improvising, trying to go faster or slower, reading a room, repeating, losing my voice, hitting all the wrong modifier keys and of course, making bad jokes. I get a few smiles out of the students and I do hope they’ll learn a trick or two!

Oh and I got my Surface Pro! Not regretting my purchase so far. Thanks to having a functional computer at home, I was able to catch up on Utown, finish all the tones and the corrections and finally wrap up chapter 1. It feels like a huge milestone. The next step is finishing writing all the dialogues so I can have a proper idea of the number of pages this hulking project is gonna be. You heard it first: I’m thinking something along the lines of 210-230 pages. Woof.

Speaking of Utown, I got the itch. I drew Sam and Ed, my go-to art therapy subjects. Oh… how amazing this would look in colors…. siiiiiigh

You know what’s best about the end of October? DISCOUNTED CANDY!! So until I stuff my face full of Sour Patch Kids, here’s what got me excited this month:

Reading: The Utown outline. In what universe did I think this was ready to be storyboarded?! Also: every single Photoshop tutorial out there.
Watching: Daybreak on Netflix. I got a big Turbo Kid vibe out of it. It has it flaws but the way the show breaks the fourth wall and deals with the flashbacks is really fun. It’s a fun, fun watch.
Listening: A lot of post-punk and new-wave stuff. Watching Atomic Blonde was a trigger I think.
Artist: Loic Locatelli. I’m a sucker for clean/sketch linework like this one, that seems to be done effortlessly in one decisive stroke.

Hello world! Welcome to fall! Everyone in Montreal suddenly becomes fashion models this time around, with classy jackets, scarves and boots and everything. And there’s me, in a 5$ thrift store jacket that was shat on by a crow in Japan. Fancy!!

If I had one word for September, it would be ” apprehension”. It’s a daunting word to describe one’s state of mind but if there are a lot of changes coming up and me no like stepping into the unknown. So yeah, it’s been a challenging few weeks mental-health wise but I managed!

Late this month, I announced the official launch of Utown as a webcomic. Having done a good amount of pages, I felt ready to make it official. On the span of two days, I frantically designed a poster for the announcement and posted it everywhere. Making comics is fun, sure, but… designing posters or covers is honestly what I love the most. Add the fact that it depicts my characters and voila! One my favorite piece of the year. All that to say, Utown will launch in December, on Patreon! There will be more details later, promise!

In August, after much deliberation, I took on a basic Photoshop teaching job at a newly-opened animation school in the Mile-End. Since then, I’ve been slowly driving myself insane with disaster scenarios, like I always do when faced with an unfamiliar situation. Thank God, a few friends chimed in, providing much appreciated advice and comfort. Classes start next week and even though I’m still very nervous, I really want this to work. Sharing knowledge is such a core value for me that I simply couldn’t turn this offer down. I wasn’t expecting the ensuing insomnia though. We’ll see how it goes!

Finally, after ten years of sluggish but faithful services, I’m retiring my old, old Macbook Pro. I wrote, thumbnailed and and partly colored every single one of my comic projects on this laptop. It taught me patience, and that despite their reputation, Apple makes (or at least used to) long lasting machines. I mean, ten years, geezus. And it’s still working! But I decided to make a technological leap and get a Surface Pro for home. We’ll see if I can layout the rest of Utown on it!

So that’s it for September. It lasted for what seems 40 years. Oh and don’t forget: next month is INKTOBER!! This year, I’m drawing the ol’ Nuclear Winter crew, as a final goodbye to all the characters and their universe. As usual, I’ll follow the official prompts so head on over Instagram, where I’ll be posting a drawing a day, until I finish or collapse. Should be fun!

Here what got me excited this month.

Reading: Laura Dean Keeps Breaking up With me by Mariko Tamaki and Rosemary Valero-O’Connell. I’m just a quarter in but wow, it’s a class in layout and cute girls.
Watching: All the fantasy shows. I binged Disenchantment‘s 2nd season in 3 days. I love the writing, the clever, not too in-you-face humor, the artwork, everything. I also got sucked into the Dark Crystal series, which is as geeky, earnest and unapologetic as fantasy gets. Plus, the level of craft behind this show is mind-boggling.
Listening: Old CDs. Yup, while I still have an ancient computer with an optical drive.
Artist: I’m thinking a lot about design lately so I revisited some of Paula Scher‘s pieces. Her body of work is beyond impressive and keeps on blowing my mind.

Good afternoon, friends! I hope you’re having a nice “second half of the summer”, aka “should I wear pants today?!” period of the year. It’s one of my favorite season, honestly. You can often catch me whispering “would you look at that nice light” towards 4 or 5 in the afternoon, like an old painter from Baie St-Paul.

August has been all about things falling into place. The rest of the year is pretty much set for me, starting with the real start of production for Utown. The progress Excel sheet has been made, the page tracker printed, the tests are done, so now it’s time to get into second gear and churn out pages. Rendering in black and white halftones is fantastic. I went from taking between 2 and 4 hours to colour one Nuclear Winter page to just about 40-45 minutes to letter AND do the shading on a Utown page. It’s… so liberating.

I also took a 4-day vacation with some friends, in what is now our traditional annual cottage getaway. For a long weekend, I left my phone in my bag. I took no picture of the event, made no idyllic Instagram stories of the glistening river and took zero selfies of me #livingthecottagelife. It was a good break from the ceaseless need (guilt?) of having to promote everything because of business business business! We played a lot of Telestration. It is the best game of all time.

A podcast I listen to sporadically called “Beyond the To-Do list” had host Erik Fisher saying how life has different seasons (unrelated to the Earth’s rotation or anything). Nuclear Winter 3 is coming out September 4th, in just a few days, and this led me to think on how the whole Hiver Nucléaire season is really coming to its end. Signing and touring for the third book has been quieter than for the second volume, for all sorts of reasons. The English release didn’t cause much commotion, for other reasons. With the third book out in English, that makes it the sixth time I need to do promo for the same series and yeah, I’m running out of steam a little bit. It’s time to move on I guess! Starting new projects is where the fun is, isn’t it!

Lots of things are coming in the next months, but since this is a recap, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I hope you guys have a great month of September! As always, follow me on Patreon for more regular updates!

Here are a few things that made me happy this month:

Reading: Sports et Divertissements, by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard. This author writes the most despicable characters and yet, I can’t stop reading. I love what he does.
Watching: Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus. I’m probably too biased to form an honest opinion on this, but goddamn, I watched it two times in a row. A revamped cartoon is always a treat!
Listening: Comic Lab, my new favorite podcast. It’s very, very niche but hello, I’m the target audience!
Artist: Oooh, I just love what Artyom Trakhanov does. An artist that makes drawing look that easy always amazes me. It’s a real appealing black and white style and I’m all for this right now.

The AC is installed, I’ve been working from home wearing as little clothes as possible, and drinking lemonade. I hope you guys are keeping it cool, wherever you are!

This month started out strong with the Montreal Comiccon on July 5th. Me and a couple of pals got invited at the very last minute, to share two big tables at the faaaaaaar end of the show floor. It was a perfect setup, honestly; having a set schedule to sell books but also merch is the best of both world. For the first time in years, I actually walked around Artist Alley and met tons of super nice people. Ahhh, I missed tabling! And the AC inside the Palais des Congrès was a blessing.

The scorching heat inspired this weird series of prints. I’ve been told they look both delicious and absolutely disgusting! It’s different than what I usually do but it was a good break from drawing comic panels. Anyway, I put them up on my shop!

Another new item I’ve been wanting to do was a Mystery Pack! I have a LOT of prints and merch at this point, so why not make a surprise bundle? I have no idea if it’ll even catch on but when it comes to Etsy in general, I have no idea what I’m doing. Oh well!

One of the highlight of the month was the release of my Invader Zim alternate cover. I finished it somewhere last fall and I had to patiently wait almost a year to show it. I didn’t think I’d see an Invader Zim renaissance in my lifetime but between drawing two alternate covers (there’s another one on the way) and the Netflix movie coming in a week or so, past me is kinda freakin’ out! I have a feeling that a lot of you are also old-time fans of this weird, weird series. Maybe I’ll watch a few of the old episodes for nostalgia’s sake!

Okay, now onto the good news part.

I GOT MY GRANT!

I still can’t believe it! I will be able to make Utown my main project! As July was dragging on, I really started losing hope. Applying for a Canadian Art Council grant was almost an after thought earlier this year. I’m SO happy I did though! It’s wild how my mindset switched to thinking 100% of the time of ways to scrape some income left and right (everything I wrote in this entry is, in fact, that) to thinking about one. single.thing. How am I going to make the best comic I can. There was a background noise in my head, a static sound that always asked “How will you make it until the next freelance gig? You should get a real job!”. The guilt of working countless unpaid hours on a script, a storyboard and maintaining a Patreon, has toned down.

So for now I’m savouring the moment. I got the email at the end of the month, so I’m allowing myself a bit of a breathing space before I start planning the whole thing. I’m both extremely excited and terrified; it’s a good feeling! It’s worth pointing out that I had a lot of help from dear friends along the process. From reviewing storyboards to commenting my script and giving some much needed feedback on the grant application itself, I don’t think I would’ve made it alone. I’m so grateful!

For more Utown updates, head on Patreon. I still have tons of sketches and concepts to post. Hopefully, by the next monthly recap, I’ll have a finished chapter!

Until then, here’s what got me hoppin’ this month.

Reading: This great article on being a thrifty artist. It resonated with me quite a lot!
Watching: A mix of Queer Eye, 3Below and….Jojo’s Bizarre Adventures. I’m all over the place!
Listening: Cool, summery jams. Friendly Fires, Metronomy, Beach House. And… um. I fell back into Mars Volta, which is the absolute opposite of “chill”.
Artist: Jiji Knight. It’s cute and soft and just weird enough. She’s very active on Twitter too!

I can’t believe how fast June went by. Holy hell. We’ve finally had our first few days of very nice weather and I’ve entered LEISURE MODE, which is both necessary and a bit dangerous.

Each year I get what I call my “corporate gig”. It’s normally mildly exciting but it pays the bills for a little while. This year, it consisted of two full weeks of cleaning up a storyboard and drawing assets in Illustrator. I have a complicated relationship with Illustrator. What it does, it does well, but it’s so counter-intuitive for someone like me, who is satisfied with half-assed scribbles on crumpled paper. Still. It’s over and done, and if anything, being away from my personal project for two full week just made me more motivated!

So speaking of which, I decided it was more than time to just start production for Utown. I did all the research necessary at this point, drew all the outfits and mapped out all the places. Leaping back into storyboarding was… interesting. At first, I completely botched the two opening pages. I had to go back and actually plan out the dialogues (am I ever gonna stop writing?!). After my friend Boum sent me her own scenario for her next book, I decided to adopt her two-columns format to plan out spreads instead of individual pages. Having logical-thinking cartoonist friends is pretty damn useful! Drawing layouts is extremely challenging for me, and I hadn’t done anything of the sort in more than a year and a half. But I’m closing in page 10 and I can already feel it getting easier. Since I put in the lettering as I go, it’s already starting to feel like a real comic. Exciting!

The sketches I’ve accumulated over the last few weeks will all go up on my Patreon at some point. I’m still icky about “exclusives” so I think I’ll settle for a mix of public, early access for now. It’s a LOT of managing, to be honest, but I feel like I have to regrow a fan base from the ground up. And this ain’t the good ol’ DeviantArt days anymore…

In other news: COMICCON! I’ve been invited as a guest artist at the Montreal Comiccon! This is a first for me and I honestly cannot wait. I’ll be there with books and merch. I’ll post my signing schedule and table number as soon as I have the info.

On a final note, one thing: Neon Genesis Evangelion is on Netflix, I hadn’t seen it, it has wrecked me. BUT: it has top-notch UI design and by far the best technical yammering of any sci-fi franchise I’ve seen. I would sit through an hour-long Eva launch sequence any time.

via GIPHY

So other than giant robots piloted by emotionally staunched teens, this is what got me fired up this month:

Reading: Still not done reading last month’s book because I’ve been biking so much, instead of commuting. No rush though!
Listening: Pup‘s Morbid Stuff for its nostalgic energy. But I gotta be honest, those Lo-fi hip-hop Youtube channels get a lot of air time because: work.
Watching: Good Omens, based on the novel by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I’ve read the book two times and sat through the radio-play. I couldn’t have asked for a better adaptation.
Artist: Kit Mills. Love love love love.

May is one of my favorite month of the year. It’s the month of my birthday, all of the flowers bloom and it’s also the month of the MCAF Festival, Montreal’s very own comic event. I got my bike out for good, slammed into countless potholes already and got my first busted tire. One of many, according to my experience.

The month started on a low note. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get the government grant I applied for. Cue sad horn. Oh well! It hasn’t stopped me from doubling down and finishing the Utown scenario, after almost a year and a half of on and off work. I’m frightened by the length of this comic to be honest. I gotta think of a way to make this happen without driving myself into the ground. It always looks way worse on paper. Once I start layouts, I’ll have a much better scope of the work load. I hope.

Part of the plan to make Utown viable was to re-open my Patreon. I did so at the start of May and switched to a “Pay what you want” model. A friend of mine suggested this and honestly, it lifted a big weight off my shoulder. With this philosophy, I don’t feel guilty about my update schedule anymore. I don’t feel like it has to be yet another side hustle. The way I see it, it’s more like a production journal than an actual “pay-for-content” kinda setup. My first goal is to cover half of my studio rent with my Patreon earnings and thanks to some very kind and very generous friends, it might become a reality!

I might not have gotten the grant, but I won an award for Hiver Nucléaire 3! You lose some, you get some!

The end of the month of May means it’s time for the Montreal Comic Arts Festival! This year’s edition was insane. I sold ou books, made a bunch of dumb sticker packs, sold out as well, walked around, drank a lot of beer and had a great time. It’s by far my favorite event of the year. Everyone I know did really well and since it’s a small event, you can tell when everyone’s happy and enjoying themselves. It rubs on everyone else, tablers or visitors. Next year, for sure, I’m getting my own table. I have too much merch and not enough opportunity to sell it!

Lastly, out of the blue, I had an urge to draw something girly that was not a storefront. I guess it had been gnawing at me for a while because I finished this on two days; that’s insanely fast and focused for me. I’m really happy with it! (Print in the shop, as usual.)

I got a lot of freelance work lined up in June. Personal projects will have to wait. But for now, here’s what got me excited in May:

Reading: A Scanner Darkly, because it’s never too late to pick up some weird sci-fi/psychedelic Phillip K.Dick novel. Up to this day, I still haven’t seen the movie. Which is, if you know me, unbelievable.

Watching: Avengers: Endgame. Smart Hulk and Burnout Thor were the two things I didn’t know I needed in my life.

Listening: Long-time favs Holy Ghost! released a killer track called “Escape from Los Angeles from their upcoming “Work” album.

Artist: Matt Cook. Incredible sense of light. This guy is in a whole other league, especially given his subject matter.

April was a month of talking about comics. Holy hell, I feel like all I’ve done in the last month was talk. about. comics. The Québec BD Festival was obviously a well-suited place to do exactly that. I caught up with fellow bédéistes friends, got real nervous at the Bédéis Causa award night (congrats to all the winners!!) and met a LOT of readers. It was the first festival I attended with Hiver Nucléaire 3 and wow, I got so much love from people who had finished the series. It was truly an amazing edition and it re-fueled my batteries a great deal!

Work this month has been separated into two big tasks. One was doing the book print layout for Axelle’s upcoming book, Si on Était. The other one is an ongoing concept art/background layout gig I got through the studio. I’ve always loved drawing backgrounds in my comics and such, but it’s only my third time doing it in a professional setting. I think I enjoy drawing backgrounds more than I do drawing characters–in a work situation, I mean. I know, it’s like a blasphemy! I’m pretty sure I won’t be able to show any of that work anytime soon but I’m keeping a few pieces for my portfolio for sure.

Oh and I’m still drawing houses. Like, it’s starting to turn into a thing.

Aside from work, I’m still writing Utown in tiny, tiny chunks. I’m starting to think that “part-time” comic making is not going as smoothly as I would’ve liked. Hopefully, once I re-launch my Patreon (soon!), it’ll give me a little boost! In the meantime, I drew Sam, doing what he does best: nothing.

In an attempt to keep my head somewhat clear (it’s such a mess right now), I kicked myself in the butt and have taken up jogging again. The first run felt amazing. I haven’t felt this energized in a long time! It’s too bad the weather has been this terrible because I’m just aching to move. Going to the studio on bike is one of my favorite thing, partly because of exercice, but mostly because of my route. I follow the Des Carrières cycling path, which runs directly beside a train track and the entire semi-industrial landscape that surrounds it. If I’m lucky, I’ll bike next to a freight train and try (hopelessly) to race it. Each day, I take a glimpse at the picture-perfect Van Horne overpass gently curving above the train tracks I cross on foot. This entire area is like a visual playground for me and has inspired more comic panels than anyone will ever know. Biking and walking are just the best way to get inspired. If you care to pay attention!

April was hectic and challenging, but in a good way. So here’s what got me excited this month:

Listening: To a lot of silence actually. I’ve been writing this post and most of my scenario in total silence, with only the ticking of the clock in my living room and the sound of the cars outside. I’ve become increasingly aware of noise and how it affects me.

Reading: Man oh man, I read Austin Kleon’s “Keep Going“. I’ve been waiting SO LONG for this book. “Steal like an Artist” got me out of a terrible funk years ago and since then, I’ve been following his work in any way I could. “Keep Going” is a wonderful little book, a reminder that being a “creative” is all about leading a decent life, showing up for work and going outside once in a while. I cannot recommend his work enough.

Watching: GAME OF THRONES, WHAT ELSE?!

Artist: Fran Meneses. It’s cute, it’s bittersweet and I feel like we are the same person?!

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.