Category: Art
Circle of Power
I haven’t posted here in ages. I’ve been very busy making sure that DrinkAndDrawMtl.com remains active and I’ve neglected my own blog. So I have a whole bunch of old paintings I need to post because I never shared them here but I decided to get started with with this painting I finished this morning.
I’ve had this thumbnail in my sketchbook forever but this week I saw the cover for The language of knives and I knew my skull had to be partially submerged in water. So I pulled out a big pot of water, my photoflood and my mi-light color changing led and started shooting references. While I was there, I shot every angle I could think of. I have 153 photos of a plastic skull in a pot of water.
Yep, skull in cold water.
Then I did a montage of the composition I wanted.
Montage in photoshop. I used the pot as a reference for the perspective on the circle.
I transfered the drawing to my board. I used some darkish mdf that was prepped with 2-3 coats of matte medium. For the transfer, I print my design in black and white using my laser printer. Then I use a sheet of tracing paper coated with vine charcoal on one side as a carbon paper. I always reuse the same, and add charcoal as needed. I also have one with white conte on it which works fine.
Then I started painting my gradients and darks with raw umber, a very transparent pigment. I still dilute it with medium and a small amount of water. I work in a LOT of layers.
I started with the gradient and the darkest darks. I work so transparent that I’ll need to build those darks in at least 8 coats. Also, that lets me define the drawing for when the lines are no longer visible.
Then a bit of unbleached titanium, to give me an idea of the value range.
Detail of the light side. Unbleached titanium is a creamy pigment that doesn’t look jarring next to the subdied browns and beiges.
Circle of power, coat 1 has been painted. It’s a mix of white and blue that gives very flat results.
I kept working on the darks. At some point, I started adding some transparent blue (Createx fluorescent blue) it’s very liquid and easy to spread thin. It also mixes very well with the Createx white I use for flat colors, such as the circle of power.
My last touches were a mix of unbleached titanium and white Createx for the tiny specular highlights on the water edges and to show off the wetness of the skull.
That’s it! More darks, more subtle blue, more coats on the circle of power. Just needs 4-5 coats of varnish.
Then I framed it. I had bought this board with a frame I had and the match was perfect.
Framed and hung.
Of, and this thing wasn’t meant to be a piece of blacklight deco, but it happens to shine under blacklight, it just looks a bit weird when it does.
Blacklight! Everything that glows has some of the blue paint on it. It’s a lot more subtle under regular light.
So that’s it. This piece is for sale. I’m asking 220$ for it. Contact me for more info.
Throwback Thursday – ICE Age
I got very lucky with my very first videogame job. I was hired straight out of school by a small company called ICE Multimedia that was located in Ste-Adele, north of Montreal. I worked on 8 kids games that got published while I was there and 4 more that got canned. I had no 2D art education, having just finished a diploma in 3D art. I had to teach myself animation and a lot more. Here are a few samples of work I did there. Those were team work, so I picked screens where I did a significant amount of work, but bits and bobs were done by other people. These were all done between 2000 and 2002.
The solar system screen in Land f the Magic Stones 2.
Music making screen in Adiboo presents: Drawing
The drawing activity from Adiboo presents: Cooking I worked on the background, the design and animation of the characters and some interface stuff.
Un Bon Cygne at Centre Communautaire de loisir de la Côte des Neiges
I have a show starting at Centre Communautaire de loisir de la Côte des Neiges this Friday. I’m having a bit of opening fatigue, so this one will go openingless. Still, there will be a large selection of all original paintings on display.
J’ai une exposition qui commence au Centre Communautaire de loisir de la Côte des Neiges ce vendredi. J’ai eu un vernissage récemment alors je n’en aurai pas cette fois-ci. Il y aura quand même une grande sélection de peintures originales exposées.
Dates: From November 28th to December 18th. Du 28 novembre au 18 décembre.
Location: Centre Communautaire de loisir de la Côte-des-Neiges, 5347 ch de la Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal. http://www.cclcdn.qc.ca
Pump it
I spent the past weekend at a friend’s cabin. It rained all day Saturday, resulting in our being stucked inside with 4 kids under 10 and 6 adults. Understandably, I was thankful to be able to sit outside by myself Sunday morning and paint this. I eventually had a visitor, but it still was a nice quiet time.
The model and the art. By the time I was ready to take the pic, the sun had moved behind the trees and the clouds had come back.
The result. Pencial and watercolour in a Strathmore Visual Journal sketchbook.
Conventional Wisdom: Boreal 2014
I just got back from Quebec City where I attended my first Boreal convention. Boreal is a French language literary convention with a focus on science-fiction, fantasy and other speculative genres. It has hopped about to different cities in Quebec, but this year it was in Quebec City.
Weirdly enough, due to my heavy networking on English language forums and attendance of events like Illuxcon and the IMC, most of my art and publishing contacts are American, or at least, not Quebecers. We have a thriving local industry and I wanted to learn more so I signed up! I also volunteered to take part in the programming and I ended up participating in three panels.
There is a side of me who feels like a fraud whenever I’m put in a position like that, but I manage to rationalize it. It turns out I had a ball. I really enjoyed myself and I was lucky to have fantastic co-panelists. One of the subjects was touchy (the one about misogyny) but I felt that there was respect all around, both at the panel table and in the audience. I also got to see Christian Sauvé’s conference about being a critic and a variety of panels, I visited the exhibitors room and met great people. I also had two original paintings with me, one of them being a cover for Solaris winter 2014, so I was told be a lot of people that they had recognized it, which always feels good, the other one was Un Bon Cygne.
It’s a fairly small scene but a lot of my fellow con-goers and all the staff and volunteers went out of their way to make me feel welcome.
As usual, my tips for anyone thinking of going to a small to medium-sized convention are the same:
- Do it.
- Wear your name tag, make sure it’s visible.
- Bring a portfolio and business cards, take them everywhere with you.
- Don’t be afraid to approach people and introduce yourself.
- When it’s lunchtime and a lot of people are milling about, it’s ok to ask perfect strangers if you can join them. Eating with someone is a great way to get to know them.
- Be nice and non-creepy.
Upcoming appearance: Boreal 2014
Next weekend is Congrès Boréal, it’s a small literary sci-fi/fantasy convention that’s been around since 1979. It’s in Québec City and I will attend for the first time. I will bring two paintings: SteelButt Jack, the cover I did for Solaris, and Un Bon Cygne, a new one that I’m going to show in public for the first time.
Un Bon Cygne, acrylic and copper leaf on mdf.Acrylique et feuille de cuivre sur mdf.
But I’m not just going to hang art and hang out there. I’m part of 3 round tables, 2 in French, 1 in English. So on Friday night, I will be in the “Fantasy et science-fiction dans les médias audio-visuels” panel from 9p.m. to 10 p.m.
On Saturday I will be on the “Fantasy et autres cultures” panel from 11a.m. to 12a.m. and on Sunday I will take part in the “To Speak and Be Heard: Geek Culture and Misogyny” panel from 10a.m. to 11a.m. I hope that my years in the video game industry and my experience as a genre illustrator will give me a perspective that attendees find interesting. I will also be found sitting on other panels, hanging out with my peers and can even be convinced to give a few portfolio critiques if you bring your work for review.
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Le Congrès Boréal aura lieu en fin de semaine prochaine, c’est un petit congrès littéraire sur la science-fiction et le fantastique et c’est en existence depuis 1979. C’est a Québec et j’y participerai pour la première fois. J’amènerai 2 peintures: Steelbutt Jack, la couverture que j’ai faite pour Solaris, et Un Bon Cygne, ma dernière oeuvre que je montrerai en public pour la première fois.
Mais je n’y serai pas que pour montrer de l’art et me divertir. Je prendrai part à 3 tables rondes, 2 en français et une en anglais. Vendredi soir, je serai à la table ronde “Fantasy et science-fiction dans les médias audio-visuels” de 21:00 à 22:00. Samedi, je serai à la table ronde “Fantasy et autres cultures” de 11:00 à 12:00 et dimanche, je participerai à celle intitulée “To Speak and Be Heard: Geek Culture and Misogyny” de 10:00 à 11:00. J’espère que mes années dans l’industrie du jeu vidéo et mon expérience comme illustratrice me donneront une perspective que les spectateurs trouveront intéressante. On me trouvera aussi dans l’auditoire d’autres tables rondes, à me mêler à mes pairs et je pourrais même être convaincue de donner quelques critiques de portfolio, si vous amenez vos œuvres avec vous.
Art geeks
When people think of geeks, they often think about people who play video games, read comic books and wear thick glasses. Even though being geek is now more mainstream and some people revel in telling everyone that they are geeks, the stereotypes haven’t changed that much.
That said, there are people who are geeks about anything. Firearms geeks, politic geeks, medieval music geeks. Art geeks.
And it’s so hard to find some types of geeks. Like art geeks. One of the biggest joy of going to events like Illuxcon and the Illustration Master Class is to hang out with art geeks. I really miss this when I’m home and it was one of my motivations for joining DrinkAndDrawMtl. You learn a lot from other artists, you can get contacts, tips, critiques, hear about good supply stores and discover new artists, but mostly it’s fun and motivating.
So if you are an art geek, speak up! If you are in Montreal, contact me! If not, start your own art geek gatherings!
Urban sketchers at MBAM
Being in Québec, we don’t have the same freedom as other Urban Sketchers’ chapters. No painting outside in the winter for us (especially not THIS winter.) The organizers have to be creative and to find indoor places that will allow us to roam and draw stuff. One such place is Musée des Beaux Arts de Montréal.
I was super lucky, I started wandering by myself and ended up in the Napoléon exhibition, and there, at the end, was the room with the round windows, a majestic marble Napoléon bust, and a drawing horse. I snagged the horse and set up.
Qitsune: Chantal's rants and musings 
