The TCAF is an annual event in Toronto for all Comics lovers. I went from the opening until 13h, sorry for all of you I missed!
Tagged art, Comics, TCAF, Toronto, Toronto COmic Arts festival
For this Halloween special, a comic originally published in a Zombie Commandos from Hell, a comic series by Stéphane Dumais. Zombies are really popular, there are various zombie races, and there’s even a training application for runners!
It is a rather amoral comic, because the poor zombie guy actually bought a comic book, so he was nicer than most straight fans!
Happy Halloween everyone!
Tagged art, Bookfairs, Comics, Halloween, Signing table, Stéphane Dumais, Webcomics, zombies
From my new imprint Sunday Artist Studio, here comes the brand new Otaku Ladies comic book, in time for the Toronto Fan Expo!
The Otaku Ladies are a trio of uncanny geek girls solving various problems… and sometimes creating them!
Sample of interior art.
Come and meet me at table A-78 (with author Liz Strange) of the artist’s alley, Toronto Fan Expo, South building (at the Metro Toronto Convention centre)
Sunday Artist Studio will publish YA and all-ages stories.
As this comic, Negotiations (a silent SF short 8 pages story, originally published in ZIdara9). Rémi Paradis did this nice cover formatting. I will have a few there as well.
Coming soon: Honor Road (SF, 12 part story) 
Honor Road is set in the same universe as The General’s Garden, but a few years later. 
Excerpt from The General’s Garden, 24 pages, B&W, SF.
Posted in Society
Tagged art, Comics, Independant publishing, Otaku Ladies, Toronto Fan Expo
To everyone, I wish a happy and creative New Year!
This is page 32 of my current graphic novel project, Wind Mistress, the story aof a young girl in the super-gardener’s civilisation, set in the Chaaas Universe. Worked by ink and pencil, grey tones added with the help of my trusty Intuos graphic tablet in the GIMP 2.6. I had to cut a lot of my contour lines while editing the panels, as the finished page breathes more easily.
Last year has been filled with projects, as I published three science-fiction novels at three different publishing houses! Le Projet Ithuriel, the last book of La quête de Chaaas, and Mica, fille de Transyl. So my current Webcomic, Otaku Ladies, (a trio of young women computer geeks) had slowed down!
A cool SF novel cover by Jean-Pierre Normand
I use this picture for my introduction to SF workshop. This SF novel, Winds of Tammerlan, did fare well in 2009!
Posted in Science-fiction
Tagged art, literature, Science-fiction, Sense of Wonder, YA science-fiction
No pin-up pose for me!
Fast sketches inspired by a traitorous back ache. Ouch.
Tagged art, back ache, humor, Pencilling comics, Sketches
Do you remember the comic page rough draft in blue pencil shown this spring? Now here is the same page finished, inked, scanned then digitally toned in shades of gray.
This is an excerpt from my graphic novel Maîtresse des vents published in the issue no 7 of the magazine science fiction and fantasy Nexuz3 (edited by Gérard Lévèque) that just came out. Nexuz3 is available in various bookstores in Quebec.
There aren’t so many SF&F comic fanzines published in French, so this one should get a fair notice in the field. All the other participant artists are quite talented : their works are well worth your support!
The page you see needed less working of the grey tones, because I did not daddle too long to ink my blacks and whites. I took several frames off, making the panels “breathe” easier over the page. The “degraded” filling tool in my Gimp 2.6 software proved useful to give a sense of depth. The ocean in the first page is another example.
In the second panel, I decided against putting a grey filling in the kite… the speed lines and shadows were enough. I am beginning to get the hang on manga dynamics, but a long way from a mangaka’s nimble hand…
You would be surprised to learn that I used only one layer through the whole process. Managing the layers in Gimp has proved unduly complicated. I rather use the “darken only” option of the paintbrush to lay my greys without erasing the blacks, and the special selection tools for the degraded colors effects.
The more observing among you will remark that I clipped off some of the rock outcropping in the last panel (with the two characters sitting on it). I also moved the kite a bit along.
Wind Mistress (a working title, I’m not sure how the English version will be titled. “Kite Mistress” sounds good, too), takes place in my space-faring civilization of super-gardeners, several years before the Quest of Chaaas cycle. And, yes, I will have it completed and translated before the next TCAF, promise!
With all that work, I have missed the Fan Expo 2011 in Toronto. At least, I carry on other works, like my Otaku Ladies webcomic.
Posted in Comics, Science-fiction
Tagged art, art technique, Chaaas universe, Comics, fanzine, Gimp software, graphic novel, Michele Laframboise, Nexuz3, Science-fiction, shonen manga
To celebrate the official arrival of summer, here is another pencilled page, with the blue hues darkened after the scan. Yes, it is the sequel of a low-tech SF story aimed at young adults.
You may note the little black ink trait on the top panel. This was a little accident happening on the last Free comic Book Day. Fortunately, a little post-treatment with Gimp will make this smear disappear.
I kept the horizon line at the same level in the two first panels, to give a sense of continuity. There is still some detail to clear up on the interior backgrounds in the two last panels. Interiors are the hardest to draw for me.
Posted in Comics, Science-fiction
Tagged art, Chaaas universe, Comics, graphic novel, manga, Michele Laframboise, pencilling, Science-fiction, YA science-fiction
Echoes of a Sunday artist 