Recap
Hello peeps! I don't know if you noticed how green everything has been this month, thanks to a particularly rainy summer. The flower pits dotting the Montreal sidewalks have taken jungle-like proportions and the alleys are blooming like crazy. I myself am on a particularly green diet and I’ve been making numerous batches of fridge pickles for my friends and me. I'm one serving of sunomono salad away from turning into a talking cucumber.
I drew a lot this month, mostly for fun. Here is another study based on a photo by Michael Carlson, a Marco on a snow scooter and a very chill stegosaurus. There are no links between any of these, this is just how my brain works.
It had been a while since I had drawn a Montreal storefront. For a while. I wanted to draw Wilensky’s little corner entrance but I’ve done my share of restaurants. Then, while passing in front of the little yellow house that is home to Paul Boutique, I had a flash: thrift stores! I love thrift stores and second-hand stores! And if I was gonna draw a series, I had no choice: the massive Eva B building was going to be part of it. This is by far the most ambitious storefront illustration I have done to date and I love the result. And with that, I think I'm done doing prints for the rest of the year.
Announcements
Of course, the aforementioned prints are on sale in my shop. I come here prepared, after all! The series is called "Thrifted" and each illustration can be purchased separately or in a cool bundle. If you like the special kind of clutter you can only find in second-hand shops and lived-in buildings, this series is for you.
Boutique Eva B | Paul Boutique | Encore Books and Records
Other merch announcement: my artbook Inky Fingers, is now on sale in digital format at $5 (but the paper version is still in my shop). This nice 40-pages PDF feels just like flipping through my sketchbook(s), without the hastily noted appointments and botched doodles. Cab Sketchbook (I know, original), my 2018 sketchbook is also up there.
That's it for August! Eat fresh vegetables while they’re in season! Let’s not forget that the movie Soylent Green takes place in 2022…
Portfolio | Online Store | Patreon
Recommendations
I watched:
The second season of The Bear, a masterpiece in storytelling and editing. I really appreciated the fact that Carmen and Syd draw their menu ideas.
I had a blast watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem in the theatre with friends. The ending ran a little too long but otherwise, the humor, the dialogues and the performances were awesome. I can't wait to see it again on a TV screen without 3D glasses to really appreciate the art of the film.
I read:
Ducks by Kate Beaton. I had read the original strip on Tumblr years ago and it stuck with me for a while. Ducks is a deeply personal, non-judgmental look on life on the Albertan tar sand mines. A look at life as a woman in an extremely toxic environment, in every sense of the term. It’s a story about longing for home and starting an art practice in the most unlikely of places.
I listen:
I really like the Hard Times’ Britpop playlist. I also got Float back to You by Holy Hive, a band that plays folk, with big soulful vibes in the drums. Very cool.
Cool artists:
At 24, I had neither the talent nor the audacity to make a big, loud website full of great art and little contact info. But “Chan '' is 24 years old and when you are this good, you’re allowed to do what you want. Like having flesh.png as username and portfolio URL.
Cool stuff:
I regret to inform you that you actually are creative, too.
“The frustrating thing is that everyone has something to say but nobody wants to do the work. Everyone wants to sing their song, but they feel safer when they just play a recording of someone else loudly in their car and drown out their own voice. As a society, we’re surrounded by people who say they aren’t creative, that they “aren’t artists”, and at the same time they’re all dying to be understood. But only if it isn’t embarrassing. Only if it isn’t work.”
Merci pour la recette de fridge pickles! J'ai de l'aneth géant pour une armée dans mon jardin, et j'avais ramassé des petits concombres hier dans le but de faire des cornichons. Ça tombe parfait!
Tes illustrations sont toujours superbes, j'aime tellement ce que tu fais. ❤