Recap
Hello friends, I hope you are well! I am writing to you directly from a country house (which does not belong to me, of course) where I’m enjoying a few days of peace. I can't believe how quickly the month went by. Maybe it’s because September felt like August The Sequel that I’m losing track of time. Even my tomatoes are still going strong.
When I want to relax (lol), I like to draw on photos. After months of on and off work, I finished an illustration based on one of my own photos. The viaduct over Rouen street, which separates Hochelaga and Ville-Marie, is one of the most iconic spot in the Cabverse. As usual, I traced the line roughly the photo and applied the colors by observation alone. It sounds like an intense exercise, but it's really meditative and just challenging enough.
Ten years and four reprints later, volume 1 of Hiver Nucléaire is officially out of print forever. With the release of the collected edition, this little neon green book won’t be available in regular bookstores. Being the nostalgic that I am, I celebrated this milestone by digging into my archives; I made a Patreon post with newspaper clippings, sketches and bits of notes that precede the release of the prequel in Le Front 6. So basically, really, really old stuff. The post is accessible to Patreon members but low and behold, it can be also read for $3. Read here!
My friend Ben, creator and host of long-running podcast Les Mystérieux Étonnants, asked me to do the poster for their annual, live-recording Halloween Special. Here is the making-of, with sketches and commentary. The poster is an homage to old sci-fi movies from the 40’s and 50’s, an aesthetic I really like.
The Mobilisation 6600 activists succeeded in blocking a giant highway ramp project in a wild, wooded area, east of Hochelaga. I had the privilege of illustrating the poster for their initial campaign and after this great victory, I wanted to update it. It’s a good feeling :)
35 mm photos taken during the summer :)
Announcements
The print of the viaduct is on sale in my store in 8x8 inch format. For bridge lovers, I guess?
That’s it for September. Enjoy the spooookiest month and I’ll see you the day after Halloween :)
This newsletter is and will ALWAYS be free. If you like what I do, I suggest visiting my online shop or hunt down my books at your favorite bookstore or library. You can also support me on Patreon or buy me a coffee on Ko-fi. Thanks a lot!
Cool stuff
Let’s take a break from my usual bummer music and listen to some Indonesian soul-funk. Perak by Thee Marloes.
I really liked this text on the importance of re-transforming our homes into places where we do things, at the cost of losing some of the comfort in which we live. I'm not the most manual-labor inclined person in my family but I like cooking, canning, drawing holiday cards and putting nice things together. The idea of a fridge connected to the Internet or the prospect of spending an evening with a VR headset on my face doesn't really excite me. I’d rather make soup and tinker on a thousand little projects. The home as a place of production.
“I’m told that there’s a parasite that hovers around the eyes of cattle—it literally lives off blood, sweat, and tears (like some parody of Churchill). That’s a metaphor for much of the digital economy nowadays. “
Are we now living in a parasite culture? by Ted Gioia.
Justice X Tame Impala. In-fucking-sane animated video.
Cool artist: Jeff Bartels, who makes hyper-realistic paintings of old tech. His latest series, “Urban Glitch,” condenses a particular year into an almost M.C. Escher-esque fresco. Very cool.
Internet wisdom:
That overpass image feels like an opening scene for a movie