2021 in Review
I’ve never been a nut for holidays traditions, it’s been years and years since I gave or received a gift for Christmas or done anything major for my birthday, but I do alway get a special feeling at the end of the calendar year. Even if the demarcation between years is arbitrary, I feel genuinely uplifted and emotional by the switch from one year to the next. Over the last few years, I (ridiculously) always find myself tearing up when Bye Bye (an annual sketch comedy special that plays on New Year’s Eve here in Québec) plays a montage of people all over the world shouting out “Bonne Année!” There’s something that is irrepressibly positive in the simple, universal message of “Happy New Year” that I simply can’t resist.
One of the only traditions I observe every year is taking a moment to write up a quick, non-exhaustive review of my creative projects. I have quite a streak going now, I have been doing these annual “Year in Review” blog post for seven years now! Here are links to 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020 posts in case you wanna travel back in time to a more innocent time (pre-Trump, pre-Covid… Can you even imagine?!). It’s probably no coincidence that I started writing these posts the same year I first moved to Montréal and began trying to work as a creative full-time. It’s pretty wild for me when I look back on the ups and downs of the last few years. This is one tradition that I am glad I have stuck with!
As always, I must say a very big “thank you” to everyone reading this message and to everyone who has supported me and my work over the course of the years: My fans, readers, friends, and collaborators, the publishers who put out my work and the booksellers who stock my graphic novels, the critics who review my books, the clients who hire me and the editors who help make my work the best it can be. When I began working as a full-time creator in 2015 I had no idea if it would work, and I try to never take it for granted that I get to do what I always wanted to do, and that I somehow make a living at it as well. That would be impossible without the support, kindness, and interest of many, many people, and I extend my gratitude to you all.
I’d also like to take a moment to extend a special message of appreciation to my partner, C. She is a private person and I don’t talk about our life much in public, but I know that I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish a fraction of the work I have done in the last seven years without her love, advice, and support. Everything I have created in the past seven years has been deeply influenced by her presence. My life and my work wouldn’t be complete without her.
Travels on the Côte-Nord
Early in 2020 The Comics Journal posted a series of illustrated journals I created based on me and my partner C.’s 15-day trip to the end of the road in Québec’s Cote-Nord. These were super fun to work on, bringing me back to the nature journaling I was doing with my defunct series Bird Brain back in the day. I’d love to find more time for these kinds of non-fiction stories in the near future, especially taking a look at the natural world and he ways it intersects with everyday life. You can read the whole series online at the TCJ website, and I am very happy to say that Travels on the Cote-Nord will finally be appearing in print in 2022 in a very cool collaboration with some old friends! Back with more on that soon.
Orcs in Space
The biggest project for 2021 (and much of 2020 for that matter) has doubtless been illustrating Orcs in Space. This sci-fi/fantasy/comedy series, published by Oni Press and created by a team including writers Justin Roiland, Abed Gheith, Rashad Gheith, Michael Tanner, colorists DJ Chavis, and Dave Pender, and editor Amanda Meadows, has been a huge undertaking for me: My first time drawing a monthly comic book series, including designing dozens of characters and the whole visual universe of the title, it’s been a major undertaking—but plenty of fun! I’m really proud of what the team has created and feel like I’ve really grown as an artist and creator over the course of creating this series. Volume One is out now, with Volume Two due in March 2022 and Volume Three hitting shelves in October, so be on the look out for much more of Kravis, Mongtar, and Gor in 2022. Over the course of the last year I posted a few behind-the-scenes looks at my process illustrating the book and designing the characters in case you wanna check ’em out.
Brecht Evens’ City of Belgium
This is another one of those projects that I was working on throughout 2020 that finally saw the light of day in 2021, and what a beautiful book it is! I hand-lettered the English-language edition of Brecht Evens’ masterpiece City of Belgium, published by Drawn & Quarterly. This project was a massive undertaking, over 330 dense pages featuring multi-colored calligraphy that weaves in and out of Brecht’s vibrant watercolor drawings. I read this book very closely over the course of the project, even giving extensive feedback on the English translation (which the talented Brecht did himself!), and I can definitely recommend this book unreservedly… A moving and surprising look at party people, panic attacks, and the power of storytelling.
World Turtle Day
One of the organizations I am proudest to be working with over the last few years is Nature Conservancy Canada/Conservation de la Nature Canada, a non-profit that preserves important habitats for the protection of threatened species throughout Québec and Canada. I do a lot of graphic design work for them (reports and such), but one of my favorite gigs with them this year was a special drawing celebrating World Turtle Day and the fifth anniversary of Project Carapace, an initiative to help protect native turtle species (like the ever-smiling and utterly adorable Blanding’s turtle above) here in Québec . If you are looking for an impactful organization to donate to in the coming year, you could do much worse than Nature Conservancy Canada!
Music to My Ears
I love working with repeat clients, and I love working with musicians, so I was delighted to have a couple of fun illustration gigs come up in 2021: I drew the apocalyptic cover for Tommy Dubs’ new album We’re All Gonna Die! album cover and the covers and interior designs for Five-Finger Pop! Book 1 and Book Two for Brock Chart. Looking forward to working with both these talented dudes again (and if you are a musician and wanna hire me to do your next album cover, show poster, or whatever, get in touch… Those are always fun gigs!).
Prix des Libraires Poster
As I mentioned in my 2020 in Review posting, Geneviève Pettersen and I were honored by the Prix des Libraires when our graphic novel 13e Avenue won the inaugural Prix es Libraires BD Jeunesse award. I had the pleasure of designing the poster announcing the 2021 winners and the cover of the accompanying activity book, which were available in bookstores all around Québec! And yes, before you ask Geneviève and I are working on 13e Avenue Tome 2!
Textbook Example
Last year one of my illustrations for Ambrose Bierce’s classic short story “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge” (originally published a few years back by my old colleagues at Scout Books, you can read the whole story and see all my drawings for it over on my Patreon) was reprinted in American Literature & Rhetoric, a brand-new high school English textbook! Quite a surprise and an honor, they even included study questions specifically about my art! Pretty cool. Oh, and another of my pieces was also reprinted as the cover for the Véhicule Press catalog, too!
Up Next: Blue Moon
Finally, this is a project that is far from finished, but I did want to highlight the fact that my next graphic novel Blue Moon is starting to come together. I am so happy to report that the Canada Council for the Arts has generously provided me with a grant to support my work on Blue Moon, for which I can’t express the depth of my appreciation. Blue Moon is still in the early stages (I made a courageous attempt to rough out the whole book for National Novel Writing Month in November, but had to admit defeat because I had too many pressing deadlines on other gigs), but I am very happy with how the book is shaping up. Like TITAN, Blue Moon is a somewhat allegorical science fiction story that examines elements of politics, economics, and interpersonal relationships. The narrative will be combining a bunch of genre elements and story modes I love (including folktale, psychological horror, cyberpunk, and the Gothic novel), and I have a really cool plan for the visual style that I think is gonna be a major achievement for me. I think you are gonna dig it. Stay tuned throughout 2022 for more on my process on Blue Moon and all my other projects!