221 | The Christmas Three

A new artwork! I know it's been a while, and yes, I'm not dead. Lots of moving parts in my life these few months have prevented me from actively drawing much (for example, I've moved back from Montreal to Paris!), but it's gotten better and I'm back at it. There have been some new stuff uploaded on the comics site though, so go check it out if you want to see more of my universe or are just finding it out !

I've been wanting to draw a Christmas illustration basically since I've had the blog but it never seemed to work out quite as I wanted to. This is my fourth version of Santa (after this one, this horrible one and this sexy one). I'm pretty happy with this one though, with its little Art nouveau flair. The inclusion of my red-bearded Prince comes from a Christmas-themed short story idea that would involve him and other fairy-tale characters, but I mostly just wanted to draw him again as it had been a while (check out his latest adventures here).

Finally, the ogre character is a legendary European figure called "Père Fouettard", a less demonic equivalent of Krampus, whose role was to punish naughty children by, among other things, giving them coal as gifts. The depictions I've found of him made me uncomfortable (googling him opens a whole can of worms of blackface) so I drew my own ogre-bear-ish version.

220 | Strike !

So, a couple years ago, you may remember I made a series of fan-art faux-movie posters based on Robert Galbraith (AKA J.K. Rowling)'s novel The Cuckoo's Calling. The first episodes of the BBC TV adaptation are finally out and they're the best thing I watched last Sunday! (what, Game of what ?). Just for some fun, here's a comparison of how I interpreted the characters and what they look like in the show !

I really like who they cast as the two main models of the story, Lula Landry and her friend Ciara Porter. Elarica Johnson is absolutely gorgeous IMO, though I pictured Lula a little more aloof and mysterious. Amber Anderson is also more radiant than my interpretation of Ciara, who I made look downright sinister. 

My idea of John Bristow matches the casting pretty well. However, their Guy Somé is a little too handsome in my opinion, to the point that I don't really believe him as the fashion icon described in the book (but I still have to see the third episode in which he plays a larger role so maybe Kadiff Kirwan will surprise me). I didn't draw Evan Duffield (because I hate him) but the actor they chose to portray him is EXACTLY the way I saw the character.

As for the two protagonists, I'm pretty satisfied with the casting. I pictured Emma Watson as Robin (my artwork is based on a picture of the Harry Potter actress), but Holliday Grainger captures the idea I had of the very capable Robin perfectly. She's immediately likable and relatable like in the book. As for Cormoran Strike, I do like the actor way better than when I first heard of his casting. I thought Tom Burke looked too young (the character is in his thirties, but Galbraith/Rowling made a point in repeating he looks older). I still do, and I also wished he was taller (Burke is my height so obviously I don't consider that very tall) and larger (fatter) like in the book. Still, he's handsome in a scruffy way that matches the character from the novel pretty well and he definitely captures the roguish charm and gruff demeanor I associate with Cormoran.

Now, do I like the show? I'm still on the fence. Having already read the story, it's entertaining to see how they've adapted it. There are a lot of early references to events that we don't learn about until the later books, which are fun.

Unfortunately, I think that if I wasn't familiar with the characters, I probably wouldn't have watched past the first episode. The characters are very likable, but the execution of the story and the direction are way too conventional for a story that is in itself already very conventional. There are sooooo many shots of Cormoran walking that I feel like the episodes would last half as long if you cut those scenes out. The whole enterprise doesn't have much personality either. It doesn't feel necesary as it doesn't add anything to the genre, instead looking like dozens of British detective shows that have come before. The novels at least had the very addictive J.K. Rowling's signature writing but Strike lacks a distinctive voice. A way more dynamic direction and/or a more eclectic score or original cinematography would definitely have been welcome, spicing up those episodes a little.

Still, on the basis of casting alone, it's a satisfying adaptation, so if you've liked the novels, you should still check it out. And if you haven't but like British detective shows and are not too demanding, it'll be right up your alley.

B-

219 | Same difference

So, after a couple trials, and migrating to a new site that didn't quite work, I'm coming back to this blog. I haven't really posted anything on my personal sites in a while, choosing to instead invest in easier platforms like Instagram and Facebook, but I always kind of regretted abandoning all the work I had put in this blog for years, even if some of the early works looks amateurish. So I'm hosting two sites, this one for all my blogging ideas and artworks, and a second one on which I've republished every comic I've done since I started college and that I will update with new pages when possible.