Saturday, September 12, 2015

STGCC 2015: Camilla D'Errico Shares About Her Artistic Journey

Today was the first day of STGCC 2015 and boy, was it a busy day for the Glam Bloggers Alliance (GBA)!

One of the interview sessions GBA had was with Canadian surrealist artist Camilla D'Errico with a unique visual style. Camilla is also the creator of graphic novel "Tanpopo" (published by BOOM! Studios), a story about a mysterious girl who has no emotions and is set on a poetic quest for self-discovery.


Camilla first exhibited at STGCC 6 years ago in 2009, and it is great to see her back in the show, with more of her latest art for sale. At the interview, she was very upbeat about meeting the fans (both new and old) here at the convention, and it was interesting to see how much she has progressed in the last few years.

On a side note, Red Dot Diva's pal Ryan had asked Camilla to do a special commission of his son as a superhero, and this was her piece:


A photo posted by Red Dot Diva (@reddotdiva) on

Don't you think it's just lovely?

GBA's Agent W rounds up this evening's interview with Camilla about her art journey:

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STGCC 2015 Chatting with Cool Camilla d'Errico

When I heard that Camilla d’Errico and Adi Granov were returning for this year’s STGCC, I squealed in delight, well, did an internal dance of joy, more like…to not lose my cool... This was her second time in Singapore and we asked how she liked it. The first time she was here, was in 2009, and she felt that it had grown bigger with it being previously held in a (Suntec) mall and there were more general public as compared to the previous time where there seemed to be more hardcore fans. (she also jokingly mentioned other than the haze and the evil red sun, :D) Of the eastern and western influences to her art, Camilla talked about her start in comics and being inspired by Top Cow’s Mark Silvestri, Michael Turner and Joe Benitez. At that time 16 years ago, there were hardly any manga influences but with Sailor Moon and other anime showing up, non spandex comics appealed to her. She appreciated the character based stories and the diverse storylines and the fact that the protagonist didn’t always survive the series. It was a revelation to her and she dove in to a whole new style, that eventually proved to be even more “manga” than what the mainstream Japanese editors were used to. Today her style has evolved to one that can be seen in her art and comics.

Of being asked what was the best and worst things that happened to her as an artist, Camilla mentioned about it as akin to Peter Pan, “not having to grow up” but also doing her art as work and not as a hobby, and she recounted of how she met her husband in an art class and how she kept asking him his rationale for doing art and realized that she had lost a slight bit of innocence when one has to balance it as job and a hobby. She also mentioned that it has been a surrealistic experience of from being a fan to having fans of her own, and how she sees herself in them. (Here’s where I helpfully chimed in that in between the years she’d been away, she’d gotten hitched and congratulated her, and led to my question of whether she had less time to do her art…) She gainfully said “indeed!” She’d been balancing a lot of work, but we gathered she was in good hands as she’d often bounce ideas of him and even collaborated on a painting with him!



Of which was her favourite piece (of art), she shared that she couldn’t possibly choose (like which was a favourite child) but she did share with us a piece which led to a breakthrough of sorts for her and to an evolution in her art, “letting go something that I liked” She realized she could do art for a living when she illustrated a story of Alaska and Huskies instead of writing it for a written project. Which led to her discovering sequential art in comics, painting on boards which eventually led to painting on canvases.



A photo posted by Red Dot Diva (@reddotdiva) on



On diversity in comics today, Camilla mentioned that previously there were hardly any women in comic books in the past, but these days there isn’t a need to hide the fact that one read or created comics. On trying different medium, she said that she liked the current medium she was working on but she was experimenting on the subject matter and constantly seeking to surprise us!



(Note: The above pics are from Camilla's website.)


Do come to STGCC this weekend to visit Camilla at her booth B29!
Its filled with magical and wonderful illustrations and art and beautiful artifacts!!

Agent W, Camilla D'Errico and Ed


A photo posted by Red Dot Diva (@reddotdiva) on

Find out more on her website at http://camilladerrico.com/
Follow her on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram




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