As a painter, illustrator, comic book artist and creator, Camilla D’Errico is truly a talented and well rounded individual. She realized that she wanted to work creatively for a living, as a comic book artist, after attending her first San Diego Comic-Con, back in 1998. After working in the comic book industry for a few ways, she began to take on other projects such as magazine covers, toys, and snowboard decals. Now, Camilla is a well-known artist who has been around the world promoting and showcasing her artwork and projects.

CD: The most valuable lessons I’ve learned are to never be shy about my art. The only way to succeed is to believe in yourself, and to show the world what you’ve got, while being humble about it at the same time. Network, network, network! Get out there, get to know people, chat them up. It is all about getting to know people, and in a lot of ways, about making friends. My biggest challenge was everyone’s negativity; initially my parents didn’t want me to go into comics, since they couldn’t see how it could give me a sound financial future, then my teachers also advised against comics, and one teacher even told me I was a bad painter. I overcame them with dogged persistence! I never gave up; I never lost sight of my ultimate goal. I simply went for it and have never looked back.

CD: That is actually a tough question because I didn’t learn how to draw comics, how to tell a story in images, or the manga style at Capilano College. I didn’t learn to paint there, either. BUT I did learn a ton of useful skills and concepts that made me a better artist. I owe a lot of my design skills to them, and of course the use of computer programs like Photoshop. But truthfully, my success is due to my persistence and hard work because I really have been working my butt off for years!

CD: Actually the two things are completely separate and I haven’t given up one for the other. I will continue to do both, simultaneously if possible. I have been drawing and painting ‘together’ all these years. I’ve definitely leveraged skills from both disciplines and crossed them over. One of the most notable of these is the story telling in comics, and since I love that aspect, I try to tell a story in every painting. This is why each painting has several elements, and why you can read 3 or 4 emotions simultaneously in every girl’s expression.

 

CD: I absolutely LOVE merchandise! And I love having my images on merchandise. It makes me so happy. It’s like Hello Kitty everywhere, and I think that Sanrio is a model to emulate in that way; in the way they’ve spread their cute characters and made so many people happy. To me, spreading my art onto products is a natural extension for my art and clothing is one of the most fun and creative products to extend into. Clothing (or fashion) is how you can express yourself, and your individuality and it is also another expression of art itself, so it is a perfect mix for me!

CD: So far I’ve relied on the people who know my artwork to buy from the online store. I also attend a few conventions (anime, comic, etc.) in different cities, and that helps to grow my customer base as well. I’ve only just begun a real expansion of the online store and product offering, like this new clothing line, for example. Now I feel that I can try to reach a wider audience because I have a proper product lineup. And I’m doing this through specialty blogs and interviews and also through social media like my fanpage on Facebook, Twitter, etc.

CD: This statement is really cool because it there are a lot of amazing, talented and visionary female artists in the edgy lowbrow/pop surrealism genre that I paint in, and we mostly paint women or girls. Some of these are Lori Early, Sas Christian, Audrey Kawasaki, Kukula, Silvia Ji, Stella im Hultberg, and so many more. Each of us has a different style, but generally speaking we all infuse a lot of emotion, sensuality and beauty into our girls. Men have dominated highbrow art for centuries, but there is such a huge difference when a woman paints a woman. I’m thrilled and proud to be art of this movement, because I know we’re changing people’s perceptions of art, artists, and maybe even making a little history.

 

CD: I’m going to be concentrating on my comics a lot and towards the end of 2010 I’ll get back into painting my full color pieces. The first half of 2010 I’ll be working on the pieces for my solo show in Rome, which opens June 5th, and on some client work that I can’t disclose right now, but is very exciting! I’ll also be working on Tanpopo 3, the continuation of my self-published series. I plan on publishing 2 per year, until the final 10th installment. I’m really going to clamp down and try to focus as much time as possible on comics and paintings though; I want to get away from illustration and give myself over entirely to these two disciplines that mean so much to me. Two shows I will be a part of soon are the He-Man show in Los Angeles, at Gallery 1988 that opens January 8th, and a show for the Olympics, at the Ayden Gallery in Vancouver in February.

CD: This is a very personal question, because everyone’s life situation is different. But what’s always the same, I think, is that there is a fear factor; fear of the unknown, and leaving what could be a comfortable salary. You have to learn self-discipline so that you keep yourself on task, and you have to self-motivate, and manage yourself closely. What’s important is that you have a very clear idea of what you want to do when you leave the 9-5 job, and possibly start by doing your new creative work on the side, so that you have the safety net of your salary. Once you’ve dipped your toes into the creative waters, and you feel more comfortable doing this kind of work, and you’ve established a network (of friends, clients, mentors, etc.) you’ll have to dive in, cut that cord! There is never a perfect time to do it, so it requires a leap of faith. But if you’ve worked on the creative stuff already and sewn the seeds for the future, you’ll be able to take on step forward at a time, and plan continuously from there.

You can’t know exactly how it is going to be in at the start, so you have to be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances. Definitely be sure that you know what you’re doing, in terms of your core (creative) competencies and that you’ve done research to make sure that there is a market for what you want to do, who the competition is, and what makes you different. That will be what helps you differentiate yourself from the others, and will be a selling point, whether you’re creating a product or simply selling yourself.

For more on Camilla D’Errico and her art work,visit her website, Camilladerrico.com.

Hi everyone!  I’m energized and excited (when am I not? lol). But this week has been full of news.  This time I want to share a bunch of comic related news.

First of all, Image Comics (Silverline) announced their Free Comic Book Day entry, and it is Fractured Fables.  The reason I’m so ecstatic is that I’m in it, I got to collaborate with Bryan Talbot on it, but even better is that our story leads off the 36-page comic!  And as if that weren’t enough, this is a preview of a bigger anthology that will come out later in the summer with an unreal list of big names contributing!  Read the announcement here.  And this is the first page of the story, Little Red Riding Hood.

And as if THAT weren’t enough … check out this trailer for the 2010 release of a new Grant Morrison Documentary http://www.grantmorrisonmovie.com/.

To end off this little blurb about comics, let me show you what I’m working on … the final issue of Sky Pirates of Neo Terra. Issue 5.  This is the cover, and also a few shots of the pages I’m working on now! Enjoy, enjoy, I’ve got a deadline to catch!

Camilla D’errico is a highly respected Canadian artist, an illustrator, a comic book visionary, painter, fashion designer, hey she’s even got her own Wikipedia page - she’s produced a graphic novel for Avril Lavigne, and perhaps her most famous creation (so far), her self-published comic art odyssey Tanpopo, which is based loosely upon the story of Faust, and I believe there is even a video game in the pipeline! Camilla d’Errico is what I’d call a true Renaissance Woman, with so many talented fingers in numerous creative pies, I think it’s about time that her t-shirt collection got a little more attention, seeing as everything else she’s produced has had worldwide attention, it makes sense to complete the set!

In all honesty there aren’t too many tees on offer right now, alongside a few sweatshirts there are plenty of other products available including comics, posters, cards and even handbags, but the few shirts that are on offer are well worth checking out. They feature some of her most iconic characters, and perhaps the most famous being her ‘helmet girls’ which are for all intensive purposes an elaboration on a Steam Punk theme, each sporting gargantuan headgear that would bring pangs of jealousy to the most outrageous fashion junkie. Who knows, perhaps Camilla will even produce a range of the craziest hats seen in since the Vikings. Still her particular flair for evocative Pop Surrealism are more than apparent in her current collection of shirts and sweats.

Her knack for illustration goes beyond the expectation of most mere mortals, uniquely blend elements of lithe and languid women reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelites, if of course we were living in an alternate universe where this prestigious art movement had spawn from the mountains and shores of Japan, and a highly intricate Manga style which shines with the same effervescence from other masters (and mistresses) of the genre, particularly Jamie Hewlett’s, made famous by the band Gorillaz. In fact if Gorillaz had had an all-female line up you can bet your bottom dollar I’d be writing a very different review right now!

Expect a cornucopia of expression, tight detail, and quirky sense of fun and beauty that just doesn’t let up. So let’s take a look at what might be the finest collection of female tees we’ve featured at Buy Tees so far and meet the devastating hand/eye co-ordination of Camilla d’Errico!

A glorious choice between a sumptuous purple/pink affair and a salubrious black/gold combo, this tee as does three other pieces in her winter collection, features what might be Camilla’s most iconic signature piece. I am not a great fan of Manga, however there are a few artists which have broken the mould when it comes to the Japanese slant on the comic art genre, and this image is more than well known to me. I have a memory for art, perhaps not the artist so much, but I am sure I have stumbled across Camilla’s work on many occasions over the past few years and have always been more than impressed. For some reason I assumed it was the work of a highly respected street artist, perhaps that was just wishful thinking. Although I’m sure you can agree her work can be as easily translated to the urban arts scene as it has to fashion. This glorious dress/top, Deer God’s Coma, is available in sizes XS to L for $55 here. There are other versions available including a purple hoodie, a reggae styled tee, and a more simple black and white illustrative version.

I’m very proud today to announce that my mini-series, BURN, is being published as a graphic novel by Simon Pulse!

BURN was my first creator-owned story and series, and it was published by Arcana Comics. Now we’re moving up, into graphic novel territory and I hope that everyone who hasn’t had a chance to read it, or who doesn’t like single issues, will pick up the graphic novel.

I even designed a brand new cover for it!  I don’t currently have any of these available for sale, but they will be widely available at bookstores, and on book buying sites like Amazon or directly from Simon Pulse.

Special thanks to Sean O’Reilly, Quenton Shaw, Michael del Rosario for all their work and help with getting BURN to this stage.  We’re all looking forward to seeing how much more we can grow with BURN.