April Deschaine : Comic Artist and Illustrator

April Deschaine : Comic Artist and Illustrator

INTERNET!!!!

So, the internet flaked on me while I was trying to submit my presentation slides. I ended up accidentally posting it twice and since I haven't figured out how to delete a post I have to fill it with useless rambling. So...internet is lame. End of story.

PRESENTATION SLIDES

BUSINESS CARDS

BIOGRAPHY

April Deschaine is currently a student at the New Hampshire Institute of Art. Her work has been featured in various exhibits, such as the New Hampshire Institute of Art's Vault Gallery and the Spring Gallery at Rockville General Hospital in Connecticut. Aside from gallery appearances, April has been involved in several commission projects. Some of these projects include character design, graphic novel pieces, website illustration and cover art. She has helped to illustrate, design and arrange websites. Her most notable achievement is in her graphic novels, which employs the artistic skills of contrast, compositional arrangement of frames, extended sequential art, visual storytelling, and line differentiation. Her utilization of graphic novels has built a skill set that is reflected and consistently carried throughout all other aspects of her art. Her main body of work puts an emphasis on line quality and monochromatic variations through said line. Upon graduation, April hopes to continue building a professional portfolio in order to gain experience and become more involved in the field of Illustration. Aside from her illustrative pieces April aspires to continue her visual storytelling through graphic novels and one day publish a series.

REVISED Artist's Statements

ARTIST'S STATEMENT #1

My art lies within creating comics. It is an outlet for visual storytelling and allows me to place my thoughts into an extended series of sequential pieces. It acts as a means to stimulate my imagination and creates an opportunity to turn a blank sheet of paper into something complex and intricate. Like the many graphic novelists that have inspired me, such as Will Eisner, Nobuhiro Watsuki and Craig Thompson, I keep my comics black and white for its bold and graphic quality. It is my intention to engage the viewers with the extreme contrast as well as with the line work. I want to absorb them into the story and allow them to experience the world I have created, a world separate from reality. My hope is for my viewers to walk away with a new perspective and a better understanding of graphic novels and comics.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT #2

My comics act as a creative outlet for visual storytelling. They give the viewers an opportunity to connect and experience a world separate from reality. Storytelling is a way to unify visual imagery with typography in a way that is artistic and cohesive. It is my intention to not only engage the viewers with my stories, but also allow them to understand and appreciate every aspect of its creation. The ability to see each page as a carefully planned composition, through individual panel placement and its content, the style, line quality, contrast and a structured plot, is something I wish my viewers to walk away with.

Successful comic artists, such as Will Eisner, Craig Thompson, Nobuhiro Watsuki and Zhang Bin, have all been inspirations to my growth as an artist because of their careful planning and execution of comics. Their dedication to their art and their ability to communicate a story has allowed me to see a different perspective of art that planted the seed for my own work. To me a white sheet of paper has the potential for something complex and unique. When I look at a sheet of paper I see a story waiting to be told. Through characters and expressions, I fill each sheet with a story contrived of my deepest thoughts. Each aspect of the page, whether it be the placement of the figures, their body language and their relationship with the setting, is all part of a complete and intricate puzzle.

ARTIST'S STATEMENT #3

My comics act as a creative outlet for visual storytelling. They give the viewers an opportunity to connect and experience a world separate from reality. Storytelling is a way to unify visual imagery with typography in a way that is artistic and cohesive. It is my intention to not only engage the viewers with my stories, but also allow them to understand and appreciate every aspect of its creation. The ability to see each page as a carefully planned composition, through individual panel placement and its content, the style, line quality, contrast and a structured plot, is something I wish my viewers to walk away with.

Successful comic artists, such as Will Eisner, Craig Thompson, Nobuhiro Watsuki and Zhang Bin, have all been inspirations to my growth as an artist because of their careful planning and execution of comics. Their dedication to their art and their ability to communicate a story has allowed me to see a different perspective of art that planted the seed for my own work. To me, a white sheet of paper has the potential for something complex and unique. When I look at a sheet of paper I see a story waiting to be told. Through characters and expressions, I fill each sheet with a story contrived of my deepest thoughts. Each aspect of the page, whether it be the placement of the figures, their body language and their relationship with the setting, is all part of a complete and intricate puzzle.

With the help of inspiring artists and the fundamental concepts of visual storytelling, I have started my own graphic novel. The choice to keep it in black and white, rather than using color, is for the purpose of creating a more powerful contrast as well as the prevention of devaluing the line quality. I vary my pen strokes in order to create different textures as well as create the illusion of subtle gray tones. The story itself is a reflection of my own thoughts on the universe and how everything is connected. The experimentation of psychology and human relations are addressed through specific characters and their experiences. When my viewers read this story I hope they are engaged in its message of finding your place in a universe so infinite, the interconnectedness of people, and the hope of being apart of something grand.

Artist's Statements

Artist's Statement #1

 On a plain white sheet of paper I take my heavy black pen and taint its purity with each of my marks. It is branded repeatedly with thick or soft , curved or linear, definitive or tapering strokes. I take something simple and common and transform it into something complex and intricate. When I am finished, the paper is no longer ordinary and empty. It contains a story, a very literal story, through which I can convey my thoughts and feelings. Each drawing I produce is a physical recording of hand movement, of the pressure in which I force my pen up against the paper, the angle of my hand and how I produce the lines, and the speed at which I make my marks. Those physical characteristics are translated on an emotional level about my involvement in my work. My drawings don't tell a story of just the characters within each piece, but the story of their creator as well and the feelings that inspired the tarnishing of the pure white form of a blank page.

Artist's Statement #2

My comics act as a creative outlet for visual storytelling. They give the viewers an opportunity to connect and experience a world separate from reality. Storytelling is a way to unify visual imagery with typography in a way that is artistic and cohesive. It is my intention to not only engage the viewers with my stories, but also allow them to understand and appreciate every aspect of its creation. The ability to see each page as a carefully planned composition, through individual panel placement and its content, the style, line quality, contrast and a structured plot, is something I wish my viewers to walk away with.

Successful comic artists, such as Will Eisner, Craig Thompson, Nobuhiro Watsuki and Zhang Bin, have all been inspirations to my growth as an artist because of their careful planning and execution of comics. Their dedication to their art and their ability to communicate a story has allowed me to see a different perspective of art that planted the seed for my own work. To me a white sheet of paper has the potential for something complex and unique. When I look at a sheet of paper I see a story waiting to be told. Through characters and expressions, I fill each sheet with a story contrived of my deepest thoughts. Each aspect of the page, whether it be the placement of the figures, their body language and their relationship with the setting, is all part of a complete and intricate puzzle.

Artist's Statement #3

My comics act as a creative outlet for visual storytelling. They give the viewers an opportunity to connect and experience a world separate from reality. Storytelling is a way to unify visual imagery with typography in a way that is artistic and cohesive. It is my intention to not only engage the viewers with my stories, but also allow them to understand and appreciate every aspect of its creation. The ability to see each page as a carefully planned composition, through individual panel placement and its content, the style, line quality, contrast and a structured plot, is something I wish my viewers to walk away with.

Successful comic artists, such as Will Eisner, Craig Thompson, Nobuhiro Watsuki and Zhang Bin, have all been inspirations to my growth as an artist because of their careful planning and execution of comics. Their dedication to their art and their ability to communicate a story has allowed me to see a different perspective of art that planted the seed for my own work. To me, a white sheet of paper has the potential for something complex and unique. When I look at a sheet of paper I see a story waiting to be told. Through characters and expressions, I fill each sheet with a story contrived of my deepest thoughts. Each aspect of the page, whether it be the placement of the figures, their body language and their relationship with the setting, is all part of a complete and intricate puzzle.

With the help of inspiring artists and the fundamental concepts of visual storytelling, I have started my own graphic novel. The choice to keep it in black and white, rather than using color, is for the purpose of creating a more powerful contrast as well as the prevention of devaluing the line quality. I vary my pen strokes in order to create different textures as well as create the illusion of subtle gray tones. The story itself is a reflection of my own thoughts on the universe and how everything is connected. The experimentation of psychology and human relations are addressed through specific characters and their experiences. When my viewers read this story I hope they are engaged in its message of finding your place in a universe so infinite, the interconnectedness of people, and the hope of being apart of something grand.