Denise Kwan Blog

One of my roommates and I have a great interest in life drawing. There are many life drawing sessions that take place during the week, but we decided to start our own one… right at our place! Here are a few of my doodles from the past week:

The other weekend, my intern pals and I got together for some good times. Because we can’t enough of what we do, we decided to a little comic jam..

Hmm.. maybe we can get this published at work?

Somewhere during the night, i felt a little like this:

Here’s a little something I did for the Feathertale Review. The #5 issue is due to be released in March.

Happy new year everyone, hope you all had a great holiday!

So I’ve been on hiatus the last few weeks to relocate to Montreal. Why? I’m doing an internship at Drawn & Quarterly!

The location wasn’t quite the way I imagined it but don’t let the outside fool you! The office itself is quite warm inside, full of cool people, original comic art, books, posters and everything in between. It’s what every comic nerd can dream of!

That aside, the climate here as been consistent bitter cold (don’t want to leave the house without those thermals!). Still adjusting to the atmosphere, living situation and being on my own. It’s definitely a smaller place than Toronto, narrower streets, smaller population and a totally different lifestyle.

I think Dot has made a new friend!

~

Here’s a glimpse of the steps I take to create my caricatures:

1) Pencil roughs. I sketch how I’d like the composition to be and how I’d like the character to pose. Looking at reference photos, I sketch the faces in as detailed and exact as I can.

2) Inking. After I’ve got everything in place, I’ll go on to ink the lines. I usually use a brush pen for this and I’ve gotten quite used to using it. It’s small and handy, no washing or dipping required.

3) Final rendering and editing. After the line work is done, I’ll scan the drawing and edit it in on the computer. Photoshop allows me to clean up the lines and make any changes I want to make. I also like that I can experiment with colour without it being permanent. This could be helpful for those you aren’t familiar with colour and want to practice.

A caricature usually takes a long day (sometimes a few, depending on the detail). The work definitely pays off when you see the finished result!

Have a look at the final!

The Toronto Small Press Book Fair came and went. Overall a great experience, met plenty of great people, fellow writers, comic artists and supporters. The turnout was pretty small, but I managed to sell quite a few cards and zines. I’d definitely do this again, maybe with a little more prep time though. Thanks to everyone who came out!

The Table of Wonder: my half of the table shared with the lovely T. Setup time: 5 minutes.

My stuff. Spent the night before till early hours in the morning folding and preparing the cards. The print shop i had them done at finished the job at 2am. Thanks guys..  i’m not coming back.

By the way, the cards and zines are still on sale. I don’t have an online shop, so send me an email if you’re interested!

I’ll be making my first ever appearance at the Toronto Small Press Book Fair this Saturday December 12th, opened from 10am to 5pm. Come on by and check it out!

Here’s a comic I’ve been working on which will be released in the premier issue of Fun Glasses, a zine started by my good friend Raph and myself.

To view it in its entirety, as well as the work of several other talented illustrators and creative types, be sure to check back for the release of the issue, to be out soon!!