Art in February: Self-portrait and character sketch
In the January letter I wrote about being inspired by the work of Sophie McPike. Among other things, she’s a strong believer in the value of making self-portraits, and she’s done many of them over the years, such as in the sketchbook she’s showing in this video.
As I was travelling to Angoulême, I felt like drawing and (as most of the time 😅) didn’t know what. I had just made some selfies that I thought I may post on Instagram or send to my family, and that made me think of Sophie: there’s one model that you always have available – yourself :)
Untypically I acted upon the idea, and I’m quite happy with the result!
I’d also like to show you this sketch I made for my children’s comic project, featuring our hero Loukoum (the little goat boy), his best friend Miki (a big fox girl), and his young (and a bit annoying 😁) cousin Nougat (or maybe Caramel?) (a sheep boy) 😊.
From my camera roll: Impressions from Angoulême
I’ve always loved the old mosaic sign on this building (“Droguerie Universelle Coupaud”)! Next door there’s an art supplies store, at the end of the alley on the left you may make out the sign of “Lolmède”, a cosy cake and confectionery shop; and now there’s a manga shop in the building. A pretty perfect place, right? 😊
Again it was difficult to choose only one (or two) picture(s), so I made this collage of some picturesque Angoulême details – and my friend’s adorable cat. You can’t get it wrong with a cat, right? 😊
I’m afraid the details got a bit lost in the purple dusk sky on the bottom left – not only does it show an elegant crescent Moon but also the evening star above it! 🌙⭐ :)
Have to tell you about: Kateřina Čupová
Also in Angoulême, I had the pleasure to meet Kateřina Čupová a.k.a. Chechula, who was signing her comics next to my friend. We spoke only briefly but I took to her right away, she was so friendly and easy-going :)
This is the cover of her comic I bought, “Gaspard and the magic pot“:
I love that she’s building on folk tales from her country / region (she’s from the Czech Republic) in a modern setting, combined with a dynamic and seemingly relaxed style of inking (which can only come from a lot of drawing experience, I think!).
She’s also known for an adaptation of a classic Czech novel, R.U.R. by Karel Čapek, and has recently contributed to a French collection of stories about the Olympic Games.
Her recent work seems to be available mainly/only on Instagram and Tumblr (😱). It looks like her website hasn’t been updated for some years – but I do love the works she’s showing there ✨.
Also she’s doing a lot of Tolkien-inspired illustration and character design, which are so good 😍! I guess it makes me a bit envious, because I’ve had Tolkien (especially character design) on my list of ideas-for-things-to-draw for years (probably not daring to try 😅), and this young woman is “simply” doing it, with passion, originality and skill!
Anyway, maybe you feel like checking out her work, if so let me know and let us obsess over it together 😁!
As a little bonus for reading until here, here’s the cool ink (and purple pencil) sketch she drew on my copy of her Magic Pot comic! 🧡
That’s it for this month!
As always, if there’s anything you would like to ask, something you would like to read about in the next letter, or anything really – send me an email at hello@reinekurth.com! It would be lovely to hear from you 😊.
With love,
P.S.: Would you like to receive the next letters directly, on the last Friday of each month? – not to mention a 15% discount on one order in my shop? ✨ Welcome! This link will open a pre-filled email. If you’d prefer to get your letters in French or German, add a note to the message. Then just click Send, and I’ll take care of the rest! ✨ (no third parties nor tracking involved 😎)
P.P.S.: Not sure yet? On this page you can read more about what to expect, and under the #letterfromthestudio tag you can read the already published letters (they are published on the blog one week after being sent to subscribers).
Also, if you prefer to check out with me on your own terms, you can subscribe to the RSS feed of “Letter from the studio” in your favourite RSS reader 😎