Name: Camilla d’Errico
Place of birth: Ottawa, Canada

Black Cat: Hi Camilla, tell me something about your artistic background…
Camilla d’Errico: I started to become interested in art as a younger child, before I went to high school. I appreciated cartoons and fantasy stories for their creativity and interesting characters, and started trying to draw some of my own. In high school I took art classes to help me learn more about foundational skills, even though as a young student it didn’t always feel interesting or useful – I just wanted to draw fantasy characters! As I grew up and connected with my Italian cultural heritage though, I started becoming more interested in traditional painting, sculpture and architecture. Appreciating the incredible master works of art helped inspire me to learn to paint beautifully using traditional techniques. I continued my arts education and training in Capilano University’s Illustration and Design program, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. This was an important step in preparing me with skills and abilities to render my creative ideas.

B.C.: It’s clear that you love manga and cartoons..but Are these your inspiration since ever ?
C.d.E.: I have always been imaginative and creative, and manga and cartoons were something I enjoyed from childhood. I became more aware of Japanese manga and animated series when I was a little older, in high school. The characters, vibrant colours and emotions in these graphic forms of storytelling really spoke to me. It has been a life-long passion of mine to combine storytelling and creative inspiration with graphic visual representation.

B.C.: What in particular do you like about this style?
C.d.E.: I really like how there are so many possibilities, and so much creative freedom. I feel like I can create characters and situations that convey a lot of emotion, and use colours in different and interesting ways. Having an established style that is reminiscent of comics or manga, while still being original, feels like it gives me permission to embrace creative elements that would not be as acceptable in different styles of drawing and painting.

B.C.: When did you start getting involved with comic related projects?
C.d.E.: I became involved in some small comic and illustration projects while I was still in my post secondary education program at Capilano. At that time, I was more concerned about being involved with interesting projects than needing to make money, so I volunteered on small projects and entered contests. These kinds of experiences gave me exposure, and brought more and bigger opportunities to work with other authors and publishing houses to make comics.

B.C.: You have a fantastic career as an illustrator, designer, and painter and I think that it was not always easy. What was the most difficult challenge to be faced?
C.d.E.: Sometimes it is difficult to balance my different projects together with my creative inspirations. Since I do multiple different art forms, sometimes I have a mood to paint, or a mood to only draw. But when I already have projects I need to work on, such as illustrating for a comic book, I need to push aside the urge to paint so that I can focus. Balance can also be hard to achieve in my life, because I enjoy the art I do and want to do the most I can and to the best of my ability. I have many nights where I work late, or without sleeping, because I get lost in my art. Maintaining balance is always something I work to achieve.

B.C.: Your paintings are always very colorful..can you describe, conceptually and materially, your use of the colours?
C.d.E.: I love colours, they can feel like a drug or a food that I just can’t get enough of. It is something I appreciate a lot about comics and graphic arts, because vibrant colours are so appropriate there. When I paint, I feel free to choose a colour palette that comes from my emotions or my ideas- and if it becomes a painting of a girl with pink hair, it works well as a part of the creative freedom in my style of painting. Sometimes I decide what colours I want the painting to be, and build the composition around that. Other times I’ll pick animals or subjects and look for ways to impregnate the composition with unique colours. The type of paint I’ve been using lately, Holbein Aqua Duo, has helped me to achieve more depth and richness in my pieces. It is an oil paint that is rich and full-bodied, but also mixes with water like Watercolour paints. It gives my paintings a very unique combination of depth and lightness.

B.C.: I know that you are very proud of your “the Helmet Girls”…Can you tell me about how this idea is born and which project do you have about it?
C.d.E.: Helmetgirls were something I became inspired to do as a young female artist looking to make paintings that told a story about the strength and beauty of women. I wanted to draw and paint girls that had personality and emotion, and could be beautiful and feminine and delicate. But I also wanted my paintings to show an empowered female form. Incorporating mechanical and industrial elements like helmets, wire, and machine parts together with female subjects shows a kind of strength and durability that women have- at the same time as being graceful and feminine. Lots of my paintings invite the viewer to imagine a story or character that the painting tells. I do, however, have my own stories to tell with Helmetgirls. I am currently working on a brand new comic project with my writer friend, Joshua Dysart, called Helmetgirls: Origins . It will tell the stories of a few Helmetgirl characters, and hopefully answer some questions at the same time as raise new questions and ideas for readers.

B.C.: Animals are always present in your artworks…Which is your relationship with nature and animals? In which way your hidden ego is tied to them?
C.d.E.: I’ve always loved animals and felt very connected to the natural world. I grew up in a smaller town with my family (after we moved out of Ottawa), and we were surrounded by parks and forests and lakes. Animals have always interested me, and I spend a lot of time researching, reading and looking at pictures and videos of them. I like to paint animals to bring out the beauty and mystery of nature. Sometimes I do this by choosing strange animals like sharks or insects, and sometimes I achieve this by challenging viewers perceptions and ideas by painting Albino or animal skeletons. I also have similar ideas to my Helmetgirl paintings about combining beautiful graceful women with something else that shows another side. Dangerous or powerful animals like reptiles, lions or bears can be placed alongside female figures to emphasize women’s strength of character. I think animals have the ability to be very referential, emotional and inspiring to a lot of people, and also to invite viewers to create their own interpretations and ideas about why I place animals in my paintings.

B.C.: Do you have a dark side? In which way do you express it through your work?
C.d.E.: I think sometimes I feel mysterious with some of my ideas or painting moods, or I feel like some of the messages I want to show have a dark element to them. Especially when I do paintings where girls have a bird or butterfly in their mouth. This is a good example of when I want to do a beautiful painting that brings the viewer closer, but then there is something that is dark or strange happening. Sometimes a tiny element of fear or danger can really bring a painting to life, and encourage the viewer to ask questions or become more interested in what they see.

B.C.: Can you talk me about your currently projects? …and what’s your projects for the future?
C.d.E.: Right now I am working on a few very special projects, like my Helmetgirls: Origins comic book. In celebration of the coming comic book, this summer I am releasing my second artbook with Darkhorse Comics publishing house; Helmetgirls. I have also recently finished a large and very successful Kickstarter crowdsourced funding campaign to create a hardcover book of my Tanpopo comic series I create. The hardcover edition will be available this spring through Boom Studios and also on my website. A brand new volume of Tanpopo, volume 4, is in its finishing stages right now. I can’t wait to show everyone! For painting, I am excitedly working on many brand new paintings to prepare for my Solo exhibition in Tokyo, Japan this coming September. I certainly have a lot of fun and exciting projects to share soon!

B.C.: Thanks Camilla, for share with xlegion reader your colorful and fantastic world that lives in your mind!

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