For quite a few years, I have fallen into a funk as winter rolls around. To take the edge off that, I’ve often painted portraits of movie or TV characters, personal projects for a break from the business stuff.
I’m doing pretty good this year, however, and haven’t felt the need. The weather has stayed mild for longer this fall and I’m still on my bike most days, so I’m sure the exercise and sunshine help.
The last character piece I painted was John Dutton from Yellowstone two years ago. Even though I have a list of people I’d like to paint, it won’t be this season. I’m still motivated to work hard painting whimsical wildlife, so I’ll take it for as long as it lasts.
My latest commission should arrive on my client’s door this week. I have one more Banff Christmas Market this weekend from December 1 to 3. After that, it’ll be daily business stuff, editorial cartoons, and painting until the Calgary Expo in April.
But with more possible projects and ideas than time allows, I’m focusing on three main objectives this winter.
The first is the bear book. I’ve been actively painting new bears and writing content to accompany them. I finally got sick of my excuses and I’m seeing real progress and positive momentum rather than procrastination.
Though bears are my favourite animal to paint, and many people like those images, I have a growing list of critters I want to bring to life. Several of those ideas are ready to start, with composition layouts and reference set to go.
My second objective is attracting new licensing clients, so I’m building a new portfolio of work. Over the past year, I’ve found it incredibly frustrating to turn down new opportunities because some of their products conflicted with existing licenses. Two clients selling the same images on the same products is undesirable. It’s already challenging enough that prints and stickers I sell often compete with my images on other products in the same venue.
I plan to paint at least a half dozen new images I can shop around exclusively for new clients, and some I’ll only offer as prints for now. All eggs in one basket is a bad idea at the best of times, let alone in this down economy.
The third objective is to create new paintings for puzzles. My first step into that world last year was successful, largely thanks to my subscribers embracing and supporting the initial pre-order. That large order and expense earlier this year was nerve-wracking, but as I write this, I only have eight puzzles left featuring the Sea Turtle and the Parrot. I sold the last Otter and Grizzly on Grass puzzles at last week’s Banff Christmas Market, and I’m hoping to sell the rest at the same event later this week.
Though the first puzzles did very well, I won’t print those images again, opting for new ones instead. Some will be more involved pieces featuring multiple animals, which means each painting will take more hours to create than one with a single critter.
The 504-piece option was popular, but several hard-core puzzlers have asked for 1000 pieces. Others have said they find the larger piece count intimidating and undesirable. I could go with half the order of one size and half the other, or a middle option of 672 pieces.
If you’re wondering why the puzzle piece numbers aren’t rounded to 500 or 750, it’s because of the options offered by Puzzles Unlimited. I was pleased with their product and enjoyed working with them, so I’ll go through them again for the next round. The company’s owner recently wrote a very nice artist spotlight piece on my initial puzzles for their website. You can read it here.
I’ll again ask subscribers for their opinions on puzzle images and piece-count options in late January for another pre-order opportunity.
With my daily cartoon deadlines and only so many painting hours in a day, I’ll be very busy trying to meet those three objectives in the coming months. Any new images I paint for puzzle consideration will also work for the new portfolio, as will any bear images I paint for the book. The trick will be maximizing the utility of each image to make the best use of my time.
A saying attributed to Lewis Carroll goes, “If you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.”
While I remain open to considering new opportunities and experiences, clear priorities will help me stay focused on where I want my career to go. And as the season grows darker and colder, plenty of work will hopefully keep the winter demons at bay.
Cheers,
Patrick
“Snow Queen” by Patrick LaMontagne available in 19.5″ x 25.8″ (49.6cm x 65.5cm) | Square with 28 Colors including 2 ABs and 1 Fairy Dust Diamond
Trade shows and gift markets share similarities, but each is unique. Many vendors travel from one to the next each season. They know each other as coworkers and are on familiar terms with the organizers in different towns and venues. I always learn a lot from talking with these more experienced vendors, and I haven’t met one yet who wasn’t willing to share helpful information.
You’ll have to forgive the blown-out sections of these photos where my phone camera overcompensated for the low light/spotlights.
The vendors around me were friendly and fun to talk with, and since my booth for the next weekend is right beside the one I just vacated, I look forward to seeing these folks again soon.
Of course, my whole reason for attending the market was to sell my work, and sales were very good. Over three days, more than 7000 people came through the venue. Though it came and went in waves, it was a steady stream of people, likely because they admit 100 an hour via timed 
Banff and Canmore are different towns but part of the same Bow Valley community. With just a twenty-minute drive between them, many people live in one town and work in the other, and some city commutes are much longer than that.
I’m looking forward to introducing my work to a new audience, especially since it’s been months since my last event. I’ll have my usual variety of products, including stickers, magnets, coasters, puzzles, and calendars, along with poster, canvas, and metal prints in various sizes, provided everything I’ve ordered arrives on time. Fingers crossed.
Earlier this year, I surveyed subscribers to 
I’ll have another fully rendered new painting to share with you soon, but while you wait, here’s another recent piece I drew for the bear book.
This cool cat began as a design I pitched for a puzzle license that didn’t work out. But since I liked the idea, I decided to paint it anyway. It was challenging, and I spent a lot of time on the detail. I’m pleased with the finished piece.
This new Winter Tiger will make a nice addition to my 
These next puzzles will also be 1000 pieces since many have asked for those. My recent 
While labour-intensive, this painting wasn’t especially difficult. There weren’t any parts of it where I worried I might not have the necessary skills. That comes from experience, the feeling that “it’ll take a while, but I got this.”
I began the project with several sketches and refined those into this mockup.
Then I painted the individual giraffes, creating three expressions different enough to be their own characters, but I still had to match the colours, light and shadow so they belonged together in the scene. Each giraffe could have been a single painting.
Painting the environment was the most challenging part. I could have gone with generic-looking green deciduous leaves, and most people wouldn’t have cared. Even though my style of art is whimsical, and I take liberties with exaggeration and expression, I still try for accuracy in the anatomy and environment.
I don’t use any colour dynamics in my brushes. I prefer to pick and choose colour while painting, sampling from adjacent colours to get a better blend.
These new brushes allowed me to create a solid foundation, but it looked flat and lifeless until I spent several hours painting light, shadow, and detail to achieve the finished result.
New digital artists often get obsessed with buying brush packs, thinking that’s all they need to achieve the same look as more experienced artists. But professional tools won’t provide a shortcut past the years of work it takes to become good at anything.
While I called it Long Neck Buds, someone could easily interpret them as two parents and a child. People often tell me what one of my paintings is ‘thinking’ or what their expression means, and I wouldn’t dream of contradicting them. If the art makes them feel something or triggers their imagination, that’s good enough for me.
If you’ve followed my work for a long time (hey, thank you!), you’ll know how much I look forward to the 
I redesigned my booth last year and it worked so well for me, that I’m making no changes, except that I have invested in new lighting this year. As there was a pillar behind me, rather than another booth, I was able to expand a couple of feet. But I’ve got vendors right up against me on both sides this year, so I’ll have to stick to my 10’x10’ footprint.
In 2008, I hosted the Canadian Editorial Cartoonists Conference in Banff. Several industry veterans who attended came up in a culture where busy unionized daily newspapers hired editorial cartoonists for impressive salaries, benefits, and pensions. I began my career at the end of all that.
Eventually, social media killed the forum, and the organization rebranded. As a result, NAPP no longer exists, and the Photoshop World conference is a ghost of its former self.
I’ve taken a new approach with the trio of giraffes, already titled “Long Neck Buds.” I don’t know if it will work the way I imagine it, but if it does, it will be the first of several I plan to paint this way.
I’m a commercial artist, it’s how I make my living. I don’t pretend otherwise. But this is also supposed to be fun. I want to paint more detailed and elaborate images I’ll enjoy while also leaving options open for clients and licenses with different needs.
