Wilde Life webcomic review

It's been a while since I discovered a new webcomic that really took my interest, so I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about Wilde Life through my friend's Tumblr.

The comic, written and illustrated by Pascalle Lepas, follows the story of protagonist, Oscar (yes, surnamed Wilde) as he moves from Chicago to Podunk, a quaint and sleepy little town in Oklahoma.

What comes next is a series of weird - sometimes good, sometimes terrifying, encounters with the unknown and supernatural - including wolves, ghosts and monsters - which are depicted in a fresh and engaging way.

What I really like about this comic is the seamless mix of warmth and familiarity, present in the characters' expressions and depictions of common everyday interactions, and the fantasy elements. Throw in a bit of humour and suspense, well fleshed-out characters and a great semi-realistic art style, and you've got yourself a story that leaves you eager to read more.

camilla d'errico.

I can't believe I haven't posted about her already, but I will now...

For the past couple of years, Canadian-Italian artist Camilla d'Errico has been an inspiration of mine, with her innocent looking girl characters pictured with cute animals, soft yet vibrant colours, and mingling of cyberpunk and nature. She has the cute-with-an edge aesthetic that's so popular in the modern art and illustration scene (pop-surrealism?) but infuses it with her own painterly style. There's a warmth in many of her paintings, with their sunny colour palette and dappled lighting, but considerable angst in other works.

She was also involved in pop singer Avril Lavigne's Make 5 Wishes, a comic published by Tokyopop and a sort-of-promotional project for the singer's album. It's more than just advertising, though, and is darker than what one might expect for such a venture, the plot involving a pact made between a small devil and the main character.


More of her work can be found here: http://www.camilladerrico.com/

She also has a shop full of lush and shiny goods including her comics and apparel (which I might buy from in the near future) here: http://camilla.bigcartel.com/

Minus webcomic and mnem

MINUS http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus.html is a webcomic written and drawn by artist Ryan Armand, aka Rezo.

It's a beautifully illustrated series of vignettes involving a special little girl and her ability to make anything happen, limited only by her imagination. She doesn't shy away from being cheeky and even a little naughty at times, but the pretty watercolour pictures keep it light, providing a whimsical and day-dreamy atmosphere, reminiscent of breezy yet sunny childhood days.

In related territory, while going on a slight Harry Potter binge after seeing the recent film, I came across mnem's art while browsing a HP wiki. Her art can be found here: http://community.livejournal.com/mnem_art/

Although it's fanart, it strays away from the more typical anime-esque or stylised cartoon styles commonly drawn in this fandom, and instead provides warm and enchanting homages to the books, delicately rendered, like Minus, in watercolour, and has a similarly escapist quality to it. Like the comic, it takes you to a different place; this time the fantasy world of Hogwarts. The endearing little illustrations look like they could be used for future editions of the book; in fact at first I even wondered whether her illustrations had been used for foreign editions of the book. But no, just a humble fan doing it for free. Her blog is totally sweet as well.