Patrick LaMontagne is a Canadian editorial cartoonist and digital painter, and looking at examples of each, you would never guess they were done by the same person.
As a cartoonist, he pokes fun at current events (I assume things happen in Canada) in a bright and simplified style.
In his fine art, he paints animals, almost to the point of photorealism.
And heβs a Youtuber as well. In his most recent video, βVoices,β he goes over some of the most common examples of negative self-talk and internal objections artists deal with as he speedpaints a lemur on the Wacom One.
Youβll have to stay with him through a rough beginning, though: The first two minutes are devoted to listing off some things that might be too close to home for many of us listening, but as youβve guessed, he then debunks them at the end, leading into the point that no matter what stage of your career youβre at, they never go away.
This might make you fear for the future, but it can also be reassuring, especially for those of us who view ultra-talented artists as superhuman. Itβs easy to fool yourself into thinking that more established artists breeze through their careers with confidence and certainty, knowing everything theyβre doing is brilliant and theyβll never hurt for job opportunities.
Uhβ¦ No. There are certain insecurities that never go away. But when you think about it, youβll realize thatβs because thereβs no set point where you suddenly deserve self-esteem. You already do.
Finally, Patrick is also a prolific blogger, and as a companion piece, he was nice enough to write out a history of his relationship with Wacom tablets, culminating with his impressions of the Wacom One.
The TL;DR version:
Patrick was a very early adopter to digital art. He got his first tabletβa Wacom Intuos 1βin 1998, when he got his first cartooning job. βTo some, it seemed complicated, but to me, it seemed like a prosthetic limb Iβd been missing,β he says.
He has no formal training and has never worked on canvas, instead experiencing every generation and iteration of digital art hardware and software.
For software, he mains with Photoshop, although he says heβs βtried them all.β And for hardware, βa Wacom tablet wasnβt an option. It was a requirement.β And the Wacom one, he says, is βbetter than all of the tablets and displays I used for most of my professional career.β
Thatβs a bold claim, but weβre happy to hear it.
About the (Other) Author
CS Jones is a Philadelphia-based freelance writer and illustrator. He spends his spare time listening to Spotify and falling down Youtube rabbitholes. His work is best seen atΒ thecsjones.comΒ orΒ @thecsjonesΒ on Instagram.
