written by: Jaime Winston
Camilla d’Errico recalls her exciting father-daughter trip to the 1998 San Diego Comic Con with the goal of showing her portfolio to top editors and publishers.
“This was an eye-opening experience for me, because it was my first real connection with the professional industry,” d’Errico says. “It’s one thing to go to a comic book shop and see books there and read the finished product, but talking to people who make them was taking things to a whole new level. It helped me make some good connections and start getting involved in comics and graphic novels.”
Based in Vancouver, d’Errico is a painter, illustrator, character creator and comic artist. She describes her art as “manga meets renaissance with a dash of rainbows.”
She’s also one of our favorite artists heading to this year’s Salt Lake Comic Con.
Her work has been featured in books from a wide range of publishers. Along with books featuring her art and characters, such as her new Pop Manga Coloring Book, she’s known for her graphic novels, including two volumes of Tanpopo, inspired by Goethe’s “Faust,” following an intelligent and emotionless girl named Tanpopo, whom the devil, disguised as a character named Kuro, tricks into a deal for her soul.
She also created Burn, a boy who becomes half machine, for her graphic novel of the same name, and she drew pop star Avril Lavigne into the graphic novels Make 5 Wishes volume one and two. But one of the characters she connects with most isn’t in one of her comics, but one of her paintings: Beyond the Rainbow.
“I made her at a time when I was feeling creatively drained by the gallery fine art industry. I was being told what to paint by galleries based on what they thought would sell, and it sucked the creativity out of me,” she says. “But then I had a showing at the Cotton Candy Machine, and Tara McPherson encouraged me to paint what I wanted to. It was the first time in a while I had heard that, and it opened the floodgate for my melting rainbow girls to pour out. Beyond the Rainbow was me at the time, literally melting out creatively, and I keep the painting close to me on my phone case to remind myself of how important it is to be true to my creative self.”
She graduated from Capilano University, where she learned fundamental art and design skills. But she says, mostly, her style of drawing and painting is self-taught. You can check out her comics, books, art prints and other merchandise, including tote bags, stickers and more, at booth 523 at Salt Lake Comic Con this weekend.
Visit camilladerrico.com to see more of d’Errico’s art, connect with her on Instagram @camilladerrico and support her art at patreon.com/camilladerrico.
Images courtesy of Camilla d’Errico
