Children who came to the WHM’s table at Colonel By Day had their choice of sixteen illustrations of workers to colour. Josée Gervais, the artist behind this popular activity, donated the drawings that include firefighters, industrial workers, postal workers, florists and teachers. Currently she is working on a webcomic, Topsy Turvy: Where a prince must become a princess to get his revenge (to start with)!
1. Tell us a little about yourself. I am Josée Gervais, I’m 25 years old with a bachelors in comic books with a minor in History. Been honestly drawing my entire life and I don’t know quite what to say here, haha.
2. How did you select the occupations for the amazing drawings you did for the WHM? I tried to go for variety and also to break some of the gender norms people say they don’t have but really do. So like, the female firefighter, the male florist, etc. Originally I was also going to do a female astronaut and a male nurse, but alas, time and such. But in the end, I just tried to give a second look at some occupations that we tend to stereotype – unfortunately, I couldn’t be very gender-bending when it came to the older occupations such as the photographer and such, but then again, they are hiding under the veil – so we don’t really know, do we?
3. What is your drawing process? I usually start out with a sketch, in this case, I was using a blue pencil to do so. Then I would ink it with micron pens and then scan it and clean it up in photoshop! I usually had a clear idea in my head on how I wanted it to look like – also reference photos are key and your greatest friend!
4. How do you see yourself as a worker? I see myself as someone who is contributing to the whole. Workers all pitch in to get the job done and I’d like to think I’m part of that.
5. Are there other projects you’re working on? Yeah! Many actually! I have my webcomic, Topsy Turvy, currently ongoing (updates every Monday), I also have my novel in the works based on my thesis comic, Ars Moriendi and I also usually have a million ideas going on in my head. I tend to have a lot of ideas and they don’t go anywhere or rather they’re put on hold – my most important project at this time has to be my webcomic, it’s my baby.
By Sanna Guerin, Chair of the Exhibits & Education Committee