Artsology: You describe yourself as a self-taught artist; can you tell us something about what got you interested in art, or when you first started to pursue art-making and taught yourself how to visualize your ideas?
Emmanuel Laflamme: My first contact with art was drawing with my father when I was very young. I would sit on his lap and he would take my hand holding a pencil, moving it around a piece of paper for me to draw characters, houses, trees, cars, etc. I guess it gave me some kind of advantage early on, because I could draw many things from my imagination shortly after. I never really dreamed of becoming an artist however ... growing up, I wanted to create a cartoon series for TV.
After high school, I couldn't attend the animation program of my choice because my grades were too low, so I joined a visual arts program. It wasn't my first choice, so I quickly lost interest. A fortunate encounter with my cousin's husband, a professional cartoonist, inspired me to follow another path. Being a self-taught artist, he suggested a few books to study from and I went on to teach myself how to draw and paint over the next few years. I did a lot of life drawing, and studied the works of famous artists in addition to the basics of cartoon animation.
After that, I sent portfolios to local animation studios and began a year later as an assistant, before getting a job as a character designer. Only then, I realized how complicated it could be to create a cartoon series. You have to sell your idea to a producer, and then get a broadcaster and maybe then it will go into production. I didn't like to depend on so many people, so I asked myself how could I create with my own means? Painting came naturally, as it was affordable and easily available.
