Ariane Cloutier on Quebec’s Voice & Future

Ariane Cloutier, who are you?

I work in illustration and comics. I have published independently, so far, two publications in Zine format, as well as stories in magazines. In 2023, my publications Montreal-Gaspé et Apocalypse were named for the Bédélys Prize organized by the BD Festival in Montreal. Thanks to this notoriety, I was able to offer creation workshops at festivals, in libraries, to people who wanted to discover the medium of comics. I find it really a beautiful medium to have fun, to discover, to explore your own style and the way you can tell stories. It does not require a lot of resources to make an independent publication.

What was your background as a bd-illustrator?

When I started my studies, I was in a program at Champlain College in Saint-Lambert, really specialized in graphics. I then finished a graphics bachelor at the University of Quebec in Montreal. I have always been interested in languages, image communication. For me, it is an almost universe vocabulary, because in terms of emotions, we are a bit all worn by the same humanity.

But at the end of my studies, I found that I did not yet trust me to do comics, because my program did not approach visual narration. The Maison Front Cold – New Address launched in 2020 a mentoring program for people who had comics projects, but who did not necessarily have the tools. I had the support of Renaud Plantthe publisher of new address, and Jimmy Beaulieuwho is a comic book author, but who also worn many other edition hats. It allowed me to forge links with people in the middle, to realize that ultimately the publishing in Quebec was much less intimidating than what I thought. Everyone is really happy to answer you. It gave me the confidence I needed to do my first projects, independently.

Why did you choose the path of self-publishing, compared to established houses?

I have the impression that I did not choose this path, precisely. I do not have the impression that I could help but go to classic publishing. Renaud plants, for example, the day I have something to present to him, I am sure he wants to read my manuscript. I do not know how it goes in France, but in Quebec, there are many authors who already have published works, and who will still do shorter stories for more niche audiences. This also allows them impossible risk taking for established publishing houses. I just think that going through yourself, it will allow more marginal authors to emerge. The authors will be able to explore new things, which will then feed their more traditional publishing projects. There are several filters, several rules that you have to take into account when you go to an editor that is established. But sometimes, we just need a little bit of fun and let go and precisely not to kiss too much with this kind of consideration. The two attitudes feed.

Could you tell us about self-publishing in Quebec? Is there for example specialized organizations that help the authors?

Not really, no. There have been initiatives, such as the general mechanical house. It was not a publishing house, at the time, just a group of friends who gathered to publish self-published books and appear more credible. What is beautiful with self-publishing is that we are freed from the book cycle where the whole publisher will take his share, the distributor will take his share, etc. Finally, there is little money left for the author. While if you take care of your impression and your distribution yourself, there are a lot of money who will end up in your pockets. It is certain that the project will have a lower range, but sometimes it is also correct.

In the end, I think it happens a lot through networking, by workshops. I talk a lot about Jimmy Beaulieu, who gives workshops at the Cegep du Vieux-Montréal and at Rosemont college. In these workshops, he talks about aspects that are more technical, such as layout. I also think of comic book workshops in Sophie Bédard at the University of Montreal. I also talked about the cold front mentoring program, but it depends on the funding they manage to have and it is sporadic. Their mission, at the base, is really a social vocation, to promote the emergence of comics in Quebec. There are some events and initiatives, but not, to my knowledge, of really organizations that structure these things in a really clear and precise way.

You are very active in the format of Zine. What is your relation to this format?

Zine is a perfect format to release a publication quickly. We use a playground, we try a new narrative mechanics. We have fun, there are no constraints and it is not a long -term project as a comic book project. It is really not the same spontaneity. The first project I really did in Zine, Apocalypseit was in early 2020. It was Jimmy Beaulieu, who launched a project in 48 hours. We had to create a few things in 48 hours, get out of our kind of torpor. I think it is really with this zine that I really started to be interested in these visual games. I had really put my finger on something that was going to feed my narration and my style.

Your works have a very special graphic approach, very minimalist. Why this style? How did it come?

When I studied at UQAM in graphics, I thought that making beautiful images, it was to make detailed images. But at one point, when you do too much, it shows. At one point, I just completely let go. I realized that ultimately, it was not the fact of putting hours and hours on an image that made her beautiful. I think it really allowed me to let go and then put energy in other places that were more important.

The proof, I signed two books in publishing houses: The strange story of the Knight Gaspard Au editions Les 400 couples, which was written by Roxane Brouillardet Marie -reparator which was published by Éditions de la Grenouillère, written by Louis-Philippe Hébert. These are two projects that go in two radically different directions. I find that I was really privileged to be able to present these two projects at the same time. It shows that with a style that can be a little naive, minimalist, like mine, we can really go to explore themes that are supervail, super-rich in terms of emotions.

Your approach addresses a wide variety of themes, often linked to society. Why this choice?

I think that, for me to want to tell a story, she must join me, I have to want to connect with the person who will read this. There are many autobiographical elements in my stories. Montreal-Gaspéit also surprised me to see that the Zine seemed to evoke different things for each reader, and I find it really nice. I do not know if I intend to make sure that my stories are related to society, or I just want to tell a story that just creates the link between people. I know that I do not live in an aquarium, it is sure that my work and my interests must be tinted by what I live. There is a voice in Quebec which is really different from what is done elsewhere.

You are very active on social networks. What place do these networks occupy in your creation process as a self-edited author?

It’s super-interest, because I think it changed a lot over time. Today, it has become a little heavy: algorithms, monetization, people who feed on our work to feed artificial intelligence, polarization of debates … But I try to really see this platform as a place of connection. I use it much more to promote things that I do for customers, my personal projects, because I don’t want to just do a dedicated project just to feed this machine, but it remains a nice space to share. It is certain that we are responsible for our own advertising, but by dint of doing it, people come back and they make small lists, they are like ” Ah! Ariane is new this year! They come to see me on rue Saint-Denis when I do the Montreal comic festival.

Afterwards, the publishers highlight artists who already have people who follow them. I think of Floramaille who already had a community that followed her on social networks. They become a kind of added value.

In Quebec, comics is still really associated with children’s literature, and the line between comics and illustrated book is very fine …

I think we are slowly starting to realize that we are doing beautiful things in Quebec. But that’s it really not on the same scale as what’s going on in Europe. There are some authors like Michel Rabagliati With the series of Paulwhich have become very well known, but it is rare. I still think that comics is getting out of the margins, but really slowly. But it’s true, there are many more youth outlets, there is a wider readership. For example, there are bubbles in The strange story of the Knight Gaspard. Do you consider it comics or not? Are there enough bubbles to consider that it is really comics? The consensus is that it was probably not enough to be presented for this kind of jury. It remains that at the end of the day, my journey is in comics.

I think buyers prefer to buy books for their children rather than for themselves. They do not realize that there are really a lot of rich themes. The idea that people think that “it’s better to read real books” is really hard to undo the collective unconscious.

Quebec highlights the French language a lot, but is the English-French difference important in comics?

Normally, when we talk about Quebec comics, we talk about French -speaking comics without realizing it, it becomes acquired. But there is clearly an English -speaking scene of Montreal or Quebec comic strip which we hear very little about, because it will be put aside. There are English -speaking authors who have lived in Montreal, who have lived in Quebec, and who have experiences that are clearly important to tell. I remember a series of interviews with Jimmy Beaulieu (still him), where he was reading his favorite Quebec comic book authors. He had appointed five names, the first three were French speakers, the last two of English speakers. The program cut in the third name and removed English names. There are really people who are invisible because of that. It might be interesting to look into it …