Ten Years of June 23rd!

Today is a special day! It's been ten years since my friend Emily and I took our first photobooth pictures together.  Before June 23, 2003 I had only used a photobooth a handful of times. Something about that particular day inspired me to start actively collecting/ art making.

By June 23, 2004, Emily and I realized how fundamental those original pictures were to my collection so we decided to re-enact them and we've been doing it ever since.

After high school, I moved to Calgary and Emily moved to Halifax, so we started taking the photos bi-annually, during our winter breaks in Edmonton. We also took long distance photos, where we took our halves respectively and sent them to each other. In 2011, I moved to Halifax, where Emily still lives, which made the series a little simpler.

This is my half of the collection, Emily's pictures are of us with big smiles and with monster faces. This year we took the photos early when Emily visited Montreal, it was the first time we ever took them twice in a row, because as you can see, the booth was in need of a chemical change in the second last photo.

It's sad to say, but in two years colour photobooths will almost entirely disappear. (The paper hasn't been manufactured since 2007 and it's projected to run out by summer 2015.) But I'm hopeful that Emily and I will find a way to keep our tradition alive.

Drawing is Good For You

I've been busy working on my graphic novel but I still have time built into my schedule to work on illustration and design jobs. Here are pieces from some recent jobs.

First up, I did a tshirt design and the website graphics for Wormbug, a short film made by Arlen Konopaki. The film is dark with a surreal twist, which, inspiration-wise, was a fun change for me.

Next up, I made a logo and a few graphics for a new improv company starting up on the east coast.

And lastly, I made this poster for a series of shows at Bad Dog Theatre in Toronto. Their season is baseball themed and while drawing this I realized that it was the first time I had ever drawn anything sports related and only the second time I've ever drawn dogs. (The first time was for another job for Bad Dog.) The black frame is their design.

I'm working on a few really fun jobs right now, some of which will be ready for the end of June, stay tuned!

Graphic Novel News!

I'm delighted to announce two pieces of excellent news.

Firstly, today I signed a book deal for Photobooth, A Biography, the graphic novel that I've been working on for the last year. Conundrum Press will be publishing the book as part of their Spring 2014 line up. I'm thrilled to be working with Conundrum, who've published several of my favourite artists/writers including Jillian Tamaki and Michel Rabagliati. The press is ran by Andy Brown, who has a soft spot for photobooths, so this partnership should work out perfectly.

Secondly, early this week I got a letter informing me that a grant application I wrote in January was successful! The Alberta Foundation for the Arts has awarded me the full amount I applied for, which will cover most of my expenses until I finish Photobooth, A Biography. I feel so fortunate to be able to treat this book like my job. I feel very grateful and quite happy.

I haven't shared any content from the book in many months, I'm supposed to keep it under wraps. But today is special, so in the spirit of the good news, here are two of the newer Photobooth Portraits.
 

Copyright 2013 Meags Fitzgerald