Fan Art interview with Florence Deraîche Dallaire

October 31, 2017 by Nicole Oebel @philomina_

What is fan art for you and does your style reflect something about your relationship to the character you are painting or drawing?

Fan art, beside the textbook definition, has a special meaning to me. First of all, I think fan art is a formidable way of democratizing art. It can help artists, amateur or professional, to start putting their art out there and get instant feedback and gratification, but most importantly, fan art has been a real therapy for me. I've come to realize that every time I start drawing more, it corresponds to a period of my life where I'm feeling particularly anxious or depressed.

This "relationship" you develop with fictional characters with whom you connect emotionally, doubled with the meditative nature of drawing and colouring, has always been very therapeutic for me. Of course, my style, I believe, reflects this relationship, especially since I draw in various and often very different styles.

For example, when I first started drawing Versailles fan arts, I was diagnosed with depression and connected very well with Philippe's angst and anger (and queerness ;) ) and of this period were born my white chalk on black paper portraits which are more serious and melancholic. While when I started getting better, my style was more promptly ludic and colourful and I connected more with Alex's cheek than Philippe's angst, from that period are born my "Trapped in the Closet" drawings.

What are the easiest and the hardest parts of the artistic process?

The easiest part is definitely to get inspiration. I'm very imaginative and I always have a lot of ideas. The problem is that I don't always have the technical skills to get what is in my head on paper. What is in my head is so much nicer than what I can produce!! I'm also very impatient. Which means that, not unlike my undergrad papers (eh!), a lot of my pieces are just sketches and drafts. I'm not particularly proud to admit it, but I'm a bit disorganized.

There is one thing I particularly hate when drawing: erasing. I hate doing it, especially when you have to erase a particularly good eye because it is too large or a very accurate hand because it's not exactly where it is supposed to be. I talk about it because every time I'm very proud of a piece, it's because even though I was super scared to do it, I decided to erase what didn't work, even when I had to erase a whole intricate iris just to shorten a forehead! If I had one advice to give (to others, but most importantly, myself!) it would be this: use your eraser, dude, it won't eat you.

Do you feel like with fan art you can put a lot of yourself into a piece, tell your own story?

Of course! I think we can put just as much of ourselves into fan art than any other kind of art. Of course, we did not create the characters we draw, but the choice of a character, already known to the general public, can often be even more telling. I think fans gravitate towards characters who can best help them create or tell their own story, characters that speak true to them. This is also why there is a lot of 'comorbidity' between fandoms. The same people are drawn to similar characters across fandoms. I believe this desire to tell your own narrative is part of why there is such a huge prevalence of queer characters in fan arts. Gay people have been robbed of centuries of representation and for a while the only representation of queer characters you could find was through fandoms. In this perspective, fan arts can be very revealing, personal and subversive.

What is it about Versailles that inspires you and draws you to share your art with the Versailles Family?

The Versailles Family is amazing, generous and welcoming. Versailles is an amazing series full of wonderful and fleshed out characters. But the real reason I persevered in this fandom in particular is Alexander Vlahos and Evan Williams. I was on Twitter for a grand total of 3 hours when Evan liked for the first time one of my drawing, Alex retweeted another the next day. It may seem totally anecdotal to a lot of people, this sort of validation, but it did make a difference to me. Then when we organized the charity auction for Nep-ALL-In, I realized some people were ready to pay money for my work. I was gobsmacked. I will always be grateful for all of this. Thank you!!

Which is your favourite piece or style (of your own) and why?

One of my favourite is my 'Brothers of Versailles' piece (see above), originally in chalk and then redrawn digitally. It's one of my favourites because I think it is emblematic of the show, with the brothers back to back, one representing the moon and the other the sun, but it's also emblematic of my work as a fan artist, I think, since Alex Vlahos chose this drawing to sign my first (and only, for now) autograph on, it's the first design I sold on Redbubble, and it was recently featured on Ovation's Inside Versailles! But I also really enjoy drawing more cartoon characters.

And last but not least, what are your favourite TV shows and what do you enjoy about them?

This is so hard to answer, it makes me realize I watch way too much TV! I'm very excited for season 2 of "Stranger Things", I follow semi-diligently Marvel series, I apprehensively wait for each episode of "Outlander" (as a fan of the books), I'm impatient for the last season of "Game of Thrones". Last series I watched: "Peaky Blinders". Series I'm currently watching:"Riverdale". The TV show I liked the best last year was "Eyewitness".

Thank you for the chat, Flo!

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von Florence Deraîche Dallaire (@flo_derdal) am 26. Okt 2017 um 19:01 Uhr