Isabelle Arsenault (born 1978) is a Canadian award winning illustrator living in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. She is known for her elaborate yet simplified artwork in children's literature.

Biography

Arsenault was born in

Sept-Îles, Quebec Sept-Îles (Quebec French pronunciation : , French for "Seven Islands") is a city in the Côte-Nord region of eastern Quebec. It is among the northernmost locales with a paved connection to the rest of Quebec's road network. The population was ...

. She received a bachelor's degree in graphic design from the

Université du Québec à Montréal The Université du Québec à Montréal (English: University of Quebec in Montreal), also known as UQAM, is a French-language public university based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest constituent element of the Université du Québe ...

. After completing her studies, she specialized in illustration. Arsenault has won awards from competitions sponsored by ''

Communication Arts ''Communication Arts'' is the largest international trade journal of visual communications.Au ...

'', ''American Illustration'' and ''Applied Arts''. In 2005, she won the

Governor General's Award for French-language children's illustration The Governor General's Award for French-language children's illustration is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian illustrator for a children's book written in French. It is one of four children's book awards among the Gove ...

for ''Le Coeur de Monsieur Gauguin''; the text was by Marie-Danielle Croteau. She won the same award in 2013 for her illustration of the

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

''Jane, le renard et moi'' with text by Fanny Britt; this book also won the

Joe Shuster Award The Joe Shuster Canadian Comic Book Creator Awards (or Joe Shuster Awards) are given out annually for outstanding achievements in the creation of comic books, graphic novels, webcomics, and comics retailers and publishers by Canadian comics, Canadi ...

for outstanding artist, the and the and the English translation ''Jane, the fox and me'' was named to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' list of the ten best illustrated books for children for 2013. ''Migrant'', illustrated by Arsenault, was named to the New York Times' list for 2011. In 2012, she won the

Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration The Governor General's Award for English-language children's illustration is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian illustrator for a children's book written in English. It is one of four children's book awards among the Go ...

for ''Virginia Wolf'';

Kyo Maclear Kyo Maclear (born 1970) is a Canadian novelist and children's author. Maclear was born in England and moved to Canada at a young age. Her father is the journalist and documentary filmmaker Michael Maclear. She studied fine art and art history ...

provided the text. Additionally, in 2020

IBBY Canada IBBY Canada is the Canadian National Section of the International Board on Books for Young People, a non-profit organization which represents an international network of people who are committed to bringing children and books together. The mission ...

nominated Isabelle Arsenault with the

Hans Christian Andersen Award The Hans Christian Andersen Awards are two literary awards given by the International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY), recognising one living author and one living illustrator for their "lasting contribution to children's literature". Th ...

. Her accomplishments towards the ongoing expansion of children's literature were noteworthy enough to consider her for nomination.

Early life

Childhood

Born in

, Arsenault and her family moved to Île-Bizard and lived there much of her adolescent life. As a child Arsenault took part in a contest for illustration, that her local newspaper was holding at the time for Christmas. It was at this stage in her life that she had realized her passion for artistic endeavors, and this was made more apparent by her winning the contest. She notes "I understood that I really enjoyed drawing, and I could use my ability to create something unique".

Art Education

Arsenault spent many of her childhood years never going to art schools, as she was not aware that art was to become her future profession. However, she did take various arts studies within her

Secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

education. It was through her various art classes that teachers inspired her. She claims she would spend hours at a time on art through various mediums outside of her classroom.

Approach to illustrations

Visual Style

Arsenault's art style is often described as

minimalist In visual arts, music and other media, minimalism is an art movement that began in post–World War II in Western art, most strongly with American visual arts in the 1960s and early 1970s. Prominent artists associated with minimalism include Don ...

in nature, and for the most part very colorful. Instead of opting for hard lines and detailed backgrounds and characters, she often illustrates with an ease of hand, but conveys emotion through these simple images and their text. Much of Arsenault's art attempts to evoke emotions in the reader, with more interest in showcasing the character's state of mind, and less the external causes for their state of mind. In her seminal work for Maxine Trottier's Migrant we see this at work, as much of the environment is less focused upon; when in contrast the young

Mennonite Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

farmer's child envisions herself and others visually as jackrabbits and kittens.

Planning

Arsenault attributes her style to

doodling A doodle is a drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be composed of random and abstract lines or shapes, generally without ever lift ...

early drafts as rough as possible, so to understand the overall visual story she wishes to produce. Arsenault explains in her blog that it grants her a level of freedom that allows for her emotions at the time of finalization to be expressed through her art. Much of her style is derived from her experimental improvisational approach, filled with potential mistakes.

Publication

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arsenault, Isabelle 1978 births Living people Governor General's Award-winning children's illustrators Canadian comics artists Canadian female comics artists Université du Québec à Montréal alumni Artists from Quebec Canadian women artists People from Sept-Îles, Quebec French Quebecers