Meeting Cati Baur

On November 12th, students from 1ère students with an Arts Option or the Arts Speciality course got the opportunity to meet with Cati Baur. The illustrator went over her background and career, after which students took part in a hands-on workshop dedicated to learning how to create characters.

Eva R. (1ère D) describes this encounter.

“Cati Baur is a French illustrator and a comic book author, she is mostly known for the “Four Sisters” comic.

Born in 1973 in Geneva, Cati Baur wanted to be an illustrator. However, she used to live in a small village in Haute Savoie, where people don’t know much about illustration, so she got discouraged to pursue this kind of studies.

After graduating from high school with a French Baccalaureate with an Arts option, she went to La Sorbonne to study arts in order to become an arts teacher. Yet, Cati realized that she didn’t want to pursue this path. She started to work as a librarian and resumed posting drawing boards on her blog. In 2007, she became an illustrator and published her first comic book by Delcourt Edition.

The author gets inspiration from several artists such as Claire Bretecher, Will Eisner, “Tom-Tom et Nana” author, Bernadette Després, English artist Posy Simmonds and the American Alison Bechdel.

Besides, Cati Baur uses several techniques to draw her boards. She often works on her Ipad using the Clip Studio Paint software. Sometimes, she draws with Chinese ink and colours her drawings either on Photoshop or using watercolour technics or felt-pens.

The illustrator tells us her experience with editors, and how they always have the last word about what will be published.

Finally, she organised a hands-on activity for students to create characters, which all had to be different with specific physical and moral attributes. According to Cati, in order to create a well-thought character, it is important to anticipate and think about the details, for example whether he hates cheese or likes singing.

As a conclusion, the author recommends the students to share and publish their artworks online, especially on Instagram.”

 

Find out more about Cati Baur: http://www.catibaur.com

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