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Returning recently to what was once a childhood hobby, artist Natalie Gagne has turned her keen artistic eye to illustrating local landmarks using a modern digital medium.
Gagne, a 27-year-old high school math and science teacher, creates her clean-lined, colour-blocked illustrations using an Apple pencil and an iPad.
Inspiration comes from popular architecture, buildings, sculptures and a few breweries around Windsor.
“I thought it would be cool to do local landmarks because I haven’t see anybody else do that,” Gagne said. “It kind of took off.
“I did more like a modern flair on the architecture in town. It’s all very clean lines and simple — there’s no blending between colours.”
The self-taught artist, who has a natural talent for drawing, said she just uses her eye to pick the section of a building or sculpture to highlight.
“I just kind of go as I go and I try to pick out the details that are there. I’m literally working pixel by pixel when I’m drawing,” she said.
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“I’m really zoomed in and trying to find (the details). I really don’t have a system. It just kind of happens.”
Her illustrations are all hand drawn.
“I think the misconception is people think that it’s just like I plug it in a program and it illustrates it for me,” she said. “No I’m actually drawing this all by hand with an Apple pencil on my iPad.
“It’s just like a new medium (versus) drawing pencil to paper.”
So far her work includes drawings of the Ambassador Bridge; Walkerville, Frank’s and Craftheads breweries; local bars The Vic, Abars and The Loop and some of the waterfront sculptures.
Gagne said she’s considering a wineries series and plans to draw downtown bar Phog next.
And Detroit is also on her radar. A side-by-side series illustrating the rivalry between Layfayette Coney Island And American Coney Island in downtown Detroit is in the works.
But her landmark series, which highlights Windsor architecture, has proven most popular.
“It’s unique,” she said. “It highlights Windsor (and) being proud of our community.”
To view or purchase Gagne’s prints, visit gagneillustrations.com.
jkotsis@postmedia.com
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