His grandfather's paper mill job gave him the unlimited paper that kickstarted his love of drawing
Vancouver comic book artist William Dereume has been drawing since he was young thanks to his grandparents
William Dereume is a writer and comic book artist from Vancouver, B.C. His current work focuses on a world called Eggshell and its cohort of resident semi-pictographic characters who work in synchrony — and sometimes discord — to function like a language.
Dereume has been drawing since he was young thanks to an "unlimited supply of paper" from his grandfather, who worked at the local paper mill. And it's inspired his art practice to this day: he still uses thin, low quality sheets similar to the ones he grew up with.
"A big part of my process is making my art practice manageable for me, and manageable often means cheap, so I draw on the lowest quality of materials," he explains. "I guess a holdover from drawing on shitty paper is that I still draw on shitty paper."
Art Minute is a new CBC Arts series taking you inside the minds of Canadian artists to hear what makes them tick and the ideas behind their work.