“A Day in the Life” with 2D Layout artist and Background Painter Michelle Lepine

Michelle Lepine is a 2D layout artist and background painter who grew up in the suburbs of Hamilton, Ontario, with her family and beloved cats. From an early age, Michelle’s greatest passion has been art. In the art-making process, she finds peace, contentment, and a sense of meaning in her life. This passion is what led her to pursue the arts in higher education. Michelle completed her Honours Bachelor of Animation from Sheridan College’s world-renowned program, along with an additional certificate in Art Fundamental and a diploma in Visual Creative Arts.

Following Michelle Lepine’s time at Sheridan—which concluded online, due to pandemic-related restrictions—she expressed feeling burnt out and lacked passion for creating. It was then that I decided to invite Michelle to join me cross-country on an isolated island in the Gulf Islands of BC. Cortes Island quickly became a sanctuary for Michelle to reignite and reinvent her passion for art. The lush and untouched landscape transformed the way she thought of colour and shapes; so much so, that most conversations involved a fervent lesson on art and/colour theory. Four months of island-life later, Michelle is back in Ontario—temporarily—to gain more industry experience before permanently moving back to BC.

-Written by Emily – best friend 

Michelle Lepine
Me, enjoying a tea in the early afternoon sun on Cortes island in September
This painting was of my view every morning walking to work. I would watch the sunrise and set in this location and I knew I had to paint it. Cortes Island is magic and this location only shows a small bit of this magi
Michelle Lepine
I spent most of my days painting on my iPad in the forest or at the beach, working on layouts for my portfolio. This was me painting the sunset painting while at the beach.
While living on Cortes, I lived in a little house in the woods. One of my goals being there was to draw different layouts of the places I would see everyday, my house being one of them!
This was another place I would see on my day-to-day, the beach by my work. For each Layout I’d create I would try to do it in a different line style.
Plein air paintings I created with the real life reference I used.
Michelle Lepine
Another goal I set for myself living there was to practice painting freely and from life, I brought my gouache set with me to be able to study and paint the beautiful environments around me.
Michelle Lepine
My time spent on this island was so worthwhile, hiking every day, being by the ocean, and most of all spending that time with my best friend Emily and creating art. These photos represent a small window into my world for 4 months.

Which hood’ are you in?

The West End!

What do you do?

I’m a 2D Layout artist and Background Painter in the Animation industry

What are you currently working on?

At the moment I’m working on more story-driven Layouts and Background paintings while taking the time to study Environment Design for the gaming industry!

You can find me on Twitter and Instagram.

And a full portfolio of my work is on my website!

 

 

About Demian Vernieri 472 Articles
Demian is an Argentinian retired musician, avid gamer and editor for the Montréal Guardian, Toronto Guardian, Calgary Guardian and Vancouver Guardian websites.