Toulouse 2026 : Gael’s view (Day 4)

Okay, so last day.

As usual I started with a lecture. Suhita’s one, “Bit by Bt Reportage” about doing reportage little by little and then make a project out of it. It was great, very inspiring.

09:02 Suhita’s Lecture : Bit by Bit reportage

Then I went to the last workshop session. I had to cover three workshops, but they were all in Siant-Pierre, so I didn’t have to walk. The first one was with Inhong Park, about negative spaces. Simple method but very efficient.

10:24 Inhong’s workshop

Then i went to Uma Kelkar’s workshop. The idea was to work loose on watercolor directly. I am a line person so this was very tricky for me. But I liked it, it’s great to try completely different ways of drawing sometimes. Also Uma is a very sweet person.

11:38 Uma’s Workshop

Finally, my last workshop was with Dietmar Stiller, about brushpen. I don’t like brushpen because i am shaking a little bit so I always get wonky lines. And it’s official, with Raul we succeed in covering ALL of the 22 workshops ! I’m very happy we made it.

12:44 Dietmar’s Workshop

 Anyway, after that I went back to Baudis, ate and rested. I sat in a seat and did nothing for 30 minutes. Tiredness strikes back. But I succeed in standing back up to go to the Big Crit. The Big Crit is people who paid for four workshops goes to a room and get roasted on their drawings by instructors. I’m joking, most of the feedbacks I heard were actually very constructive.

16:03 The Big Crit

Then it was time for the photo in front of Saint-Sernin. There were so many people that was crazy. How many sketchers ? 1500 ? 2000 ? More ? Hard to know. I did one last quick sketch but I could feel it was the end of my energy. My drawing batteries were dead. So we headed back to Baudis and the closing reception started. We went on stage again and got a lot of applause. That means a lot. I didn’t know Maria would hand me the micro tho. I panicked a bit but it was alright. Next year symposium is Toronto (so still not South Korea), maybe I’ll go.

19:06 Big Family photo in St-Sernin

So now is time for the thanks :

First of all thanks to Raul and Ivan who have been the best mates I could have wish for. Elisabeth nicknamed us “the three musketeers” so that’s how we called ourselves. It was a pleasure to work with both of you guys. Don’t forget to go check their work as well. They are very talented. Then of course thanks to the organization team for having trusted me on this. It was a wonderful opportunity and I’m glad I got It. Thanks as well to Maria who coordinated us greatly. If we’re the three musketeers, then she’s Dartagnan. And thanks also to everybody for the support. Now I’ll go to sleep and wake up in three days.

See you,

Gael