Three Wilmington women are transforming the world of books. JESSICA TOBIN runs Burning Pages, Wilmington’s only independent bookstore specializing in romantasy books. HEATHER SETZLER narrates audiobooks in a variety of genres. And ANGELA FERNOT illustrates books and produces a local comic book anthology.
Wilmington artist and book illustrator ANGELA FERNOT describes herself as being “compelled to create” for her entire life.
““When I struggled to find words for my feelings, art was a way to express those things, and it just felt right for me,” she says. “I have pursued it ever since.”
Fernot, who relocated from New Jersey to Wilmington in 2019, studied illustration at The Kubert School, which specializes in training for cartoon, comic book, and graphic illustration. For more than six years, Fernot worked at the Spiderweb Art Gallery in Hopatcong, New Jersey. She helped set up shows, handled promotions and marketing, and worked on an illustrated project with GREG HILDABRANT, renowned illustrator and owner of the gallery. Her experience there gave her incredible exposure to the art world and publishing field, she says.
Since 2000, she has been the editor-in-chief, project manager, and art director of Tales of the Cape Fear, a local comic book anthology that she produces in partnership with Memory Lane Comics. Fernot collaborates closely with a team of local illustrators and writers to create and produce the anthology. She describes herself as the “doer of things” for Tales of the Cape Fear, from design to liaising with the printer and everything in between. “I love collaboration and getting to see the final product because I built all of that with my own hands,” she says.
Fernot says her personal favorite story in the anthology is Through the Looking Glass by HANK TOLER, the final story in book five of Tales of Cape Fear, which she got to illustrate. Fernot says the story centers around a “little girl who keeps looking in the mirror, and her mom warns her to be careful. She looks in the mirror, and what’s on the other side is a dark and twisted version of her who switches places with her.”
She credits the influence of her grandmother, who was a painter, as one of the strongest artistic influences in her life. “She is the reason I know how to press flowers,” she says. “A lot of my artistic interests and sense of adventure comes from her.”
Outside of her art, Fernot also serves as communications director with the Cape Fear Literary Council, telling the story of their work to provide literary education.
Fernot’s art defies classification, working in illustration, graphic design, portraits, and narrative art. She creates from a dedicated workspace in her home in many mediums, including watercolors, mixed media, and ink. While she does sometimes begin a project digitally, she says she always finishes it on paper by hand, using pen and ink or brush and ink.
“I love the tactical experience,” she says. “I learned to appreciate digital and the speed you can work at. But I’m old school, and I think I’ll always be that way.”
To view more of photographer Aris Harding’s work, go to arisharding.com.
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