Journal

by Julie Doucet

A year in the life of a world-renowned artist


Despite Julie Doucet's renunciation of her comics-centric lifestyle more than five years ago, 365 Days is imbued with the iconic talent and studied aesthetic of her seminal comic book series Dirty Plotte, which catapulted her into being one of the world's greatest cartoonists. This visual journal, starting in late 2002, is an idiosyncratic collision of her various creative interests, wherein personal narrative, collage, and drawing begin to tell the story of her pursuits into printmaking and beyond, chronicling her maturation as a mid-career artist and her fluid extension into a broader arts community.


Now exhibiting internationally, Doucet blurs the boundaries between high art, illustration, craft, and comics: where panel borders once divided pages, collage creeps in; events and doodles merge; recollection and narrative blend with the abstract. The surreal neurosis of her comics has subsided to reveal a more relaxed creativity that is unrestricted by form or definition and is as engaging as ever.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics, Memoir, Comix, Bande Dessinée, Art

Paperback

First published March 1, 2004

About the author

Julie Doucet is a Canadian underground cartoonist and artist, best known for her autobiographical works such as Dirty Plotte and My New York Diary.

Doucet began cartooning in 1987. Her efforts quickly began to attract critical attention, and she won the 1991 Harvey Award for "Best New Talent".
Shortly thereafter, she moved to New York. Although she moved to Seattle the following year, her experiences in New York formed the basis of the critically-acclaimed My New York Diary (1999). She moved from Seattle to Berlin in 1995, before finally returning to Montreal in 1998. Once there, she released the twelfth and final issue of Dirty Plotte before beginning a brief hiatus from comics.
She returned to the field in 2000 with The Madame Paul Affair, a slice-of-life look at contemporary Montreal which was originally serialized in Ici-Montreal, a local alternative weekly. At the same time, she was branching out into more experimental territory, culminating with the 2001 release of Long Time Relationship, a collection of prints and engravings. In 2004, Doucet also published in French an illustrated diary (Journal) chronicling about a year of her life and, in 2006, an autobiography made from a collage of words cut from magazines and newspapers (J comme Je).
In 2007, Doucet published 365 Days, in which she chronicles her life for a year, starting in late 2002.
After a long hiatus, Doucet came back to publication with Time Zone J (2022).

Reviews

[Ciara · Rating 5 out of 5]

it's not the most original idea in the world: everyday for a year, julie doucet decides that she would draw an autobiographical comic of whatever was going on with the day. but because i like julie's comics, & also because the comics series really started to feel a lot like a diary, full of insecurities, to-do lists, doodles, accounts of dreams, bad news, etc, i liked this a lot. she didn't reach for the funny of the profound--she just drew what she wanted to draw because it was weighing on her mind, & the result was really compelling & inspiring. i myself am not much of an artist, but i am trying to keep a kind of short daily log, somewhat inspired by the example set forth in this book. ooh, now that the new year is upon us once again, maybe i will re-read it for motivation. i mean, part of my attraction to this book is just my own weird obsession with seeing artists practicing self-discipline. you can actually see julie's style shift slightly & become more consistent & stylized over the course of the daily drawing practice she does here, & some of the narratives that emerge from her everyday life are really fascinating (like the threat of drawn & quarterly going under & taking julie's published back catalogue with it, or julie going to france for total culture immersion, etc). this book was fantastic!

[Hannah Garden · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is remarkable how consistent Doucet’s style remains over the course of this. She’s drawing daily diary comics for about a year and a half, I think, and you could flip to any page and not see a crabby mood or a tired hand or ANYTHING evidenced by the line. She is a star and I love her.

[Dov Zeller]

I couldn't get through this one. I like her semi-grotesque style to a point but I found it grating after a while and her journalish musings just didn't hold my attention. I still want to try reading some of her other stuff.

[Margot · Rating 4 out of 5]

You can indeed judge this book by its cover. It's crammed with drawings and words, both handwritten and cut/pasted typewritten text. And intense read!

Julie Doucet gives us an inside glimpse into her life for an entire year, drawing a memoir with daily entries. She is more honest about her daily interactions, inner thoughts and experiences than I could have been, that's for sure.

We favorite voyeur experiences while reading her memoir included learning about the actualities of living as an artist, the experiences of a person living in an English-speaking world who prefers another language (French), some differences between Canada and the USA, and thinking "there by for the grace of God go I" while reading about her numerous horrendous hangovers.

[Marc]

Only made it through 50 pages after many weeks. Normally, I love that kind of dense seeing-inside-the-author's head, especially in illustrated format, but this one never clicked with me. The honesty and realness are laudable. Just not enough for me to continue.

[patty · Rating 4 out of 5]

An impressive book by all counts. It takes a strong work ethic to create such a diary, and this artist is no slouch!

On a personal note I was surprised to meet up with a few acquaintances from Marseille in the pages of this book. My best of friends in Marseille was also included (well, in the very least a nice drawing of her terrasse with a stunning view city, a wonderful place to hangout.) I cannot wait to email her about my discovery, over a decade after the book was published.

[Chelsea Martinez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, no lie, I have had this book checked out from the library for more than a year, Thanks COVID! And I didn't read like one page a day but I really did read it in little bits throughout the 12 months
(whoa, 13 months actually)
I've read a fair number of comic artist diaries chronicling the artists travels because of/paid for via conventions and grants, but this one, given its breadth, gives you a sense of a complete "cycle" of busy and fallow periods, periods of feeling productive, of hating the last thing you made, of wanting to party (and having to party) and staying in feeling hungover, sick, or satisfied staying in alone. It seems like the type of year Doucet has had several of but can't go on having forever. She loves drawing shoes but I really enjoyed the images and stories about printmaking and here interspersed political commentary. The pre-cell phone era means she gets locked out of sublets a lot, but other than that and the specific band names it's kinda timeless.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read only 31 or 32 days, but I'm glad I didn't spend money on this. Basically, Doucet draws one page for each day of the year, but unfortunately, she provides no insight, no depth. She goes various places with various people, or mentions that she works on her linocut, and she doodles a lot on the page, but there's no insight into any of it. Just a catalog of things done. Boring. Pointless and senseless.

[Lilly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julie Doucet draws a page everyday for 1 year from November 2002 to November 2003. It feels just like reading an intimate journal, full of thoughts, dreams, ideas, snippets of conversation, collages, etc. Very slice of life, no strong central theme. She travels a lot to Europe, makes art, has business meetings, hangs out with friends (who are all represented by a single initial, which makes it quite difficult to follow who is who).

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

j’adore Julie Doucet mais ce format n’est pas pratique pour le lecteur dû au surplus d’informations souvent trop désorganisées selon moi. Cependant on retrouve ce côté spontané, persévérant et humain que j’aime tant chez l’autrice. Une belle preuve de discipline se tient dans ce journal.

[Rawdha AlMansoori · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how it took me so long to discover Julie Doucet. She is an absolute delight and her art inspired me to start making my own again.

[Camille · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was more of a companion to me than anything and I loved it.

[Lily O'Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art is v cool. The story is v basic recording of her day to day to life. Really loved all the shout outs to plateau spots.

[Donovan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Picked this up at the store after spotting it while dusting the shelves. I'm a big fan of collage work and comics and I'm trying to read more independent works. I'd never read anything by Julie Doucet; honestly, I'd no idea who she was, so I was absent of any preconceived opinions on the artist or her work.

I have two main thoughts about the book: 1. I wish I could see it in it's original text {and that I could read French}. 2. I kept on thinking back to the world before the ubiquity of constant social media. The casual intimacy of this book was probably much more striking before I knew what everyone's day was like. The "fly on the wall" was a great escape, but I feel like I'm in on every big {and more often, little} secret so this wasn't special to me. This is obviously a fault with me, not with the book. And I want to know these types of things; I wouldn't seek them out otherwise.

It took me a long time to read this, nearly a month. I read it in small batches, mostly on the bus. It's an active read because you search out the text, unlike with a traditional novel where your eye just travels along in neat little rows. I may or may not search out more of her work. I'm interested to see more of her collage work and it was disappointing to me that there was so little collage in the diary.

[Laura Wallace · Rating 3 out of 5]

Julie Doucet is known for her crazy, sexually explicit comics about her crazy dreams and health problems and young adulthood. this book has very little of that. instead, it covers a year of Doucet's life as a thirtysomething professional artist. while she travels and socializes a lot, most of the days described in this book are spent screenprinting, carving linocuts and cutting up old magazines while watching old movies on TV. which is kind of more interesting, at least to me. I'm interested in what other people do all day. I can't really fathom it. following someone who supports herself totally with her creative art was totally eye-opening.

and her drawings are endlessly delightful.

something else I found really fascinating about this book was reading about Julie's day-to-day experiences being bilingual--but definitely more comfortable in French--in a bilingual city, and thinking about how she wrote the diary in French and translated it herself.

[Regan Sharp · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found my copy of this book hidden in the back shelves of a discount bookstore in Amish country in PA. There may be a lesson there in not making your entry into someone's work based on happenstance.

I can't say that I was particularly impressed by any aspect of the book. The cartoons were okay, but not much more than doodles (the artwork in her comics seems to be superior) and on some days less than that--nothing more than squiggles around a few words. (Also, is there a reason that she consistently draws herself with prominent nipples? Do they only sell sheer tops in Canada?) As far as content goes, there doesn't seem to be any justification for chronicling this year of her life. It's not as if nothing at all happens to her, but nothing remarkable, nor does she give the events any sort of meaningful perspective. The backdrop of the US conflict with Iraq doesn't even lend itself to anything more than negative grumbling about Americans.

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julie Doucet has always been one of my favorite cartoonists, but unfortunately for comics readers, she quit comics to pursue other art forms. So this book isn't comics exactly, but maybe it is, depending on how you want to argue about what 'comics' means. Best read at a rate of maybe 20 pages a day, her densely packed diary doesn't have the humor her 'My New York Diary' had, but is nonetheless fascinating as a document of a year in the life of an artist. As with all 'diary comics' there are times when I wish the page-a-day rule would be abandoned in favor of getting more in depth with some subjects/storylines, but the book does manage to at least stick to some threads. My other quibble would be the replacement of names with initials - I found it a little tough sometimes to keep track of who D. or A. or E. was in relation to M. or O. or L.

[Pippypippy Madden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've long been a fan of Julie D. Her comic, Dirty Plotte, was her best work, in my opinion. But this book provides a glimpse into everyday life and work as an artist, from a very interesting perspective of being part of the art scene in Canada. The drawing style is slightly different, as she has taken to drawing herself looking more mature but she maintains her earthiness and honesty. The dream sequences are funny and sweet as always. Her layouts and the sense of perspective are wonderfully imaginative and odd. My only problem with this book is its slightly repetitive, but hey, I am pleased to have every morsel of Julie D.'s stories I can get my hands on. She rocks.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is very good. An interesting and seemingly accurate account of the author/artist's day to day life; including the grind that is the life of a struggling albeit successful cartoonist. Doucet is indeed an artist - don't let the cartoons fool you, this is still a demanding and difficult pursuit. I'm also impressed that much of her work is lino cutting and printing.

It is sometimes difficult to make out what has been written and the pages can be visually tiring to look at for very long. I think the best way to read this book is to do it one day at a time, on the actual dates as Doucet lived them. It might be interesting to try that method as a form of journaling.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because I already love Julie Doucet, and it was interesting to me to get a glimpse of her day-to-day life. However, I agree with some of the reviewers that she is complains quite a lot(!) and the format can be headache inducing. I would never recommend this to someone who has never read her work. My New York Diary is definitely a better choice for first time readers, and a great read overall. 365 is really only one for serious Julie Doucet lovers or people simply interested in the act of drawing a comics diary for a year.

[Elusive.Mystery · Rating 5 out of 5]

So far, the best book of the year. Julie Doucet is a French Canadian comic artist whose work I didn’t know until I came upon this gem at Powell’s. She kept a journal in comic book format for a year, drawing herself in an unflattering way, most often making scowling grimaces when she’s annoyed. I loved reading about places she visited, books she read, and work she accomplished. This was a great little book I loved dragging around everywhere until I was done; the best comparison I could make to it as a “favorite” book would be Brian Eno’s “A Year with Swollen Appendices.”

[Haley · Rating 1 out of 5]

comic artists need to get over themselves. This is mostly a diary of complaints- don't know bout you but if I was only making art as my full time gig- I would be happy as, as...Pie? (what's the phrase?) I have never read a comic's diary that didn't make me like them less by the end of it.
On the upside, it made me want to put it down (almost everytime I picked it up) and go do some art instead.

[Jenny Montgomery · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Julie Doucet's comics and it was fun to read her page-a-day comic diary all about her life in Montreal, trials and tribulations of the art/comics world, friends and family, and domestic life with her cat. Sometimes I wished it dig a little deeper, like her graphic novels and memoirs, but I still found it a fun and satisfying read. The drawing style is not as dense and black as her other work, so at first I found it weird but later I liked how loose it was.

[Joe · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was intriguing but very unsatisfying. An artist has to do some really spectacular work for me to be interesting in reading a whole year of one day/page comics for 365 days. I like how she draws herself grubby and malformed but reading about print shops and trying to make deadlines and self-referential stuff about the book I am reading is not fun. I admit I only made it about 1/4 into the year and then skipped around but then dropped it completely.

[Steve · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Julie Doucet's work so I'm kinda biased here. Routinely great. Pretty interesting insight in the day-to-day life of a "struggling Canadian artist" Page layout can be problematic for the uninitiated and the smaller format got to be hard to read at times (but that could just be me being old). I would have liked a larger format (8x10) but whatcha gonna do. I don't know if this will win over any new fans but it was really fun to read.

[O. · Rating 2 out of 5]

From this book, I learned that too much input makes me grumbly. Although I enjoyed 2 comic journals recently, this one was just too much - I could not find anything to connect to in it. I think I was too lost in the unorganized frenetic feel of the book.

My life is already a hot mess, I apparently need a little more organization in some aspect of my life - and was not finding anything worth holding on to in this journal. So, that's what I learned.

[Samra · Rating 2 out of 5]

i liked the drawing mixed with collage. otherwise it was rather boring and struggle to get through due to her switch between print and cursive both of which weren't quite legible. she just tells you what she does day in and out with little-to-no explanation of WHY or how she feels. She goes off about using English or that she doesn't "get" Americans but never shows the reader any back story as to how her feelings came about. Sadly this is not a keeper for me.

[jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

dang! this is dense. i am new to julie doucet, and i like this very much. it is a book i think i can pick up and read and feel inspired, put it down, repeat...for years!
she basically draws and writes about her daily life as an artist, going to the studio, meeting deadlines, etc.
it is so different from my daily routine that it is refreshing to read.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The compulsive desire to document daily life is contagious. I send a postcard a day to people instead of keeping a journal. This comic version of a year in one artist's life is like time travel. looking back through a year in someone else's life, the details that they add or those that they leave out...