About Me, Catherine Hébert

Bonjour, and welcome to The Ugly Cat Studio!

I'm Catherine Hébert, an artist based in Montréal.  By day I work as a visual effects artist, but by night I'm the creative brains behind the Cat!

My background is in fine arts, and I have degrees in both traditional animation (the 2D kind...you know, like Disney used to do?) and in 3D animation.

I've built a career of almost two decades in the visual effects industry, specializing in concept art, textures and matte painting. Eventually I worked my way up to Visual Effects Supervisor. You might have even seen some of the films and tv series I worked on!

But in all that time, I never lost my passion for illustration. So here I am, sharing my love of art with the world.

My Portfolio

The Ugly Cat Studio Story

The Studio is named for my childhood cat Russell, who for the record, was not ugly at all!

When I was 17 or 18, I made a quick doodle of Russell while he was sleeping on the couch. My mom kept it on a pin board in the kitchen, and for years I recalled the drawing fondly.

Far too many years and approximately one pandemic later, when I decided to finally take the leap and start selling my own illustrations to the world, my mother produced the 'ugly cat' drawing I had made so long before. She'd kept it for all that time, and even gotten it framed!

And now Russell serves as the inspiration, mascot, and logo of the Ugly Cat Studio.

All the artwork at the Ugly Cat is original, illustrated by me. No AI generated content and no mass market cookie cutter designs here, no sir! Every single illustration is a painstaking labor of love, directly from the pen of the artist.

Explore what the Ugly Cat has to offer!