One Story in a single picture
You don’t judge a book by its cover… who doesn’t know this adage?
Though, this adage is false.
You always judge a book by its cover. At least initially.
And, even more, we remember it because of its cover. Whether we liked or hated this book, this music album or this film, we will remember it much better thanks to – or because of – its cover… because it will magnify the feeling of love or hatred for the work it represents.
Try to imagine a bookstore full of white-covered books with the same standard typography ; a music store full of white CDs in their white boxes ; or a long row of blank movie posters marked “Star Wars”, “Schindler’s List”, “The Silence of the Lambs” or “Delicatessen”… Would they have remained in everyone’s imagination and memory the same way?
The colored ambiance, the typography, the composition, the style… all of this will remain intimately linked to your experience of this particular work. This particular World.
An Illustration is the forge of a memory, the remembrance of an emotional world, the doorway to an unique imagination.
And it is the role of the Illustrator to understand and transmit it.
What is your style?
I have over 20 years of experience in Illustration. I was led to develop almost all styles and a very large number of techniques.
I master as much the subjects of Heroic-Fantasy as those of Science-Fiction, “Real Life” or Illustrations for Children. I handle sketches as much as ink, brush, pen, marker layout, acrylic, oil paint, pastels, crayons, watercolor or digital illustration…
The efficiency of an illustration is not only transmitted by the scene represented, but also by the technique and style used. The illustration technique is the “body language” of the scene it represents. A specific scene painted with acrylic color will not convey the same message as the same scene drawn with pen and black ink…
There are certain stereotypes related to certain types or themes of illustrations; “memes” that impose their “graphic and illustrative conditioning” on such or such genre. These are nothing but clichés.
I chose to distance myself from an ultra-specialization. And I chose to not to be constrained by such or such theme mandatorily executed with such or such technique. Henceforth, I can propose a work of Science-Fiction treated with charcoal, an Heroic-Fantasy novel designed with black ink, or a children’s illustration displayed in watercolor, teeming with intricate detail…
If you have a well-defined style of writing, music or filming; then I will create the style of illustration that corresponds to it.
Things to remember
Generally, I work initially with sketches or mockups that I propose to the client for he can have an idea of the concept towards which we are heading, a working basis.
Then, once the concept and the composition are decided, I can establish a transitional sketch, if necessary. At this stage, if the illustration is in color or requires a particular intervention (embedding a specific logo, a typographic game, a specific texture, etc.), I include it in this sketch or I propose certain alternatives (like different ranges of colored atmospheres) to achieve the validation and then proceed toward the final stage: the final rendering.
In general, no intervention is needed once the final artwork is completed. But in very rare cases, technical requirements or last-minute graphic or conceptual composition changes may require certain adjustments. But in 20 years of illustration, this has only happened to me twice, on fairly minor details.
Of course, it also happens that I am contacted for types of illustrations with a specific style and/or technique that I have already used in the past to obtain a similar illustrative message. Alternatively, some clients trust me enough to start the final phase directly, leaving me a great deal of freedom once the initial briefing has been completed.