Happy new year everyone.

See you in 2014. or not.

Oh wow, 5 month (winter update)

I really neglected this place. Mostly because I stopped the Illo Friday routine, when I DID receive the topics every other week, they were usually something that I had already illustrated the past years, in a group in which I never fit anyway.

Also because I had a tremendous amount of work and stopped being obsess with the wacom and digital painting in my daily activity. I took on old school pen and ink, after years of using only brushes and industrial roll point markers (Mitsubishi's uni-ball). It gave me greater accuracy, and the possibility to sculpt details easier than with a thick brush stroke that requires almost a single gesture, and yet gives a more living line than a metal roll pen.

Currently working on another automotive comic book for french publisher Glenat.

Our Chapman Biography in english has received excellent reviews, even if this kind of product is very far from the english habits and runs the risk to stay confined to petrol heads.

 C'mon, buy it on amazon, give me your money, you know you want to.

 And our next book in french will be out next month, it will be my 6th full comic book since I got fired 3 years ago, not counting the commercial jobs and translations. There are a lot of wonderful people that I am thankful to, and some of that old days that can go ... well, revise their judgement to put it that way.

out January 29th

There are still plenty of digital work done on those traditional pen on paper graphic books, but mostly, I try to use the wacom with Manga Studio for inking and Photoshop for coloring only for commercial work, where a very sleek and soft design is needed.

Here is my latest attempt, for our good friends at tailgatecafe , Canada, maker of leather bags, musics ... and crêpes !

 The first Draft is made on paper with pencil and roll-pen

See you in a couple of weeks for the annual Season greetings cards, those will also be made in digital painting, for the challenge.

making money with the wacom

Here is a picture that I did for one of our regular customers, I wanted to ink it with the wacom to have a really smooth and silky line.

First draft during the brainstorming

First accurate layout, pen on paper.

the pencil drawing, as precise as possible is scanned

Inking in Manga Studio with a slight auto-stabilisation.

crude photoshop colors

 and then effects and volumes

Ready to be composed with the text and sent to the customer through the interweb.

Miss Wacom 18/06 (June) /2013

Good bye Illo Friday

For some reason I don't recieve the newsletter from Illustration friday with the weekly topic anymore. Probably a good sign that it is maybe time that I move on to a creative challenge that would be more my style and less little girls and happy butterflies for grandma'. Let me know if you know of any.
The primary goal of this space was to try to achieve some modern illustration work with the wacom, a new challenge for me at the time, I was born in 1969 and there hardly was any computers around when I graduated from art school. I cannot say that I managed to find the same freedom of sketch with my wacom that the one I have with pen, brush and paper, but this week, I finished a commercial graphic novel that was almost entirely digitally made, with the help of my co worker Robert Paquet
.
And I have the vanity to think that it doesn't look too bad.


So even if I keep the pen and paper for my personal comic production, more and more of my commercial works are done with the evil wacom. I will try to use this place as my mad scientist laboratory to exerce and experiment.... when I can find some free time.
Thank you for reading this blog through the years, time to move on.

Harry Octane in Moto magazine

Nicolas Grumel gives us a cool insight of my work with Harry Octane in the "moto-culture" blog of his magazine Motomag Online here.

Harry Octane 2 is also mentionned in the june issue of the motorcycle magazine Motomag.
And this makes me feel very proud because it's one of the major french motorcyclist magazines

Motomag.com
Les essais motos et scooter, les annonces occasions, l’actu (vidéos, défense de la moto, nouveautés, sport), la cote moto, le guide pour bien s’équiper (casques, pneus,...).

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Tension

Adjusting the tension of you chain on an english motorcycle

Illustration Friday - Liquid

A typical view of a typical belgium spring.

I've had a very busy couple of weeks.

First I got stuck in bed with a bad cold, then finished my comic book, then a mariage then a family reunion, a short motorcycle trip to italy to watch a superbike race then a oldtimer show then a few signings here and there then a rather annoying and long job to do so I finally have an excuse to waste some time here again.

Hope your spring is less wet and cold than ours is. 

Photo Peter van Hul

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - wild

I was a teenage punk rocker

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Urban (guerillia)

Modern Urban warfare

Manga Studio + Photoshop

Illustration Friday "Egg"

Sorry, I moved while taking the screenshots. Anyone knows one of those freeware key frame screenshot video maker thingy ?

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY Eye Glass

If there is someone out there in the cold void of the internet witnessing these years of endless frustration and failure, behold, a new era in Illo Friday, the Manga Studio years ! The Manga Studio 5 I bought is a lot more complex than the Manga Studio 4 that I tried and experimented the last couple of days, so I still have to fiddle with all the options and functions, but it transformed the feeling of the Wacom (only an Intuos, not even a fancy Cintiq) and brush like inking became suddenly so much easier. I don't think this page ever brought me any job, but here I am now, ready to enter the wonderful world of professional overpaid visual communication. We're working on a project right now to be honest. More soon.

On other good news, this week, in book-stores, my 4rth comic book since I was fired exactly 3 years ago, so I have a lot of happy F$ck you to say to people who thought I would never again do anything without them, and an even bigger lots of thank you for my publisher, readers, friends, helping colleagues, and many people that I had the chance to meet along this extraordinary turn of events.

The book is called "Harry Octane 2 - Virage Mystique" and I don't think it will ever be translated in english, unlike the other series I'm working on, and which should be available in english in September.

Enjoy your weekend, I know I will enjoy mine even if the snow is still blocking the mighty english bike in the garage...

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - yesterday

Yesterday, I was in a comic book convention in Holland. I met a lot of nice people.

EDIT: I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS, yesterday I saw some really cool digital inkings so I just had to test this software, and it is clear now, all the years I struggled with Photoshop and Sketchbook, I just wasn't using the right tool for the job. so I just done a new version of this illustration with Manga Studio, easier, faster, cooler, I need to learn how to use it now.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY -Whisper

Hello. My name is Xtian and I am a bike whore.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Wool

SOMETIMES HAROLD WOULD EXPERIENCE A GLOOMY COLD SHIVER AT THE IDEA THAT MARLENE WAS JUST USING HIM

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Storm

Ok winter, it was fun for a while, go to hell now.

I'm off to Paris this weekend to sign our books at the retromobile festival. See you there!

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Wheel

Seriously ? Wheels are about the only thing I can think of that are easier done on a computer than freehand. You want wheels ? Check my webpage, hundreds, thousands of wheels. 

I was wrong about the snow

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Wings 2

Yes, I deleted yesterday's post for "wings". It was so terrible it made my eyes hurt and I couldn't sleep just thinking about it. Plus, I can do whatever I want.

You meet the nicest people on a Honda, god rides a Harley, but the devil rides a Triumph.
Still very frustrated by this wacom pen, it feels big and heavy compared to an actual pen or brush and I cannot do any decent lines.
At least the frustration of not riding my motorcycle should go away within a few few days, once all the snow melt.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - myth

Andromeda. (From wikipedia)

In Greek mythology, Andromeda is the daughter of Cepheus, an Aethiopian king, and Cassiopeia. When Cassiopeia's hubris leads her to boast that Andromeda is more beautiful than the Nereids, Zeus sends a sea monster to ravage Aethiopia as divine punishment. Andromeda is chained to a rock as a sacrifice to sate the monster, but is saved from death by Perseus, her future husband.

I ran out of paper, I cannot work on my comic book until I can get some. They said "early january"

I'm stuck on page 31 of 46 .

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY "Ocean"

I hate this wacom. Maybe I should find a creative group with a little more interaction and a little less little princess. Do you know any ?