Sparth Construct

New Year Update

2012-01-11T22:37:00.005+01:00

I haven't updated the Construct for ages, so time to give a bit of an update to start the new year. The most important part of my update is dedicated to Structura 2, my second book will hit the shelves at the end of January of this new year. i have been putting a lot of dedication and time to this second opus during 2011, and we finally managed to get it done. a huge thank you for Scott Robertson, Tinti Dey, Jenny Sue, and DesignStudioPress for their dedication and patience. big Thanks to all who have participated to the project, with awesome words from my friends David Levy, Kenneth Scott and Stephan Martiniere. releasing a book is always an adventure. when the road is smooth, and bumps minimal, it's always a plus. Structura2 will soon be available via DesignStudioPress or Amazon.

I was going through io9 the other day, and stumbled on an article about a book cover that was released with a piece of art i did. the cover looks great. here's a link to the article: Book cover art that'll make you wish you lived on a space station. The book is a selection of short stories compiled by Jonathan Strahan.

On a side note, i am now on Tumblr, and you can follow me here: http://sparth.tumblr.com/
and for the photography side, i also finally joined 500px with a selection of my best shots from these last two years.
IDsoftware's Rage was released back in october last year, and we have seen some pieces of concept art pop from from the game. On my side, i still have dozens of pieces i haven't showed yet. i will probably post some more on my Tumblr account, but do know that there are already a few pieces published on my CGhub gallery.

Greg Bear's Primordium is finally out. i was honored to do the cover for the series. Primordium is the second book, after Cryptum last year. That's about it for now. i will have truckloads of things to actually post, and i guess they'll resurface in my mind pretty soon. will have more updates then. Happy new year to all!

Pas de tir

2011-06-21T19:10:00.007+02:00

more productions from this year. "Pas de tir" is a fast iteration based on an existing photo that i deconstructed to the point of no return. The first cover was used for the "best science fiction and fantasy of the year volume 5, a compilation done by Jonathan Strahan.

medieval interlude sketch

2011-06-18T10:55:00.005+02:00

First of all, Halo4 has been announced by Microsoft and 343Industries.

i'm proud being part of the adventure.

on a side note, I have been experimenting with so many techniques during these last months... it's sometimes healthy and fun going back to plain brushes and concentrate on shape balance and visual flow. here's a doodle done this way.

Survol

2011-04-17T04:21:00.003+02:00

Using reference is for me a bit problematic. if i decide to go with a strong ref, i end up not being able to extract what my brain wants. i get glued to the reference, unable to express myself fully. and vice versa, no ref at all means i end up with a strict product of my imagination. it also means my image will be lacking in realism, or rather, this dear "believability factor" that we all strive to obtain, especially in Scifi pieces.

i didn't use any ref for this one. the only thing i was having was this photo of a piece of glass i had found online, probably coming from an industrial constructor showing a sample of their glass stuff for marketing reasons. i found the tones fascinating and got inspired. i guess the whole thing made sense at a particular moment. :)

on the technical side, i have been painting a lot with the smudge tool lately, thanks to mister Thom Scholes himself. The smudge tool can allow a great control of your shapes via displacement of entire pannels and areas of your canvas. it's fascinating.

more art from these last weeks

2011-04-11T07:07:00.004+02:00

i'm always thinking i have a lot to say, until i decide to update my blog and then nothing comes up. so here's the art. enjoy.

Images for Japan (des images pour le Japon)

2011-03-17T08:31:00.005+01:00

My friends from the french art site Cafesale.net have started a project in order to help Japan and the dramatic situation going on right now in the North East. the project can be found here: Tsunami - Des Images pour le Japon it's all in french, but the images don't need words do they?

Here is my modest contribution for their fantastic and courageous initiative.

Images - First selection for 2011

2011-02-07T02:42:00.014+01:00

I should probably not even wish a happy new year to all since we're in february, but anyway. here's a (late) first post for this new year. I've been preparing and gathering quite a lot of new images for a second book that will happen sometimes this year. there's still a lot to do but it's already coming along fine. I will probably have a section dedicated to specific methods i have been using these last years and i hope it'll be a nice helper for some, or at least a visual stimulation that will give more food to any creative process. More soon.

On the custom shapes front, i have been experimenting here and there. The medieval interlude posted above, as i call them, has been done using this technique a lot. it totally gives a fast and effective result. Very exciting. However, the images done this way need to be counter balanced with smoother brush work and visual junctions in order to cut some of the obligatory harsh edges given by custom shapes. One way to do this is to use the smudge tool in order to erases some of these edges. the blue space piece was done the same way, but i skipped the last smoothing steps a bit, and it shows. The more textured piece is just a basic sketch that transformed itself into a more achieved image. More weirdness soon.

The custom shapes tool

2010-11-13T16:41:00.008+01:00

It's been a month since i started experimenting with a new technique based on custom shapes. i had given it a try last year but i just couldn't figure out how it was going to be THAT useful to a work process already based on custom brushes. it turns out that custom shapes are, in a way, far more versatile than brushes when it comes to organizing your canvas. the "abstract" factor is partly taken out of the workflow. not entirely though, as you can still mess around with insane shapes. but the way you apply shapes is just more connected to the environment you're creating, allowing super fast compositions in no time at all. i'll continue pushing this technique as it is, for now, extremely promising.

here's an environment extract i'm working on, done mainly with custom shapes. also, go visit kekai's blog for his latest, it's based on custom shapes and it's one thousand times worth it.

Hunchback Racer

2010-10-26T05:43:00.002+02:00

a personal image done in a few hours.

halo cryptum

2010-10-22T08:45:00.003+02:00

343Industries and Microsoft have announced the first volume of the Forerunner trilogy written my Greg Bear. here is the cover for the novel.

i also have been continuing my ipad explorations and will post another batch of concepts very soon. The Artstudio app has been updated not long ago, and i got to admit it is becoming my favorite of the bunch now. line tool is awesome, and they finally implemented a clone stamp tool which is easily configurable and a pleasure to use. Now i hope they will add a selection tool soon, as it's the only feature i wish to see on the ipad one day.

more soon!

Give me a clone stamp tool on the ipad!

2010-09-29T06:46:00.009+02:00

After two weeks of doodling around on the ipad, i got to admit it's an awesome digital tool, and this despite the lack of pen pressure which is dramatically missing from what could have been the perfect digital sketchbook.

Now it's not all marvelous though, and this for one reason: you have 5 main drawing apps on the ipad, and each one of them is having features that the other don't have.

finger tool? ARTSTUDIO, and LAYERS.

clone stamp tool? only in PHOTOFORGE.

add an overlay layer? BRUSHES.

save your custom brushes and parameters? ARTSTUDIO.

"multiply" blending mode? SKETCHBOOK PRO, BRUSHES.

anyway you see the point. it's pretty infuriating!

i have high hopes that there will be additional features soon that will allow us to chose an app for good instead of permanently sending sketches to the photo album in order to switch from one app to the next. just in case it may happen one day, there's one feature i would LOVE to see implemented, in a better way, and whatever the app: Only PHOTOFORGE is having it for now, and in a very basic way: the CLONE STAMP TOOL. seriously, maybe it's probably only considered as a photo thing by many, useless for anything related to conceptart. well you're dead wrong! Clone stamping is vital to my own workflow as it allows me to reproduce entire areas, and it totally belongs to a concept art process.

we're at the very beginning of the Ipad, and i'm already excited about what's on there. can't wait to see more !

here's three sketches done in ... multiple apps!

Naval myth

2010-09-17T00:33:00.002+02:00

Another fast sketch leading to weirdness. thanks for your attention and comments!

Inner bridge

2010-09-13T06:56:00.002+02:00

personal work

2010

Medieval Interlude II

2010-06-18T10:07:00.005+02:00

two months since my last update. wow! - Medieval interlude II is just a personal work. Also, i have another Dune cover out on the french market. and last, i wanted to thank the zupi mag team in Brazil for their interview done last month. As well as Sam bathe who presented an awesome presentation of my photos for the "fan the fire" mag June 2010 edition, here.

their tree

2010-04-22T10:01:00.005+02:00

an hour and a half playing with color tones and random shapes, it gave this at the end. i can't help but think i had Avatar in the very far back of my mind for this one.
Among other news, i just wanted to share that link to an interview i've done for nicolas Tarier and Pauline osmond at Artspire. huge thanks to them for their dedication.
oh, and i'm also on CGhub now.

built up north

2010-04-16T07:51:00.003+02:00

tried this exercise tonight: imagine a small scenario before painting it. it worked pretty well. 3 hours of digital sculpting.

Structura - second printing available!

2010-04-07T01:12:00.003+02:00

Structura - the art of sparth. is now back in stocks! the second printing is finally available on Amazon. it will probably take longer for the books to reach other book stores, but i'm sure it's only a matter of days. you can get it here.
it seems that it's not yet available on the designstudiopress website. more soon.

patrol

2010-04-04T06:41:00.003+02:00

i rarely draw mech any more. i'm a bit rusty in that department. same for characters actually. i gave it a try with a foreground character this time. it's interesting to me, observing how things are going so smoothly when there's only architecture in a scene. add a character in there and i'll be spending time refining, changing things, getting lost into details. i should draw bots only :)

trantor interpreted

2010-04-02T09:17:00.003+02:00

and yet another distorted compo for the fun. it's still a work in progress, but as i am less reluctant than before at adding hours on sketches, it's no big deal. i'll finish it soon.

medieval interlude

2010-03-29T23:01:00.001+02:00

i have been painting so many spaceships and flying things lately. here's another type of scene for a change. 2 hours of distorted pixels and shapes.

mother planet 2

2010-03-26T05:30:00.006+01:00

inspired by my previous attempt. tried another extremely vertical version. 3 hours of deconstruction from the first image.

mother planet

2010-03-25T07:53:00.004+01:00

and yet another tribute to the world of asimov's Foundation. i don't think i had a specific spot in mind. it just came out after finishing the second book. the mule, and the tragic ending of the first foundation. it could as well be trantor, or kalgan. anyway. my addiction to spaceships isn't fading!

urban pilot

2010-03-21T07:19:00.004+01:00

until now, i rarely had the dedication to spend more than 5 hours on a concept. but i have probably opened some cool "doors" lately, that allow me to be more successful at doing more finished works, without killing the images. here's an image done this way. always trying to keep the loose aspect from beginning to end. it's tuff. but rewarding.
this image is dedicated to my friend scott robertson. the flying thing in the middle is clearly "concept design 1" inspired. many thanks scott for all that visual stimulation!

and a small extract from the lower left part.

up jim river

2010-03-18T18:56:00.002+01:00

Up jim river by michael flynn, a book cover done for Tor a few months ago. i realized i had not posted it on the blog yet. i'm uploading it before posting more recent pieces very soon.

life surface

2010-03-13T08:49:00.004+01:00

i have tested this new technique lately and i tend to have interesting results out of this. two hours of messy blurby shapes. i'm glad having your feedbacks. i cannot believe i have let my blog silent for so long. catching up now!

another dune tribute

2010-03-12T06:28:00.002+01:00

here's another dune tribute for tonight. i did this one by extracting a lot of shapes from a previous painting. pretty fun, and rather fast. oh, also, don't pay attention to the blog changing tones every now and then. it's in rainbow mode lately as i'm updating things all the time, and i can't decide which tones suit best my images. :)

refueling

2010-03-11T00:08:00.003+01:00

personal sketch. started this one with bold brushes without any pressure sensitivity on opacity etc. pretty tricky for me to start that way, but it's fun nonetheless.

more flying things

2010-03-09T19:37:00.003+01:00

more flying things for your viewing pleasure. :) oh, and that link has been circulating here and there lately. it's pretty amazing. i'm still wondering if this whole thing is real.

fin d'empire

2010-03-05T09:09:00.003+01:00

wow. i've been posting like a turtle for months, and now this... but i'm i a good period, and it would be a shame not to paint for the fun. just came back from Avatar. seen it a second time with my friend robogabo. second viewing wasn't as fascinating, but this movie is changing all the rules in so many ways... it's genius.

hoovering postman

2010-03-04T19:12:00.004+01:00

it could as well have been a small tribute to IDsoftware's Rage. i impulsively designed that small beat up flying car the other day. i love postapo stuff. i prefer my version to the kevin costner's version on a horse. :)

Tribute to Foundation

2010-03-03T09:47:00.003+01:00

A small tribute to Asimov's Foundation. no specific scene. Also, i have been messing around with my blog, i can't decide what template i should keep. i guess none! as usual, the simpler the better. i still haven't found back all my links. will put them back slowly.

Tribute to Dune

2010-02-26T19:57:00.002+01:00

A small tribute to Dune. This one is just a sketch for a possible cover, but they chose different options we're still working on. i still liked this version though.

ImagineFX interview in issue 53

2010-01-15T06:20:00.006+01:00

I wanted to mention this article with an interview i did for the very kind folks from ImagineFX. I've had an exciting time working with them on it, and i would also like to thank them for their patience, as i've been slower than a snail nowadays when it comes to give materials on time.

In the US, ImagineFX is usually available at Barnes & Nobles as well as at Borders. you can visit this page in order to check availability depending on the country. It should be out in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2010, and three weeks later in the rest of the world.

2010 Update.

2010-01-15T05:21:00.005+01:00

It's about time for an update. I would have so much to say, but i'd have the page filled in no time. For the same reason, i'll select things at a more reasonable pace. First of all the blog has been revamped. i apologize if anything weird pops up, but i'm so bad at these things. I lost all my links for now, but will update as soon as possible.

Structura - The art of Sparth, will be available very soon. The first print has been sold out for quite a few months now, but no worries, DesignStudioPress, Amazon as well as other retailers will have it very soon. i'd like to give a big thanks to those who have been waiting to obtain a copy. i did my best to reply to your emails concerning the fact Structura was nowhere available.

Microsoft and 343Industries released Halo: Evolutions - Essential Tales of the Halo Universe, a few days ago. The book is now in stores. My friend Robogabo and myself, shared the work for the book art, and both have contributed to several images. Robogabo did the front cover as well as two pieces inside. I did two black and white images for the inside pages too.

Back in November, SFsignal did another one of these book cover "smackdown". It's always a neat exercise. This time, they were featuring a cover i did last year for Paul McAuley's Gardens of the Sun, a book that will be out around march 2010. In the same style as "the quiet war", the image is mainly a funky depiction of spaceship epicness.
Last but not least, i've been going more and more into photography during these last months, and i am planning to build an even stronger link between conceptart and photo works, not to forget about all the post processing work that goes with it. I hope you'll enjoy my photos as much as my illustrations. oh, and most important: a Happy new Year to all of you!

outer transport + interview

2009-05-30T02:49:00.003+02:00

I though it was time for me to introduce to you my new concept, and i hope this one will go a long way. it's a blog dedicated to my space related images. and it's called "Outer Transport". i will slowly add more to the blog, but i was still excited having the main intent being published right now.

Also, Mihai, from Dark wolf's fantasy reviews, posted an interview i gave him the other day. it's all about casually explaining my feeling towards art and the creation process. my passions, as well as everything that goes with it. i want to thank mihai a lot as he's been very patient waiting for my different feedbacks, and i am not a very punctual guy myself. i hope you will find it interesting.

Book cover smackdown!

2009-04-16T23:36:00.008+02:00

My friend Lou Anders sent me two links to a pretty fun concept on sfsignal.com. It's what they call "Book cover smackdown!". like some sort of a cover fight - point your favorite, with comments added. It's interesting and the feedbacks are valuable and different than elsewhere too. You can go check it here:

terra-insegura vs haze vs boneshaker

salamander vs the quiet war

A good way to introduce the cover i did for HAZE last year. erm. At least i think it was last year... and also, i really zapped this one since i did it while doing my migration from Dallas to Seattle. It's a book cover for the Star Trek universe. I'm not particularly good at strictly respecting such a renowned IP when it comes to detailing and style. But the good thing was that the typical star trek elements were really quite invisible.

january dancer - electric candle city

2009-04-02T08:41:00.006+02:00

These aren't new. but since i never posted them, here they are now. attached to this blog forever and ever. second one is a cover for TOR.
Sorry for having kept you waiting, moving is not easy. it's now done: we're very well installed in the east of "sunny" Seattle. Happy altogether and enjoying life. tons of things to post soon. new book covers. new art. new adventures ahead: new company for me, new life for my happy family, and a new balance for us all.
oh and by the way, Structura is sold out! it's a great news indeed as it means we reached, thanks to all of you, our expectations. there should be a reprint pretty soon.

happy new year!

2009-01-14T19:13:00.007+01:00

Happy New Year to all of you!

i've been very silent lately. two reasons for this. first of all we're now a family of 5. Baby Zelie was born on december 9, 2008. she's a very easy baby, to the point where we were wondering why she was sleeping so much during the first 20 days! her two brothers are very kind with her, so fascinated by this little squeeking thing.

The second reason is that i will very soon leave Texas and IDsoftware in order to go to Seattle. it's always a bit difficult to take that type of decision, since we had our house here, as well as a permanent sun throughout the year. No matter where destiny leads us, that's the way it goes. I can assure you that planning a move with a new born baby and two kiddoes is not an easy task for sure!

I've been doing a lot of Concepts for RAGE since 2005, and i hope these images will one day pop out of the boxes for your viewing pleasure. i'll probably look back at these in a few months with a lot of Nostalgia.

here's two concept arts showed to the press last year.

B&W tests - Wired

2008-09-18T00:51:00.012+02:00

Today WIRED posted a gallery with concept ships on its frontpage. WIRED being pretty big and mainstream, it's a pleasure seeing these images on their site. (thanks jenna!).

Apart from this, i still have this regular batch of tests. here's two black and white images taken from the bunch.

Structura is out!

2008-04-25T19:18:00.008+02:00

Structura is finally here, or at least you can obtain it on the DesignStudioPress site for now. it should be on Amazon and other stores in the next days or weeks.
I am of course delighted to see the book being released. It is always a pleasure to touch the final object and have it in the hands: the quality of the printing is amazing. Not to say i am grateful to DSP and Scott Robertson for this project to see the day. I also hope it will match your expectations.

Sparth

tripod or octopod or else

2008-01-30T21:08:00.000+01:00

don't know why, but this one had to be rapidly extracted from my mind. it was pretty impulsive. i guess that i create better when things are dictated by impulse.

white thing, manufacture 222

2008-01-25T17:04:00.001+01:00

Prime Spot

2008-01-16T07:28:00.000+01:00

Happy new year 2008 everyone!

here's a small brush test slowly transformed into an image. oh, and most important, my book STRUCTURA is officially finished. it should be out in march. more informations soon.

sparth

Latest Covers

2007-11-07T00:01:00.000+01:00

i may not have a lot of time in my schedule, but don't ask me how, i managed to squeeze three book covers in there. done over the last months. the best way to keep track of the stuff i've done is probably to make a post here on the blog.

the covers for croisiere sans escale, by brian aldiss and Fahrenheit 451 by ray bradbury were both done for french publishers. my friend benjamin carre added the final touches to that bradbury cover since i fell ill at the exact same moment i had to send it to the publisher.

the middle cover, untitled the martian general's daughter, by theodore judson, was done for Lou Anders and PYR publishing. It's actually my second cover for the US market.

DS Sketches

2007-11-05T22:52:00.000+01:00

A large tribute has to be given to jens andersson for that little COLOR program, that gives us artists the ability to paint wherever we want, with no real constraints. the nintendo DS is light, the screen is bright enough, and the proggie is very well done, with all the basic features necessary for doing fast sketches and concepts. Not to forget that they managed to implement pressure sensitivity and opacity to the brush system.

It's actually the first time we artists have an access to such a tool, even if it is via the DS. It seems unbelievable that in 2007, no company has taken the time to create such a portable platform specialized for this usage. We are in such a specialized niche, i suppose.

These are the first tests i've done. and you can see more on the COLORS gallery, here.
If you want to look at the process, playbacks are available at the bottom of each image page.

Assassin's Creed

2007-10-22T17:13:00.000+02:00

looks like "assassin's creed" is near completion, and artworks are starting to appear here and there. CGsociety has just released an article on the subject, mainly oriented around the artistic direction and concept design of the game. i gave them a tiny tiny interview concerning my contribution to this project, and they're also featuring my friends raphael lacoste and vyle. left the project at the end of 2005, and it's actually fun seeing things from two years ago being finally shown. here's a concept of one of the cities.

Suspended Structures

2007-10-06T01:17:00.001+02:00

Cenotaxis - extract

2007-09-11T04:53:00.000+02:00

Moving from an apartment to a house is a crazy process, especially when kids are in the way when you move boxes around. actually i guess it's far more exciting for them that for us. Anyway it is now done. we moved. The house is great. huge. and we are happy and exhausted.

Tinnitus is still here, and unfortunately the 1 year milestone has been reached in august. It is sometimes hard to plan the future when you don't know what tomorrow will be made of. sound? no sound? full sound? "T", as they call it, is a bit like a torture. true it is not cancer, and theorically i'm not going to die tomorrow because of it. but when the sound is at its peak, i sometimes wonder how i'm able to deal with it without losing my mind. it's a day after day process i suppose... and there's still very bearable moments, so i'll shut my mouth.

Anyway i'm still creative, and that's probably the only thing that counts. here's an extract of an illustration i did around june, for the cover of a novel by Sean Williams, called Cenotaxis.

Milicia

2007-08-16T00:02:00.000+02:00

it's been a while...

Space Taichi

2007-06-05T07:15:00.000+02:00

another doodle done quick.

oh, and apart from that, it's going to be a sad period: no more LOST, no more Battlestar Galactica... if you have any good scifi shows as good as these, i'm ready for any advices. it will help me wait until 2008.

sparth

richdig

2007-04-04T07:25:00.000+02:00

emptiness ... nostalgia ... space.

well, that's about it.

miniblimp

2007-02-24T07:33:00.000+01:00

a fast experimental semi abstract scene, with flying entities. and now, bedtime, as tinnitus is playing with my nerve.

sea vertigo

2007-02-09T07:04:00.000+01:00

in my (rare) spare time, i have been reading "20000 under the sea" by jules verne. i have always been fascinated by this novel, i even remember that verne audiobook i had in my youth. it was on vynil, and i'm unable to find the same version today. the quality was absolutely great.
here's a personal interpretation of the nautilus. just for the sake of creating something for myself. i already have several other sketches ready. but i'm becoming picky...

HNY 2007! - the rescue

2007-01-12T21:44:00.000+01:00

two posts in 5 minutes. this one is done in order to wish a happy new year to all peeps visiting this humble blog. thanks for your support and comments. it keeps the motivation going on.

adding the first artwork done in 2007 too. sparth

POPWW 2004 studies

2007-01-12T21:40:00.000+01:00

here's a bunch of studies i did back in 2004 for prince of persia warrior within.

we had a great time imagining this big mama guy following the prince in the main plot. i'd be glad to spell the monster's name for you, but i would spell it wrong, so i'll restrain myself.

peak repair

2006-12-19T01:02:00.000+01:00

a preliminary sketch done for a piece that now includes a large partly abstract spaceship. some friends told me they prefered the sketch compared to the final image. i do not completely disagree even though at the very end my preference goes to the final image and not the doodle.

the second sketch is based on a paint over from a sijun artist called destinatus. thanks to him for letting me borrow his initial artwork.
once again, i think that it shows, but animations mentors have been having a real influence on my art and the way i try to enter into a new image. hans, neil, thank you for being there on the web. and thank you to all of you who have showed me their support.

for the last week i have really been going much better. tinnitus is here without disturbing me much, and the cycle sound that i had during a full week has disappeared. in other words, i feel like i'm heading towards the good direction. but as a friend of mine often says, "tomorrow is another day". she's been having tinnitus for 18 years. one day, science will find a cure. ... one day! :D

tapetou

2006-12-08T20:57:00.000+01:00

a year ago, i couldn't even go back to a previously done illustration and rework it in any ways. a mix of frustration and the desire to do better on the next ones was probably the cause of such a discard. but today, because of Structura, and because of the fact there is a lot of materials left unfinished, i decided to give it a try. it was three weeks ago.
i did a big effort on myself in order to go back into time, into the stuff i was doing three or four years ago, and did another effort in order to consider it not that bad compared to my first impressions.

today i think i managed to go through this problem. i can look at older illustrations without denying it completely. i even took the pleasure to do several paintovers and had great fun.
this tapetou bot was probably done around 2003. hope you'll like the revamp.

on the health side, i cannot say that things have been going better. i have been hearing a new sound in my left ear since last monday, and i try not to think about the future too much, as living with such ringing in the ears is something nobody would be ready to endure or even understand unless for the ones having the same symptoms. tinnitus is crazy. it's like falling into a bad dream without waking up. the bad dream has been going on for five months now.

still. i can still smile, be happy, and create. things become more complex because of that sickness, but i must convince myself that i don't give a damn about it. besides, i've got a book to finish, and on this matter, things have been going more than well.

sparth

structura

2006-11-25T16:55:00.000+01:00

here's the final cover for "structura". the book will be released by designstudiopress next year. already visible on amazon. i'd better hurry!

sparth

ecosystem with stripes

2006-11-25T16:29:00.000+01:00

here's the new addition to the house. i decided a while ago to go back into aquariums, but with saltwater this time. here's our two clownfishes as well as several soft corals that are quite amazing, especially one of them, that looks like a tree with hands at the end of each branch. the hands open and close each three seconds. the live rocks are also fascinating, as a lot of things happens on them. you can even see worms and amazing algees growing on them in some areas.

monowin

2006-11-23T06:15:00.000+01:00

an extract from a larger illustration untitled "monowin". as usual, the whole thing will be available in Structura next year. i am focusing on a whole section of the book dedicated to monoliths. a lot of fun.

hope you'll enjoy this piece.

s

cater (extract)

2006-11-11T07:38:00.000+01:00

yesterday morning, my "dear" tinnitus came back without asking me any permission. pretty weird to feel this thing in my ear every time it comes back louder. it always happens during the night. i wake up in the morning, and bam, surprise, we're back!
still, they never really disappear. the sound is here 100% of the time, but during this last 8 days for exemple, it went so low that i could barely notice it.
i guess that it will take a few months before being able to do not care at all about these bugs. but who knows really. anyway. not preventing me from continuing my journey towards my dreams. thanks to isan for this one. isan's music is mental, the way i like it.

concerning the artwork, consider it as some sort of a rendez vous man/machine.
an extract of a larger piece from structura.

premium import (extract)

2006-11-01T19:02:00.000+01:00

here's an extract of one of the illustrations that will be available in my book STRUCTURA.hope you're all having a good time in your lives.on my side, i am still learning to live with tinnitus, but it doesn't prevent me from creating. i might even say it gave me a boost. probably because once you get this sort of physical signal, it makes you realise there is a countdown for your time on earth.

sparth

vanarasi

2006-10-13T01:24:00.000+02:00

a small environment that started as a test, and ended up as ... a full environment.
whenever i find a few minutes at home, i start working on my book Structura. a lot could be added already but i'm too much of a perfectionnist not to raise the amount of artworks available. there will be dozens of new pieces, even though the artworks will cover a longer period, probably from 2000 to 2006. more later.

odes and the thieves

2006-10-05T14:47:00.000+02:00

an extract of a larger illustration planned for my book next year. pure space op, focused on the tones and tried once again to obtain a good balance between abstraction and design.

mira's island

2006-09-22T17:02:00.000+02:00

an egyptian island done for mira. another person which helped me a lot in order to fight against my tinnitus. for the last week, it has been going much better. i can even consider myself being cured, in a certain way, even though the treatment is not finished. fingers crossed! i'll live each new day as they come, fully!

on a side note, i unfortunately had to close down the comments on my site sparth construct, as there were many spamming bots leaving adult links, which is of course unacceptable. i'll try to reopen it as soon as possible.

blue divide

2006-09-19T01:35:00.000+02:00

even though it has nothing to do with the illustration i am about to post, i just wanted to state how much i love miyazaki's owl's moving castle. watched it a second time yesterday. I find some sort of an abstract poetry in his approach. a bit like if your subconscious level could be the only one understanding what is going on and how strong the links are between the characters and the plot. a superb movie.

back to the painting. it's just another "throw your mind on the canvas" type of illustration. done fast, nervously. done as an urge. the blue tones are a tribute to a painting done by masana. even though they aren't as rich as his tones.

ona battle field

2006-09-12T18:00:00.001+02:00

an hour experiment, homeworld meets berkey.
a lot more to come. but damn, i can't seem to be able to release unfinished things. my standarts are getting higher and higher. i give myslef to many constraints.
anyway. i had fun. it's the only thing that counts.

dalmatian island

2006-09-07T22:25:00.000+02:00

back to digital.
i have been going much better since last week. really having the feeling of going out of this crazy period of stress and tinnitus. i can now create with an intense pleasure, exactly like before this episodic ear ringing thing. i just hope it is going to last. fingers crossed.

here's an island done for a friend who helped me a lot during these moments. she has been having tinnitus herself for 18 years, and she has succeeded in keeping herself live and cheerful, even though there are still hard times for her. i admire her strengh and dedication, and wanted to give here this illustration as a tribute or a present.

it is her island. in which she can escape with her dalmatians. it does not remove the ringing in the ears, but if it can make her more relax, then i'll have the feeling of having partly succeeded.

more soon.
my wip folder is full.

sparth

two months later

2006-08-30T18:39:00.000+02:00

there's been so much things happening since the beginning of my tinnitus. a lot of bad moments, but a lot of good moments too. i am going much better compared to july, but there are still days during which i wish my life could go backwards, the days during which silence meant something.
anyway.. the most important point is: i never stopped creating things even though i have been slowing down to take some rest. i'll post things soon.

take care you all
and once again, i will be forever grateful for all the help i have received because of that sickness.
thanks to all of you my friends.

sparth

tinnitus - i need answers

2006-07-12T13:48:00.000+02:00

for the last four months, i had been struggling with an ear infection to the left ear that has been bugging my life and blocking my ear. but this is nothing compared to what happened 12 days ago, when i started feeling a very high tone buzzing sound in that same ear. that buz hasn't left me since that day, i hear it might and day, it never stops.
today i am trying to live with it, and it is so tuff i really hope i am going to overcome from it. you might see less artworks for the same reason.

doctors assured me that it was going to get away, as the two earing tests i did showed no ear loss. my audibility is very good. they assure me it comes from the infection, and have given me medicine in order to take care of it for good. i haven't had any ear traumas either, or vertigo.
but oh god. this is so hard. i am struggling as much as i can.

if you have had similar experiences, please, i'd be so interested to read them. i'm hoping with all my heart that this buzzing sound will disappear. depression is lurking.

nicolas

glissement de temps sur mars

2006-06-07T04:37:00.000+02:00

California in the 50s, on mars. k. dick is really a fabulous writer, and i still have a lot of his books to read. His productions and detailed universes represent a real goldmine for us illustrators.

I received a few weeks ago a russian magazine in which i had done an interview in january. The very kind person who interviewed me, alexander, thought about sending a print. I really appreciate this attention. It is called gamenavigator, and they published a bunch of my artworks in a three pages interview. Unfortunately i lost my english replies, and the mag is in russian only. I have no idea what i said really, which is kind of fun. I'll maybe post a link here, as a souvenir.

Now here's a link. This book, "LA/SF", by Christian Schellewald, published by designstudiopress, is a real keeper. Live and nervous sketches, a very original layout, collections of notes and scenes from the west coast. It could even incitate me to go outside and sketch with a real pen and paper. something i haven't done for ages. well done christian!

DesignStudioPress - Concept design 2

2006-06-02T17:20:00.000+02:00

Do you know how much time it took me in order to sign 200 limited edition conceptdesign2 books? one and a half hour. Gee! i thought i was going to wrap up the whole thing in ten minutes, how wrong i was. The final concept design 2 book is awesome, I got a double page with five artworks appearing in this opus. and the good news is that it can now be obtained via amazon.

hundred years

2006-05-26T23:54:00.000+02:00

i rarely have the time to post a personal piece. let's consider this the piece of the month, since my last message has been posted nearly a month ago. This illustration has been imagined while listening to some extremely relaxing ambient mixes available on the web. my second inspiration came from my friend rainart who has posted amazing experiments on forums lately.

feast definy

2006-04-20T17:54:00.000+02:00

yesterday it had to come out. an impulsive will forcing me to go forward. to improve, to understand how to bring the next images to the next level. and to have fun!

late feedbacks from late february.

2006-03-19T23:58:00.000+01:00

Just wanted to make a small post about the event i had been attending in late february 06. My friend travis had invited me to give a live explanation of my process for the gnomon workshop. We're already in the middle of March but i felt like talking about it. The demo lasted one hour thirty, but i guess i could have continued for quite a while. Once you're in it, nothing really stops you. True i was a little stressed at first, mostly because syd mead was doing a demo just before me.

(mark goerner on the center left, and travis bourbeau on the right)

I had a very nice time, even though i stayed in LA for just two days. My franco-canadian friends were all there, and it was a pleasure to stay with them, even for a few minutes. Even though i am having a great time in Dallas, i have to admit that i miss being with them, as the atmosphere was great and creativity very high. but life goes on, as we often say.
Scott Robertson was extremely kind showing me LA during a day. Designstudiopress is a small but amazing haven of creation, and the city is overall very pleasant.

It was important to start showing the process we had invented with the Montreal team. we focused so much on brush templates and forms during the last year, we felt like we had definitely opened the right door within the program. i'll try to explain more about the whole thing in months to come, if time allows me to do so.
many thanks to all the people and friends who keep checking this little blog. i'm having a pleasure reading your posts, and it does mean a lot more to me than when i update my html "no feedback" news page on my site.
the first image is a photo shot by phil holland. phil was there, like in 2004 during the CA Austin workshop, he's always very helpful and kind, and he's also an amazing breathtaking photographer. Many thanks phil for having been there exactly at the right time. you know what i'm talking about. same for you travis, i owe you much!
Second and third pictures are shots done by nicolas ferrand and bruno gentile. thanks mates.

scene for insects

2006-02-01T22:06:00.000+01:00

an extract, once again, of an older composition. my sketch folder is ready to explode.

as planned, i began leaving aside book covers from now on, and i will not accept any more work of this kind in the near future. and no, i am not doing this to find more time to relax, but in order to concentrate on my artbook expected for 2007.
and i will use this blog in order to do updates on this matter during the year.

subcity

2006-01-18T03:15:00.000+01:00

i rarely have time to do personal pieces any more. but when i do i try to keep it under two hours, sometimes even less. i still have a lot of stuff to organise in my everyday life. it's not an easy thing doing such a move. i will have to concentrate now on having my driving license. at 34 years old, it's about time right?

a small enviro with red subs.

rene levesques in 2005

2005-12-20T06:33:00.000+01:00

in june 2005, following an advice from my friend barontieri, i decided to buy a laptop in order to use it as a painting tool. live paintings. with hydropix, which had bought the exact same computer too, we went around Montreal during a few weeks, trying to find the best spot in order to paint. sometimes people were looking at us with interest or surprise. i remember that a guy had even asked me if it was possible to write things down with my small portable wacom. i told him he could do so, that way he wasn't deceived, but i really wanted to escape from the conversation. he was amazed. i was amused.

i perfectly remember this moment on the picture. we were on rene levesques, one of the main large streets in downtown. pretty much dead during the night, not like on st Catherine. very pleasant moments. and this last painting was done probably the day after, on desjardin.

by the way. i had written all this stuff down on december 20, before christmas. but i had kept it as a draft since. merry xmas to you all!

romantic snow boom

2005-12-16T06:25:00.000+01:00

on one hand, having a winter without snow is depressing. dallas is not the sort of place to find your car burried in snow in the morning, i've been fooled. :D on the other hand, the fact of not having to put ten layers of clothing on every kid when going outside is an immense pleasure. it's probably the worst thing i had to deal with while living in Montreal. imagine two squeeking kiddies, with only the head visible. then you enter into a mall. you remove everything if you don't want them to become red like apples. then 20 minutes later, you leave. repeat the process... on and on. until summer comes.
i used to love snow. now i still love it though. on photos or in magazines.

low larva ship

2005-12-12T07:10:00.000+01:00

an extract of a larger illustration done a few months ago. i did add quite an amount of details on this specific ship. i wanted it to become the main focus point of the illustration.

arthur's batman

2005-12-11T05:47:00.000+01:00

my older son arthur, which is 5, started doing a lot of sketches tonight. actually he started doing funny drawings just a few months ago, or at least, let's say that he began having fun with a pencil quite late, as most of his earlier sketches were pretty much conventional. now it's definitely getting fun. the thing that strikes me the most is that his sketches are all extremely balanced. i chose this one because of the ears and mask: quite minimal, but everything's there!

second drag

2005-12-08T06:11:00.000+01:00

second drag was an artwork done around september, while discovering a lot of new techniques with the Montreal team. tried to keep it confidential until now, even though i must have posted it on forums already. doing this serie of spaceships and building was a lot of fun, especially because the different techniques i had developed with my friends helped me obtain nice compositions in sometimes less than 15 minutes. it helps gaining self confidence. however, do not expect me to explain all my tricks, it would be like revealing you the coca cola recipe, i bet you wouldn't maybe drink as much coke if you knew what it was made of . . .

music: try pandora if you desperately need musical inspiration. thanks thierry for the link.

perceval

2005-12-07T04:23:00.000+01:00

this one is an oldie. a fast sketch done for a children book cover a year or two ago. the sketch did not correspond to the exact demand, so i continued on other concepts and left this on in a drawer. i kind a liked it though. damn, i even forgot to add the final cover to my site covers page. probably because within myself i found the final cover not good enough.

something completely different now. for those of you who aren't familiar with biosphere, that guy has been doing such amazing sound compositions for years now. he is the one who has created what we call today the "arctic sound". Ambient from up north. cold atmospheres. biosphere has a few mp3's on his site by the way. i often work with Geir Jenssen's compositions in the background. actually i always work with instrumental music in my ears, electronic, symphonic, scores and mental conpositions. i'll try to sometimes put my feelings on paper concerning this subject. music plays such an important part in my creative process.

la voie ancienne

2005-12-06T05:45:00.000+01:00

Once in a while, i like playing with my sketches folder. some sort of a treasure box filled with extracts, or even sometimes entire illustration that do not reach (yet) the standart i want them to obtain. it's a pleasure going in there and take a tour with my virtual scissors, going around, "snip snap". and you would not believe it, but sometimes, images tend to fit perfectly together, exactly like in a puzzle.

the rush

2005-12-04T18:41:00.000+01:00

an extract of an already posted piece a year or two ago. i just liked that gas mask design and the crispy aspect i had added to it at the time. where the hell is this photoshop brush now. have no clue.

discontinuity

2005-12-04T18:12:00.000+01:00

First of all i wanted to throw back the ball at limbolo for is extremely kind reply. (does "throw back the ball" makes any sense? .. anyway). Minimalism is not that easy to understand when talking about art. And it's a fact that even though this philosophy logically belongs to the animation world, few people have been able to amaze and fully understand what this "do less say more" process really meant. i could look at this piece from limbolo for ages.

and here's another semi abstract compo done a month or two ago. well allright, not much minimalism in there, but i'm still learning!

decay

2005-12-03T04:33:00.000+01:00

i still got all these sketches lost everywhere in my puter. found this concept that i used for a cover not long ago. my first intent was to define the piece by adding extra postapocalyptic details here and there. i had even added a few layers with flying scooters as well as a few humans near that lower beach. you begin sketching a boat wreck, and you end up painting a cathedral

dump poetry

2005-12-02T06:18:00.000+01:00

this one escaped from my brain in a snap tonight. packed the whole thing in an hour. just two tiny but extremely important hours of mind relaxation between kids going to sleep at 8 and me falling asleep two hours later. not much time, hence the urge sometimes.
i guess i was nostalgic. i was also being pretty much influenced by limbolo's formidable egyptian structures. it fascinates me. this one's for you neil. you're such a great inspiration.

there we go ...

2005-12-01T06:34:00.000+01:00

there i am. into that blog thing. my site is there but don't ask me why, i prefer opening some sort of a new space for a change. i want to post different stuff. escape from my regular habits. talk more.
nothing new right? that's why blogging is all about. only the content is important.
i will put a better makeup to the site slowly. but i prefer posting now otherwise nothing is going to seriously force me to achieve anything.

sparth