Le Picte

Oracle's Fire book cover

2011-09-02T17:39:00.000-07:00

For this third, and final illustration I had to find yet another angle and color scheme to complete the trilogy.

Once again I had not read the book when I was given the brief. And once again it was very convenient to have the author nearby. I asked her endless questions about the place, the characters etc...

THOR

2011-06-19T14:25:00.001-07:00

Thor, the marvel way, just for fun!

Samiha's Song cover

2010-11-24T23:32:00.001-08:00

This is the cover for Samiha's Song, second installment of my wife's trilogy " Chronicles of the tree".

I had to make this one as different from the first image as I could, while still keeping it in the "family". The brief was to do the scene where Samiha stands on the top of the damaged dome and sings to the people, calling them to the temple.

It was very tempting to design a cool building and have Samiha facing us. But I thought it might be better to be more "suggestive"and view the whole scene from behind her, as you can see on the black and white rough. This angle would allow me to be less precise with her features so as to leave the imagination to the readers.

The architecture of the town also had to be different from Argos and had to reflect the hierarchy of the city with the rich people buildings on the right, and the shantytown of the poor living in tents on the left.

The only thing I didn't see coming was the fact that the title would end up right where the sun is!

There's a few mistakes here and there in the final image, but I'll just pretend I made them on purpose.

The making of "GAS ATTACK"

2010-10-24T18:19:00.000-07:00

Hi folks, here's a sneak preview of one of my paintings for the "White cloud Worlds" book.

This one is called "Gas Attack", it is part of a concept I called: "War of the Woods".

The idea for it came a few years ago as I was walking in the streets of Nancy, a city in the French region of Lorraine. The first world war still permeates the whole landscape over there. You know how it is when your mind wonders about ...What a strange building... Hey look a pretty girl... and then... hundreds of angry Dwarves wearing strange helmets and gas masks appear!

I ran home and did the sketch that you see at the top. Then I forgot about it for a year or two.

Later I thought it'd be fun to do a more finalized painting from that crude rough.

The image in the middle was taken by my wife as I was painting it. The books in the background are all real, and barely any of them is a Playboy magazine.

The last image is the final painting.

It is really sad to think that the real world influences the parallel world of the fairies in such a dramatic way, but there it is! Who knows what they're up to these days...

White Cloud Worlds!

2010-10-17T12:28:00.000-07:00

Yours truly will have some paintings published in a book coming out on November 1st, 2010, and featuring the work of several fellow artists from New Zealand: 'White Cloud Worlds'. The title comes from 'Aotearoa', the Maori name for my adopted land which means: "Land of the long white cloud". There will also be an exibition and some book signings, check out the website:

http://www.whitecloudworlds.com/about.php

My own work included in the anthology is part of a project going on inside my head for a few years now. In the story, I discover a chest in New Zealand full of paintings dating back to the first world war. They relate a parallel history of the faerie kingdoms during that terrible time. All of the paintings are done with acrylic on paper or canvas.

You can buy the book here:
http://www.harpercollins.com.au/books/White-Cloud-Worlds-Paul-Tobin/?isbn=9781869508241

Girl power

2010-08-23T04:06:00.000-07:00

What a weird composition, I hear you say!?!

And that's precisely the point: how far could I push this image before it would look unbalanced.

To get as much movement as possible, I did it in photoshop while listening to heavy metal... maybe I should have drunk some coffee as well?

The Hunter

2010-08-02T14:04:00.000-07:00

Just a little free painting I did for the Plunket charity. Acrylic paint on paper.

Tymon's Flight book cover

2010-06-28T02:54:00.000-07:00

This is the final cover for my wife's debut novel... Nepotism? Who said nepotism? I heard you at the back!

JUMPING!

2010-06-24T04:00:00.000-07:00

Just trying my new photoshop. a two and half hour painting....

The Ambush "part two"

2010-01-27T00:19:00.001-08:00

So there it is: "The Ambush part two"

I'm not saying it's finished. I might touch it again at some point... or not.

One thing is for sure: I don't want to kill the energy it has, by adding a million details!

Here's a little animation :

Gif animation

The Ambush "part two"

2010-01-27T00:02:00.000-08:00

Finally, I found something that I liked, and pushed the sketch a little further.

I took a big canvas ( 80cm by 100cm ), and projected a pencil drawing of that rough onto it.

The Ambush "part two"

2010-01-26T23:51:00.001-08:00

I started by placing elements and playing around with the composition in photoshop.

The whole thing took probably half a second.

No I'm kidding, it took 2 seconds.

"The Ambush" part two

2010-01-26T23:12:00.000-08:00

This watercolor entitled " A Maori ambush" was painted in the nineteen century by a colorful character named Gustavus Von Tempsky.

Even though these people were his enemies, we can see the respect he had for the Maori rebels.

For quite a while I've been thinking of doing my own version of that event, by imagining what happens after the scene depicted there.

"The Ambush, part two"

Tutorial 2

2009-06-03T03:03:00.000-07:00

As the image became more detailed, the creature looked like it was too close to the characters. I added those trees in front of it, and got rid of its leg.

And still I was struggling with the lady...till the end!

Tutorial 1

2009-06-03T02:57:00.000-07:00

I should have taken an earlier image than this first one. It would have shone a badly painted green canvas. As you can see I moved the characters a lot. The hardest one was the woman.

Giant Gorilla!

2009-06-03T02:47:00.000-07:00

I wanted to paint something serious, you know like a sunflower or a beautiful sunset. But then I thought naaaa...Maybe I'll just paint a giant gorilla and a guy with a Tommy gun instead. Ah, and there's his girlfriend going : " Mon dieu un gorille géant!!! ( she is French you see)".

So there it is. It's done in acrylic, on a roughly 50cm x 60cm canvas. I've only worked on it in the evenings, to relax after a 10 hours doing digital paintings for Weta workshop.

Please look at the tutorial next so you'll know how to avoid doing this kind of thing.

The Famous "Moustache dinosaure"

2009-04-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

Nobody knows exactly why the creature had a moustache.

Scientists are still debating this very important issue.

One thing's for sure: he was very successful with the ladies.

Ink, watercolor and gouache on paper

Grunto!

2009-02-19T19:34:00.000-08:00

here's a quick end-of-the-day photoshop sketch of GRUNTO.

Grunto is a legend in the weta workshop design room. Even though Chris Guise was it's creator, every artist is free to draw him as he sees fit.

KRILL

2009-02-04T20:20:00.000-08:00

A quick photoshop sketch of a warrior type alien, for a comic I have been working on for about 98 years. I'll finish it one day.
I will! I will!...

End Boss walking through a field of bones

2009-02-04T20:02:00.000-08:00

Here's a little photoshop upgrade on a painting I did for my friend "End Boss", aka Christian Pearce. Check out his website: http://www.christianpearce.net/

The sound in your head should be something like:
SKREEETSH! SKREEETSH! SKREEETSH!...

2009-01-29T15:44:00.000-08:00

Here's a quick digital painting done in photoshop, of a Viking bringing chocolates to his mum.
There's so many tricks you can do in photoshop, it's not even funny. It really is the best tool for the cinema industry...

Ze digital age

2009-01-25T23:11:00.000-08:00

It is time, my mother tells me, to enter the digital age and to have a presence on the net.

I've thrown away my old steam powered computer and transformed some of my drawings into a series of zeros and ones...

This image of Kilt was done for a best wishes card two years ago. It's a quick pencil sketch colored with fake watercolor (acrylic paint with a lot of water).