Following the post entitled Cinema Portraits 1 , here are two new vector portraits made on Adobe Illustrator software , on an identical theme. As in the first topic, I explore here a rendering that plays with black and white (no color, no shades of gray). I also try to have fairly simplified portraits, without too many lines . It is the large areas of black that will give substance to the characters. I made these illustrations thinking strongly about the film noir of the 40s and 50s . For a while I read a lot of the writer Raymond Chandler , especially his crime novels featuring the cynical detective Philip Marlowe . And I naturally saw their famous film adaptations (The Big Sleep, The Long Goodbye, Farewell My Lovely ...). Are you interested in this graphic style for your projects, or would you like a " cinema " type portrait? Click on this link to contact me .

It's October , the time when pumpkins take over vegetable gardens and markets , becoming the go-to ingredients for fall recipes. Soups, pies, gratins, and other crumbles comfort us as the evenings get cooler! In the same spirit as National Pumpkin Day , celebrated on October 26 in the United States , where Americans highlight the culinary and decorative uses of this vegetable, many French events help brighten up the fall season . This is the perfect opportunity to share with you this visual I created a few years ago for the French festival " Courges et Merveilles ", organized by the Meuse Nature Environnement association, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year The illustration was used to create posters and flyers , with the white part of the drawing serving as a space to include all the event's essential information. I regularly design posters from start to finish , ready for print, to enhance your communication. Alternatively, as in this case, I can provide just a visual for your graphic designer to use in the layout. Wishing you a delightful pumpkin tasting!

This October 2024, a book will be released for which I had the pleasure of illustrating the cover, based on an idea by Pierre-Etienne Bertrand . This original work, written by Luc Mary and published by EDP Sciences , takes the form of an interstellar travel guide , inviting you to explore about thirty incredible, real worlds within our Galaxy . Liquid nitrogen-spewing volcanoes, underground oceans ten times deeper than the Pacific, ammonia icebergs drifting on a sea of liquid methane, towering hurricanes, winds of over 10,000 km/h, molten glass rain—these cosmic curiosities will hold no more secrets for you... Visuals are always crucial when trying to communicate scientific content to the general public . An attractive cover that sparks the imagination is the minimum needed to entice readers to engage with the subject . Ideally, interior illustrations (in addition to classic iconography) can help bring breathing room to a text that may be quite dense. I truly enjoy this kind of project, for which I now have significant experience. Would you like to order this book ? Click this link .

I regularly like to explore new graphic styles,  for fun. And it can also lead to professional opportunities ! Here, I created a few black and white portraits on the theme of cinema , using Illustrator  vector software. Vector allows you to enlarge the image infinitely without any loss of quality, which is great for printing very large posters. Are you interested in this graphic style for your projects, or would you like a “ cinema ” portrait? Click here to contact me .

If you need to create a recurring character or mascot , a good illustrator can meet your expectations: the drawing style , postures and movements , expressions , and even the smallest details will bring to life the hero you’ve imagined in your mind. The difference between the initial sketches and the final result can sometimes be significant! Here, we’ll talk about the creation of Taoki , a little dragon who is the main character in books designed to teach reading in primary schools. This series is published by ISTRA (part of HACHETTE EDUCATION ). Taoki already existed and had been illustrated by another artist, but Hachette asked me to redraw him in my own way, with a brand-new graphic style. As you can see from the first sketches at the beginning of the article, the character appeared dynamic and mischievous , but it wasn’t quite right: he was a little too tall for his age and perhaps not naive enough . The target audience is children who are learning to read. The publisher selected from the additional sketches a smaller and stockier dragon that needed a bit of refinement. At this point, the character is nearly finalized. He now looks like a mischievous "little boy" dragon . His eyes give him a wiser look than before. And here’s the final sketch! This is the Taoki the publisher was expecting, who will become the hero of 15 books ! Find Taoki on HACHETTE EDUCATION ’s website: https://www.enseignants.hachette-education.com/recherche?search_api_views_fulltext=taoki

On September 5th, my comic book " In the Energy Mix"  was released by EDP Sciences , written by Pierre-Etienne Bertrand under our pseudonyms peb & fox . This is a pedagogical and scientific comic book focused on the energy challenges of tomorrow . The topic is explored through the work of nine PhD students from various CEA centers (Commissariat à l'énergie atomique et aux énergies alternatives). Peb did an incredible job synthesizing, researching, coordinating, and scripting this work, which I had the pleasure of illustrating. It was totally worth it! Not only is this comic informative, but it's also very funny! You can order it (the book is in french!) on the publisher's website or on Amazon .

My various professional experiences in the world of illustration have led me to explore very different fields . One area I'm particularly interested in is nature . I'm often called upon to draw animals , environments and a range of biodiversity . Here are a few examples of animal drawings I've used for educational projects.

In this issue 408 of WAKOU (published by MILAN PRESSE ), the heroes of the games are North American animals: moose, grizzly bear, raccoon, gray fox (urocyon), barn owl, puma, gray wolf, bald eagle, and bison. Below is the initial sketch. This kind of " search and find " drawing and game challenges me to create different layers: a tree in the foreground, a branch a bit further back with the owl perched on it, some scattered trees where various animals can hide, and then a distant forest... The scene must be both rich (with many animals) and simple . See you soon for more creations!

This publication for the youth magazine WAKOU No. 405 ( MILAN PRESSE publishing) had me working with several animals from the snowy Canadian forests: the wolverine, the Arctic fox, the polar bear, the snowy owl (well known to Harry Potter fans), the mountain hare, the siksik, the moose, and the wolf. The setting is inspired by the province of Manitoba in Canada. This is the first page of the WAKOU games section. The goal is to find the four animals hidden at the bottom of the image. It’s not necessarily easy for 4- to 8-year-olds! It’s always a pleasure to illustrate for an animal magazine, which, over the seasons, allows me to draw in very different environments. I particularly like the atmosphere here and the few colors used: everything revolves around white, blue, gray, and brown. Most of my illustrations begin with preparatory work in the form of sketches . I will discuss all the necessary steps to achieve the final rendering in a future article!