Joe Abercrombie's THE FIRST LAW

 Back in 2016, one of my favorite artists, Daniel Krall (One Plus One, House of Night, Doom Cannon) , posted two incredible drawings of characters from Joe Abercrombie 's THE FIRST LAW trilogy, Ferro Maljinn and Logen Ninefingers. I was so intrigued (to say the least), that I went out and bought the books the very next day.
The Blade Itself, Before They Are Hanged, and Last Argument of Kings were the first sword & sorcery novels I'd read in over twenty years, and they reconciled me with a genre I'd all but turned my back on, in spite of my love for rpgs (MERP, D&D) and a handful of fantasy novels (Michael Moorcock's Elric, David Eddings' The Belgariad, Weiss & Hickman's Dragonlance Saga, etc... sorry, I haven't read George Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire yet, and I was never a Tolkien fan. Once the only character I cared about died at the end of Fellowship of the Ring, I kinda lost interest in LoTR).
I was immediately captivated by Mr. Abercrombie's characters, universe, and unique writing style, and I promised Dan I would try drawing some of my favorite characters. Three years later, I finally got around to keeping my promise. A couple of weeks ago I posted some daily drawings on my Instagram and Facebook pages, to get me back into the swing of things for Inktober (if I end up deciding to throw my hat in this year).

Logen Ninefingers, the Bloody-Nine

Ferro Maljinn

Inquisitor Glokta

Jezal dan Luthar

Yulwei, the Fourth of the Magi

Yulwei (pencilled version)

The finished, inked drawings

What I used to draw everything: 

Yasutomo Sumi ink, a sketchpad of Danish paper( from the local Flying Tiger), and a Winsor & Newton Series 7 #2 sable brush

Now go read the books! :) 

Archer Coe & the Way to Dusty Death - on sale NOW!

Just a quick reminder to letcha know that Archer Coe & the Way to Dusty Death, written by Jamie S. Rich and drawn by me, is now on sale in bookstores via Simon & Schuster, and tomorrow (Wednesday) will be available at comic shops worldwide via Diamond.
To locate a shop near you, try findacomicshop.com or
comicshoplocator.com. The book will also be available on the Oni Press Shopify and order links for major bookstores are all located on the Simon & Schuster page, using the keyword: Archer Coe V2.

Also, as anyone following me on Instagram has probably noticed, I'm hard at work on some new Paranormal-related projects. Feel free to head over there to check out some more sketches, but in the meantime, here are a few to give you an idea of what I've been up to since I finished Archer Coe vol.2 a couple of months ago.

Thank you for stopping by. Stay tuned for more updates!

Okay, 2017, You Win.

As 2017 comes to a close, I thought I’d take a minute to update the blog and post some recent drawings. I don’t update much, I know. I almost get the feeling there’s a weird echo around here, like when you walk into an abandoned building and say “is anyone there?”

I went through all the links in the sidebar the other day, and discovered that a lot of them were obsolete or no longer worked, so I did some necessary cleaning. It made me kind of nostalgic, to tell you the truth. At one point, I even considered deleting the blog, since I’m not even sure anyone even comes around here, or if comic book artists even keep blogs anymore, now that Instagram and Tumblr are so popular, and allow us to show our work to so many people on the internet.

For now, I’ve decided to keep the blog up and running, but we’ll see what the future brings. In the meantime, feel free to track me down and follow me on Instagram and/or Twitter, as I post art there a lot more often than I do here. I also have a Facebook page, but only use it to keep in touch with friends (people I actually know) or artists and colleagues whose work I admire, so please don't feel offended if you send me a friend request and I never reply. It's not personal, believe me.

Anyway, 2017 was far from being the easiest year of my entire life. My family situation changed. I moved. Some terrible things happened. Some wonderful things happened. I worked on some amazing new translation projects (for Ankama Editions, in particular), attended the Malta Comic Con, accomplished some things I never thought I was capable of, didn't sleep much, and despite all that, managed to finish several chapters of...

Archer Coe & The Way To Dusty Death

I’ve nearly finished Archer Coe vol.2 (only 18 pages left! Woo hoo!), and the book is scheduled for release by Oni Press in 2018.  I’m working hard to meet my deadline, and hope to finish the art before the end of January.

Paranormal 

I'm afraid Paranormal is on the back burner for now, but as soon as I’ve finished Archer Coe, I’ll be getting back to work on it as soon as I can.

In the meantime, here are some sneak peeks of what’s to come, once I get time to work on all the stories I have for the Paranormal “universe” (daily comic strips, that espionage story I keep talking about, origin stories for Rat Face, Black Jack, and Dr. Eclipse, among other stories, including the return of the Ogre, and a short one-shot featuring The Snake).

Thank you all for stopping by, and for your continued support. I wish all of you a safe and happy New Year’s, and hope to see you around here soon. Take care.

The Black Panther

My friend Charlie Harris, the owner of Charlie's Comics in Tucson, Arizona, is holding a fundraising event on November 9, 2013 from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M. to benefit the Primavera Foundation, which provides pathways out of poverty through safe, affordable housing, workforce development and neighborhood revitalization. He asked some local Tucson* artists to contribute a drawing of our favorite member of Marvel Comics’ superhero team The Avengers for the silent auction that will be held at the end of the event.

 I’ll let you guess who I chose.

 I won’t be able to attend the event this time around, but the drawing is already on its way across the Atlantic. The original art is about 8 x 10, drawn & inked on bristol board, (see above) and if the person who goes home with it sends me an e-mail, I’ll be happy to send him or her a high-resolution digital copy of the drawing in full color (see below). So if you’re interested in supporting a worthy cause, reading comics and hanging out with some good people, (and if you live in or near Tucson, Arizona) don’t forget to stop by Charlie’s Comics on November 9th !

*for the record, even though I live in France,  I still consider myself a local Tucson artist :)

Batman

Colored version is here.

Pencils Vs. Inks: Round One

Here's a little preview of a penciled/inked panel I just finished for the book Jamie S. Rich and I are working on for Oni Press. I'll let you decide which version you like better...

Good News (1)

Well, it’s official : contracts have been signed and I’ve finished the first two chapters, so I’m very pleased to announce that I will be drawing & lettering a 148-page noir graphic novel for Oni Press, written by talented novelist, comic book writer and film critic Jamie S. Rich. I’m not at liberty to announce the title of the book just yet, but keep an eye out here and on the Oni Press website in the months to come and you’ll be among the first to know.

I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to be working on this project. Jamie’s story is excellent, the characters are interesting and complex (one of them even wears a domino mask! Score!)and the dialogue is sharp and subtle, worthy of the finest films noirs of the 1930’s and 40’s. In short, it’s a real pleasure to draw.

I’ve been a fan of Oni Press since a friend introduced me to their comics back when I was attending art school in Angoulême, so finally having a chance to work with them on this book is something of a dream come true for me as well.

Here are a few sketches from the project :



I have some more good news to announce, but those contracts haven’t been signed--yet--so I’m waiting until they are before I jump the gun and announce stuff.

Stay tuned !

Moon Knight

Just finished some illustrations for Champions Villains Vol.1 (to be published by Hero Games & Cryptic Studios) so I thought I’d take a quick break to post some sketchbook drawings before getting back to work. Two of the three projects I’ve pitched are still, uh, being reviewed (read: I haven’t heard back from the publishers yet), but a couple of French publishers have recently expressed an interest in my fencing project, so it may not be an orphan for long. As soon as I have some news, good or bad, I’ll be sure to pass it on.

In the meantime, here are some drawings of Moon Knight, a character I first discovered in the pages of Peter Parker, the Spectacular Spider-man back when I was a kid*.



One of my friends introduced me to the character when we were in third grade and I’ve been a fan ever since, although I haven’t picked up a Moon Knight comic book since Bill Sienkiewicz and Kevin Nowlan drew him back in the 80’s. My favorite versions of the character are still Mike Zeck’s and Don Perlin’s, and I hope that shows in the above drawings.

Talk atcha soon (hopefully with some good news)!


*on the second page, there is a drawing I did of the character back when I was 9. As you can see, even back then well-written dialogue and detailed backgrounds were my strong points :)

No News Is Good News (?)

I've never been very good at waiting patiently for publishers to get back to me, so I've already started working on a new project... something along the lines of my Paranormal stories. Here are a couple quick character sketches I did this morning with my new Kuretake brush pen:

New project...

Here are a few pages of sketches from the new book I've been working on. I just sent it off to a potential publisher a few hours ago... now comes the fun part: waiting. Keep those fingers crossed!

The Domino Lady

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone that I am a big fan of pulp novels from the 1930’s and ’40’s. Although I do enjoy the occasional Lovecraftian pulp horror story, the detective pulps, with their mysterious masked avengers The Spider, The Shadow and The Phantom Detective, have always been—by far—my favorites.

One of the lesser-known pulp heroes… or heroines, I should say… was the lovely Ellen Patrick, also known as The Domino Lady. When her father, incorruptible California politician Owen Patrick was assassinated by the corrupt political machine who had failed to bribe him, young Ellen donned the black silk mask, cape and form-fitting gown of the Domino Lady in order to avenge him.

The Domino Lady’s adventures were more light-hearted than most of the other detective pulps. While The Shadow and The Spider fought demented scientists, cold-blooded criminal masterminds and unstoppable zombie hordes, the Domino Lady’s foes were mainly low-level jewel thieves, blackmailers, gangsters and people who looked like this. She was an expert shot with a pistol, but would only use her weapon to wound or fend off attackers; unlike her male counterparts, she wasn’t a killer. In fact, the Domino Lady spent more time undressing, taking baths and lounging around in skimpy nightgowns than she did actually fighting crime, which very well may explain the success of the stories among male readers.

A few years ago I was fortunate enough to stumble across a copy of Vanguard Productions’ The Domino Lady: The Complete Collection with cover art and chapter illustrations by the great Jim Steranko. If you’re a pulp fan, I can’t encourage you enough to track down a copy.

Anyway, here are a few drawings of The Domino Lady and her “kissable shoulders” (as author Lars Anderson often described them)…

Werewolves (3)

Here's one last werewolf sketch for the road:

Stay tuned, I've got something a little different planned for tomorrow...

Werewolves (2)

A few more werewolf sketches :

Professor Remus Lupin (my favorite character from the Harry Potter novels)

Werewolves (1)

I went to go see The Wolfman movie yesterday, and came home with an itch to draw me some werewolves:



I’m a sucker for a good werewolf story, and have been fortunate to come across quite a few of them over the years. For anyone who cares, here are a few of my favorites : There Shall Be No Darkness (James Blish), The Wolf (Guy de Maupassant), Gabriel-Ernest (Saki), The Were-Wolf (Clemence Housman) and It’s Only The End of the World Again (Neil Gaiman & Troy Nixey). Guy Endore’s The Werewolf of Paris and Stephen King’s Cycle of the Werewolf (the version with all the Bernie Wrightson paintings) were a fun read, too.

I haven’t drawn any werewolf stories since I finished Red Hands, my first comic book, but I sure am itching to now…

Fencers

For those of you who were familiar with my old blog, you’ve most likely already seen the following sketches. I was going to put them in one of the image galleries (like I did with a lot of other drawings from the old site) but since they are an important part of my next project, I thought I’d post them here (again). Sorry for the "déjà vu"…



Generally speaking, I'm pretty superstitious about talking about projects until things have been finalized and contracts have been signed, so until that happens (early next year, I'm hoping) I can't really go into much detail. But stay tuned, there'll be more info (and sketches) to come.