Pierre Matter does some marvelous biomechanical creatures :

And finally, Peter Konig is one of the concept artists who worked with Guillermo Del Toro on his Lovecraft film project, you can understand why when browsing his sculptures :)

All right. 2012 resolutions (yeah, I know, it's a bit early) : more frequent updates, instead of condensing lots of things into a single post. Starting now :

- beautiful doll pictures from Marina Bychkova. I wouldn't be surprised if Barbara Canepa had one of her creations in her collection... Creepy, sad, beautiful - but definitely not ordinary dolls.

- sculptures from Cliff Wallace, master of make-up and creature effects, whose company sculpted many amazing creatures for Guillermo del Toro's movies, amongst others.

(Speaking of Del Toro, if you haven't seen his notebooks yet, have a look at this video. Impressive, isn't it ?)

- pictures from Manuel Albarran, a "metal fashion designer" who dresses people with intriguing metal helmets or accessories. It reminded me of the mask borne by the female protagonist of the movie "The Cell". 

And finally a couple of photos from the great Eugenio Recuenco. I had erroneously attributed one of his photos to Tim Walker in a previous post, my mistake ! You can also discover some pretty cool short movies by checking his website.

Arghh. A few more months, yet, before the English version of "Ni No Kuni", the amazing PS3 game coproduced by Ghibli Studios and Level 5, is finally available (early 2012). Just drooling over the latest TGS trailer...

Very different but beautiful too : I remember sharing the beautiful short film "Tale of How" a few years ago on Facebook...and I recently discovered that a very stylish artbook also tells the story, with its drawings reminiscent of Bosch. Check out the video if you've never seen it ! 

I love books in their physical form - there's stuff that you just can't replicate digitally, which is why I think that artbooks with special production values will continue to be meaningful for a long time. Look at the feel of the cover for Lady Cottington's pressed fairy book, or the wonderful "Wicked" grimmerie, which gives you the impression to hold an old spellbook...

However, I very much enjoy digital books too, and believe that artbooks can go into wonderful new directions with devices such as the Ipad. The "Fantastic Flying Books of Mr Morris Lessmore" is a great example of an illustrated children's book which hits the mark. Beautiful art, mingled with simple casual gaming elements that you can just skip if you want. Even if you don't have an Ipad, you can check a sample here :

Not everyone can afford to create such Ipad apps, unfortunately...  But there's hope for less costly ways to enrich books, when you look at what's possible with the latest version of Epub. (Epub being the format used for "traditional" ebooks on Ipad, versus native "apps")
Companies like Walrus Studios, who have published a couple of impressive demos, are clearly set to prove it.

I'd love to see more experiments like "Mr Lessmore" - based on, for example, the art of Franck Dion - who also masters miniatures, computer animation and illustration.
Franck recently did a children's book and is preparing a new short movie - "L'inventaire fantôme" is one of my favourite shorts.

One could certainly do cool and innovative stuff with physical books too, and create high-end artistic objects.
Amongst new publishers, les Editions Volumiques, dedicates itself to researching new technologies for books, resulting in some intriguing concepts, such as this book which burns itself progressively as you read it !
http://www.volumique.com/blog/?p=10

All in all, I'm sure books have a bright future, even if their form might change from what we're currently used to !

Après moult recherches et tatonnements techniques, je suis très content d'annoncer la mise en ligne de "Bienvenue à Wonderland" sur tout plein de supports différents !
(petite dédicace à Apple quand même, qui ne facilite vraiment pas les choses pour les auteurs désireux de se lancer dans les e-books :-P)

C'est un de mes premiers textes, dans un genre très différent d'Ysambre, et c'est un peu un galop d'essai avant des projets plus ambitieux... si l'intérêt des gens est là :) .
Donc si vous avez envie de découvrir un univers un peu spécial et de soutenir mon travail, c'est le moment ! (Le début de la nouvelle est accessible gratuitement sous forme d'extrait - cliquer sur le livre ci dessous.)

Une nouvelle courte et déjantée dans un univers de fantasy urbaine, qui mêle allégrement vaudou, haute technologie et steampunk.
Environ 1900 mots / 3 pages PDF.

Acheter la version intégrale (PDF) pour 0,99€ (sans DRM ! via Paypal/CB) :

Vous avez un Ipad ? Vous pouvez télécharger la nouvelle ici :
http://itunes.apple.com/fr/book/id446139743?mt=11

Vous avez un Kindle ? Vous pouvez télécharger la nouvelle ici :
http://www.amazon.com/Bienvenue-%C3%A0-Wonderland-French-ebook/dp/B004XN581Q/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1313075274&sr=8-2

Vous avez un Iphone ?
Vous pouvez télécharger la nouvelle en installant une de ces deux apps gratuites, qui permettent d'accéder à un très large catalogue d'ebooks - ça vaut le coup.
Ibooks : http://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/ibooks/id364709193?mt=8
Kindle : http://itunes.apple.com/fr/app/kindle/id302584613?mt=8

 

I've been too busy to post this earlier, but in case you missed it, "Sword & Sworcery" is awesome. Really, really awesome if you like videogames and have been playing for a long time...

It's more an art experience than an adventure game, really, but it draws many references from unforgettable classics, and even pop culture. (And something that quotes Princess Bride and Twin Peaks can't be bad ;-)

The landscapes made me think of Eric Chahi's Another World, or Fumito Ueda's Shadow of the Colossus. Beautiful, beautiful pixel art... and the soundtrack - be it music or sounds - is so good you might want to consider buying the music EP on Itunes.

Quirky dialogues and writing, too, which mix modern slang and mythopoetic fiction... it may look weird to some people, but I loved the fact that there's a narrator introducing the game sequences - it actually reminded me of Lars Von Trier's introductions to the episodes of his wonderful, crazy TV series the Kingdom.

Reading about the game's inception was interesting too. I believe it demonstrates that passion and mutual respect for two person's art (in this case, a musician and a graphist) can go a long way...  Go buy it now :). It's available on Iphone and Ipad

Oh, and one last picture - unrelated, and yet... I loved what these guys created with a costume, it made me think of the Scythian (Sword & Sworcery's hero) and Ueda's game Ico...

It's been a long time since my previous post, so I'll try to compensate by sharing more cool things...
This blog is really becoming more of a collection of links than anything else, but it doesn't really matter, I guess :)

Alexandre Day's black and white drawings are amongst the most compelling illustrations I've discovered recently. His graphite sketches have a unique dreamy quality - and look at this girl's eyes... Wonderful ! It's cool to see that he's already exhibited in the US, in the Nucleus Gallery which I knew from a James Jean exhibition, and which apparently set up a very nicely curated "French art" show last year.
http://alexandre-day.blogspot.com/

Amateurs of weird festivals will no doubt know about Burning Man, the crazy annual gathering in the Nevada desert which I hope I can see one day...
I already mentioned some artists who have performed there, but I discovered recently that there was a woman behind much of the Burning Man neo tribal aesthetics. Tiffa Novoa unfortunately passed away, but she inspired many designers and fashion creators.. Check out this couple of pictures of her work - and if you like it, you will probably drool when looking at clothes from the Five and Diamond store in San Francisco - which I could have included in my previous post.

Being in love with ruins and post-apocalyptic landscapes, I was recently amazed by how the entirety of Detroit seems to be a hunting ground for photographers of abandoned places. Great set of pictures over there : http://www.marevueweb.com/photographies-artistiques-de-la-ville-de-dtroit-en-ruine/

"Game of Thrones", one of my favourite book series, is about to be released by HBO as a wildly anticipated TV series. The attention to detail and "realism" for a fantasy setting seems to be spot on
I was therefore thrilled when I learned that they had started a transmedia marketing campaign around it : check out the gorgeous package that some lucky bloggers and journalists have received...JC Hutchins, the author of "Personal Effects", captured its unboxing in a video.

"Eye of the Storm" is a beauty, an animated steampunk short movie which is mostly a moody clip - to me, it doesn't actually tell a very engaging story, but it's worth seeing nonetheless as it features gorgeous sights.

Finally, a couple of exhibitions not to be missed in Paris :
- Jean-Marc Laroche - his biomechanical creatures and erotic skeletons are really impressive. Those who remember the Rascar Capac mummy in one of the Tintin books will certainly enjoy one of his works, which was clearly inspired by it. (Galerie Mouvances, 2 place des Vosges - March 7 to 17)

- Galerie Maghen will feature an Ashley Wood exhibition in May ! :)

That's all for now !

This time, a short article on some of my favourite places abroad, full of vintage, antique stuff, curiosities or just plain steampunk decoration...

 Paris has welcomed a host of very interesting exhibitions lately, some of which can still be visited :

A new gallery has opened, "Gallery Nana" (7 rue Guenegaud, near Saint Michel), with an amazing introductory show...  In addition to original art from the Skydoll comics (by Canepa & Barbucci), 60 artists have created an homage to the series, and it's an amazing list of gifted people. Here's 2 of the paintings displayed (by Bourgoin and Almanza respectively).

 

The Versailles castle has a temporary exhibition dedicated to "Science and Curiosities" - which makes sense when you think that the place welcomed many state of the art scientifical demonstrations for the king - and Versailles held resources for zoological, botanical and anatomical research.
Of course, this should make it an interesting exhibition for amateurs of cabinets of curiosities...

 
Les Mécaniques Poétiques d'Ezekiel was an amazing showcase of weird interactive machines mixing new technologies, electronic music and old contraptions. Opening a series of old glass bottles, for example, will release not perfumes but a series of sounds and lights, which you can alternate to create music....

The latest edition of the Utopiales festival in Nantes recalled me of an artist that exhibited there many years ago - Jean Fontaine. Most of his works are biomechanical hybrids, mixing pipes, cogs, wheels and human or animal parts. Beautiful stuff, though I haven't seen him mentioned frequently, so I thought I'd drop a few pictures of his sculptures :

 

Lionel Stocard, who also displayed his work there quite a while ago, strikes some similarities with Ezekiel - they share the same love for experimental, interactive installations, with sound and steampunk visuals. I just love his absurd massive phones ("téléphones importables") or his "dream machine" :)

...And finally, Virginie Ropars has striked again ! An extremely talented sculptor, she creates exquisitely detailed characters. I love her "darker" fairy art and invite everyone to have a look at her latest creation... (plus an older pic from one of my favourite dolls)

... Coming next : weird places !...

 

 

It's been a pretty intense dream-chasing summer... lots of amazing visions and new discoveries !

Imagine hearing a trumpeting call across the wharf of Nantes, and turning around to see a giant, 35 tons moving elephant made of leather, wood and metal...transporting people and throwing water through his trump.
Or picture an old reconverted factory, bursting with animated mechanical wonders, from which spring the first branches of a huge tree made of metal and vegetation...
It's great to see the city of Nantes sponsoring their shows and hosting them, and it makes for a wonderful visit. If you can't come over, a gorgeous book was released recently, featuring Da Vinci style sketches and photos.

Another group of interesting show creators / performers is the Lucent Dossier team. Amateurs of freaks, cabaret/burlesque shows, fire performers, prepare to be delighted...They have a show coming up in Ireland soon. And a beautiful website...

Last but not least, Olivier de Sagazan, whom I discovered thanks to Patrice Hubert, is both a painter, a sculptor and a performer, whose works deal with the disfigurement of the human being. He plasters his face with various materials, painting and twisting it progressively... Warning : this is rather dark and morbid !