"LE CHÂTEAU DES ÉTOILES" in stores this week! (french edition)

In "le Château des étoiles" ("Castle in the Stars"), the space race begins 100 years early!

The year is 1868. Aeronaut Claire Dulac disappears in a daring high-altitude ballon flight. A year later her husband, engineer Archibald Dulac, and her son Séraphin receive an anonymous letter : someone has recovered Claire's flight log, and promises stunning revelations… The pair travel to Bavaria where they discover that a secret space program has started in king Ludwig's own castle. His goal: to send men into space before 1870!

More pictures and updates (in french) on facebook.

CASTLE IN THE STARS #3 COVER

The third episode (and season finale) of "Castle in the Stars" (Le Château des étoiles") comes out in France on july 9th!

CASTLE IN THE STARS EP. 2

The new installment in the Castle in the Stars ("le Château des étoiles") series hits the stores today! (French edition)

CASTLE IN THE STARS COVER WORK

A short step-by step of the cover to my next book, "le Château des étoiles"... The technique is watercolor on Crescent watercolor board (hot pressed).

CASTLE IN THE STARS part1.1

My next book will be published in France as a 3-part newspaper series (24 pages - 30x40 cm). It's a thrill seeing the printed pages at this size, so close to the original art format. Newspaper #1 comes out in bookstores on May 14th.

ETHERSUIT

Spacesuit from the Golden Age of the Ether (1870-1875), custom made in France for the king of Bavaria's pioneering ethercraft “Schwanstern”. See "Le Château des étoiles" ("Castle in the Stars") for an accurate account of the era's remarkable discoveries in outer space.

(Design by Alex Alice, made  in wood, brass and leather by Ateliers Vertugadins)

Announcing "Le Château des étoiles" ("Castle in the Stars")

On the occasion of last week's Angoulême festival, publisher Rue de Sèvres announced my next project, "Castle in the Stars". At the booth were a few goodies and surprises…
Join the project's FB page (in french) for more news and updates !

NEW "TROISIÈME TESTAMENT" PREVIEW

Here is my cover for the upcoming "Troisième testament" graphic novel, again with great interior art by Thimothée Montaigne and colors by François Lapierre. Readers of the series will recognize familiar faces (or rather masks) that will be coming back - big time - in this new installment. Coming this fall!

LE TROISIÈME TESTAMENT : JULIUS II is out!

Thim, Xavier and I will be giving a talk and signing books a the Bercy Fnac in Paris this thursday nov. 8th at 6.30 PM. Details here!

For extras and interviews, upcoming events and signings by Thimothée Montaigne you can visit Glénat's Julius blog.

LE TROISIÈME TESTAMENT coming November 7th

Here comes the sequel to 2010's "Le troisième testament : Julius" with interior art by new artist Thimothée Montaigne. This book takes our characters on a quest for the fabled "Third Testament"- a journey that will put more than their faith to the test, as the roman grasp on Palestine tightens and the end times seem closer than ever...

NORTH AMERICAN TRAILER DEBUT FOR SIEGFRIED

I'm glad to announce the upcoming release of the Siegfried graphic novel series in the U.S. by Archaia! Book 1 comes out this June. Here is the english language trailer.

"Le Troisième testament" returns (oh, and Happy New Year!)

The turn of the new year has been rather busy with Siegfried signings, Angoulême, and completing work on my next book : "Le Troisième testament : JVLIVS II". This one is drawn by Thimotée Montaigne, who's doing a fantastic job on the characters and the many environements of this sequel to 2010's Robin Recht-drawn JVLIVS. More on this very soon, in the meantime here are a few of my color keys as an apetizer.

Exhibition Opening

The Siegfried Exhibition will open online and live at the "9e Art" Galerie in Paris, tonight at 6.

IT'S HERE!

Le Crépuscule des dieux hits the stores in France today. I'll be signing the books at BDnet Charonne in Paris, and this week-end in the Utopiales festival in Nantes. See you on the road!

SIEGFRIED In stores this thursday

I'm especialy proud to announce the Special Edition with 80+ pages of extras including an interview by Laurent Kloetzer and Eric Chauveau as well as art by Denis Bajram, Juanjo Guarnido, Kurt Huggins, Jean-Paul Krassinsky, Keraskoët, Matthieu lauffray, Thimothée Montaigne, Patrick Pion, Christian Rossi, Alec Severin and Zébé!

Thank you guys, it's a great way for me to end the saga.

See you all at the exhibition next week!

Please visit Dargaud's website for updates on signings and events...

Printing Complete!

In the last few weeks I've been overseeing the printing process on Siegfried, thanks to the great Joëlle Remy from Dargaud.
Printing is not an exact science, and more often than not choices have to be made on location. Since 8 to 16 pages are printed on a sigle sheet of paper, they cannot all be a perfect match. It's up to the artist to give priorities to certain parts of the book and so the only choice if you want the book to reflect you vision... is to be there.
I'm very pleased with the work that's been done on book III at PPO, they are patient and committed to doing a top-notch job. A lot of pages came out better than expected, thanks to Bernard and all the "drivers".
Here are a few shots taken on location...

Announcing SIEGFRIED III

The Colors of Twilight

The drawing part of Siegfried book III is almost finished, and now I'm finally able to flesh it out in color. It's a very satisfying time, when months of work finaly come to life in heir final form. Shown here are two pages from the opening of the book, evoking the birth of the world and Odin's initiation. These pages actually work as "bookends" to the whole sequence.

From a technical standpoint, this is watercolor on Sennelier hot pressed watercolor paper - where the black and white drawing has been printed by my friendly publisher. A transparent film (also printed in black) comes on top of the color to keep the line clear. That's Old School for you!
I find it's still the best way to keep both the richness of watercolor and the "easy reading" quality of line work.

Brittany Twilight (Of The Gods)

So I left New York to move back in Paris, via the Angoulême comic book festival. Time for me to take a break in a secluded island off the coast of Brittany, where I am working on Siegfried book 3 : Twilight Of The Gods, in the midst of storms, mist and glorious sunsets. Just the right mood to end the Siegfried saga. Book 3 is epic almost from begining to end, it's a chalenge and I'm taking all the time -and space - I need to try and make the breaking of Odin's spear shatter the sky.

SOUNDTRACK TO THE BREAKING OF SHIELDS AND SHATTERING OF SWORDS
Wagner kindly helps setting up the mood, of course, but if you wand sound as well as the picture above, the moors on the photo usually wake up to this.  If you are a soundtrack or fantasy enthousiast, it will probably blow your mind. If you don't know the piece, it is the absolute escence of Sword and Sorcery. If you already know it, this re-recording is -for the most part- absolutely glorious! (thank you for the heads up, Germanico)

"TWILIGHT OF THE GODS" preview

The Castle of Mist in the heart of Nibelheim - the underground realm of the Nibelungs. Stalactites, crystals, giant fungi... Jules Verne's Journey To The Center Of The Earth" is never far from my mind.
Original size : 55x42 cm