Alex Alice's Blog, page 3

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.

Spectrum nomination

I just got news that the cover to Siegfried III has been nominated for the Spectrum awards. The Spectrum books are an annual compendium of the year's fantastic art in every field from book covers to advertisement to concept design. Each year the jury picks two favorites in a category for Gold and Silver awards. The Siegfried III cover is one of five nominees for Comics. I've been following the Spectrum books for years and they include a lot of my favorite artists, so this is a special honor. My painting Jörmungand was included in Spectrum 16, the Julius special cover in Spectrum 18. Spectrum 19 comes out this fall.

AUTEUR-HÉROS

Nous avons toujours des virtuoses du dessin. Nous avons des toujours des auteurs infiniment libres.Nous n'avons plus Mœbius.
J'ai fini par réaliser  pourquoi sa perte m'a tant affecté, moi qui le connaissais à peine.  Comme beaucoup, en tant qu'artiste, je voulais la vie de Mœbius. Il n'était pas mon dieu, pas mon père spirituel, encore moins mon démon. Il était ce que j'aspirais à devenir, mon Achille, mon héros.
Pas le seul, c'est vrai. Mais celui auquel je me référais le plus souvent. Celui dont le nom revenait à la fin des débats avec mes amis dessinateurs, quand telle ou telle difficulté du métier semblait infranchissable – « Giraud, lui, y arrive » - et tout le monde reprenait espoir.
Pourrons-nous conjuguer maîtrise du dessin et liberté graphique et narrative ?« Giraud, lui, y arrive.»
Peut-on pratiquer plusieurs styles avec autant de bonheur ? « Giraud, lui, y arrive.»
Pouvons-nous, sans vendre son âme, participer au grand cinéma de notre temps ?« Giraud, lui, y arrive.»
Pourrons-nous sans cesse nous renouveler, et renouveler notre intérêt pour ce métier après des décennies passées à la table à dessin ?« Giraud, lui, y arrive.»
Giraud y est arrivé. Il est notre espoir, notre lumière.
Notre auteur-héros.
Et ce que des décennies de dramaturgie formatée par des crétins au cinéma et à la télévision oublient de nous dire, c'est que, comme dans les tragédies et les poèmes épiques, les héros meurent à la fin.
Ces jours sont tristes, mais ils vont passer.
Au travail, maintenant.
Alex Alice

"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...

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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.