Thanks again for all your nice comments on Facebook about the Leprechaun Séamus Finnigan that I drew for the St. Patrick's Day 2012.

If you want to see again the 6 speed step by step of the creation, from the sketch to the color : watch my Youtube page.

Some of you told me that it wasn't a good tutorial, well, yes !! I totally agree and I didn't mean to ! Sorry If I made you believe it was a tutorial. I made these videos to answer at many of you who wondered how I was working on my Cintiq and on Photoshop and also for my pleasure (it's the first time that I do it). So this is just a fast approach to show you my method.

I have also to find a good way and not too heavy for my computer to make videos, slower and "learnable" maybe with sometimes with subtitles or sort of, I have to find out the easiest way for me ! It won't be "real" tutorials anyway but if you can learn few things I would be glad !

Séamus Finnigan took me a big part of an afternoon and of the evening. I tried to be the closest of what I could have done in real paint. I didn't use photos or texture references for the skin and the cloths as I could have done if I had really wanted to go faster. I wanted to keep a real traditional touch. However, for my concept work, I use these helps to achieve the concepts faster.

Thanks again Everybody for your support and comments during these last few days ! I appreciate a lot.
I had great fun to do it and be sure to see more videos soon.

J-Baptiste

I'm so glad to announce that I will be at Spectrum Fantastic Art Live May 18-20, in Kansas City !

You will be able to find me Booth #1003, sharing the same table than James Gurney, who propose to join him and share his space.
It is the first edition of this convention organized by Cathy and Arnie Fenner, the great and well known publishers of Spectrum Fantastic Art. They decided to create this event and create a big meeting and this time not only on the pages of a book.

Be sure to meet great great artists there and for myself, I will try to see all the people I just know by email ! Paul Tobin, Paul Bonner, Scott Gustafson, Omar Rayyan, Petar Meseldzija, Mike Mignola, Iain McCaig etc... And of course meet again good friends and artists and fans !

I'm waiting for you !

J-Baptiste

I'm so happy to be allowed at least to talk about this : I have worked some months ago for Blizzard Entertainment on the great and so expected artbook Diablo III : Book of Cain - published by Insight Editions (available on pre-order on amazon : HERE)

I have been so happy first when they wrote me. In fact I have been a Diablo player addict for years so it's like a complete circle : in front of the computer to play like a fool and in front of my table to draw their creatures like a fool. YEAH ! And after I have been completely excited when I knew who would draw with me on the artbook. I feel very honored and privileged.

A few names to catch your attention : James Gurney, Adrian Smith, Iain McCaig, John Howe, Brom, ... and sooo many great artists.

I have got 23 sketch pictures (with soft watercolor for a few) inside, this is crazy and I hope that you will apreciate them all. I have tried to keep the mood and thanks to the Blizzard Team, it was impossible to do mistakes about the story and elements, that I was tended to add ;-) (professional deformation certainly !)

Sorry Guys I won't reveal more pictures than they did for the promotion of the book on amazon, but trust me I really want to !

DIABLO III Book of Cain - in November 2011

Je suis tellement content d'être enfin autorisé à parlé de ceci : j,ai travaillé il y a quelques mois pour Blizzard sur leur super et très attendu Artbook : Diablo III : Book of Cain, édité par Insight Editions (et déjà disponible en pré-commande sur amazon.com).

Quand il m'ont écrit j'étais fou car j'ai joué à Diablo comme un diable (comme beaucoup c'est vrai), et me voilà derrière ma table aujourd'hui à dessiner leurs créatures comme un fou aussi : La boucle est bouclée ! YEAH ! Et après ça, j'étais complétement excité quand ils m'ont annoncé quels artistes participeraient. Je me sens vraiment honoré et privilégié.

Quelques noms pour allécher : James Gurney, Adrian Smith, Iain McCaig, John Howe, Brom, ...et tant d'autres !

À l'intérieur vous découvrirez 23 de mes images en sketchs (et parfois avec un jus d'aquarelle), j'espère que vous les apprécierez toutes. J'ai essayé de gardé l'ambiance et grâce à la Team Blizzard, il était impossible de faire une erreur dans l'histoire et les éléments, que j'avais tendance à rajouter (Déformation professionnelle certainement?)

Désolé les Gars,mais je ne dévoilerai pas plus d'images qu'ils n'ont fait pour promouvoir le livre (sur amazon), mais croyez moi ce n'est pas l'envie qui me manque.

Comme j'ai pu déjà vous le faire savoir, à partir de septembre je vais mettre en vente des sketchs aux enchères sur la page Ebay de "Margotteworkshop".
Je devais me servir de facebook pour en faire la promotion malheureusement pour l'instant c'est un peu compromis ;-)
alors n'hésitez pas à faire de la publicité pour les événements à venir autour de vous.
Revoici les premières images qui seront mises aux enchères par ordres d'apparition à partir je l'espère du 5 septembre. Chaque enchère durera une semaine.
Si tout se passe bien, cela devrait participer au loyer d'un atelier personnel sur Montréal.

As I have already let you know, from September I will offer for sale sketches for auction on the Ebay page of "Margotteworkshop".
I had to use facebook to promote the event, unfortunately at the moment is a bit compromised;-)
So don't hesitate to advertise for the upcoming events around you.
Here again the first images that will be auctioned in order of appearance from, I hope, September 5. Each auction will last one week.
If all goes well, it should participate in the rent of a private studio in Montreal.

Je vous transmets les descriptions de chaque images très bientôt. I send you the descriptions of each picture very soon.

Très Elfiquement,

J-Baptiste Monge

(English version below)

Bonjour à Toutes et à Tous !

À partir de Septembre, je vais mettre en enchère sur Ebay quelques uns de mes Skecths.
Certains viendront de mes ouvrages publiés, d'autres seront inédits. 
Je compte mettre une image tous les 15 jours ou tous les mois selon mon emploi du temps.
Je peux d'ores et déjà vous montrer les 3 premiers sketchs qui seront en ligne bientôt - Je les posterai sur Facebook sous peu.

Informations aux acheteurs :
Les pièces qui apparaissent sans signatures sur les photos, seront signées avant d'être envoyées.
Lors de l'achat d'une pièce, vous serez aussitôt dirigé vers une page Paypal pour effectuer la transaction.
Les frais de port de 20 eur seront automatiquement ajouté au total.
Votre achat sera ensuite posté le plus rapidement possible après réception du paiement en recommandé suivi par transporteur (UPS...).
Il faut compter un minimum de 5 jours ouvrables pour la livraison d'un colis sur l'Europe.

Très important :
Tous les droits de reproduction demeurent la propriété de l'auteur même après l'acquisition de l'original - © Jean-Baptiste Monge


Hello Guys !

From September 2011, I'm going to bid on Ebay some Sketchs of mine.
Some will come from my published nooks and some will be unpublished.
I will place a picture every 15 days or every month, it will depend on my schedule.
But I can already show you the 3 first sketchs that will be on line soon - I will show them on Facebook very soon.

Informations to the customers :
the pieces which will appears without the signature on the photos, will be signed before sent.
When you buy a piece, you will be automatically transferred toward a Paypal page to place the order.
The shipping will cost 20 eur and will be added automatically at the end of the order.
Your order will be sent as soon as possible after reception of the payment by registered letter with a tracking number by a carrier (UPS...).
For Europe, it needs 5 opens days to be handled.

Very important :
All the rights of the reproduction remain the property of the Author even after the sale of the original - © Jean-Baptiste Monge

À très bientôt ! See you very soon !
J-Baptiste Monge

On voit fleurir partout des caricatures un peu partout avec des gars qui ont l'air plus doués les uns que les autres, il faut dire que lorsqu'on sait se servir de Photoshop, ça me semble plus vraiment très compliqué.
We can see blossomming caricatures a little everywhere by some guys all more an more talented, but we have to say that when we know how to use Photoshop, it's not as tricky that it seems.

C'est une forme de triche même si elle reste super fun à faire. Un petit coup de "wrap", un peu de re-positionnement des divers éléments : nez, yeux, bouche... et re-peinturer le tout à partir des teintes de la photo et voilà le résultat de 45 min de travail. Bien sûr après on pourrait affiner, passer ça dans Painter et mettre une petite impression peinture et on passerait sans doute pour un excellent caricaturiste...
It's a kind of cheat even if it remains really fun to do. A little of the tool "wrap", then we replace some elements : nose, eyes, mouth... then we paint it all from the shade of the photo et that is what we can do in 45 min. Of course, we could make it thinner, pass it in Painter et make a little render of real paint and sure we could pass as a great caricaturist...

I would like to thank a lot Jennifer Gwynn Oliver for her true kindness and her great questions. She is an instructor at the Academy of Art character and Creature Design Notes and Illustrator/Designerat Disney. She also spends time to full and share a blog very complete and full of very interesting things about animations, designs. I advice you all to follow it.

The interview are in 2 parts :

the first : here
and the second : here

It was quite fun to answer her and I would like to thank her again for the grammatical adjustments too.
I really hope that you will enjoy the interview as much as I enjoyed answering.

Just have a look there, it's just beautiful. I love the music, I love the animation, very graceful, sensitive and very emotional too.

Thank you again !!

PS: I would like to notify that I don't smoke anymore since September, 20th 2008 (the pic on the 2nd interview is a bit old ^^)

Spectrum n°17 sortira le 1er novembre 2010 !

Spectrum #17 will be released on November 1, 2010 !

Cette année encore, j'ai été accepté dans leur nouvelle édition. Les Fenner, éditeurs de l'annuel Spectrum Fantastic Art, et leur équipe ont choisi un artiste que j'affectionne particulièrement pour la première de couverture : Greg Manchess, un super artiste américain. Je vous invite vivement à visiter son site. J'aime vraiment sa touche. Et si vous voulez connaître plus de détails sur cette couverture, c'est par ici.

Et pour connaitre la liste des artistes présents dans ce nouveau volume, c'est ici ! Pour n'en citer qu'un seul, je suis ravi de vous dire que Vincent Joubert , un artiste français plein d'imagination, fait ici sa première apparition dans le collectif.

This year again I have been accepted in their fantastic issue. The Fenners, The editors of theSpectrum annual of Fantastic Art,and the Spectrum's crew have chosen an artist I particulary  enjoy for the front cover : Greg Manchess, a great American artist ! I really like his touch. If you want to know more about the cover just go on this page.

And to know the Spectrum #17 Artists list, it's here ! To notice just one, I'm glad to tell you that Vincent Joubert, a French artist full of imagination, is doing here in this issue his first apparition and surely not the last !

Je vous laisse la surprise de découvrir ce qu'a choisi le jury de cette année (Bill Carman -artist/educator Boise State University, Kerry Callen - artist/DGM Hallmark Cards, John Fleskes - publisher: Flesk Publications, Rebecca Guay - artist/founder Illustration Master Class, and Iain McCaig - artist/film designer) !

I let you the surprise to discover what has chosen the jury of this year (Bill Carman -artist/educator Boise State University, Kerry Callen - artist/DGM Hallmark Cards, John Fleskes - publisher: Flesk Publications, Rebecca Guay - artist/founder Illustration Master Class, and Iain McCaig - artist/film designer) !

Pour commander sur Amazon.fr, c'est ici en broché et là en relié.

CLICK HERE to order Spectrum 17 on Amazon.com.

Suite du premier épisode publié il y a un mois ici.
The following of the post published one month ago here.

Bah oui J'en ai retrouvé d'autres ! lol ^^
Yes "the return" because I found some other sketches of my little Pumpkin man !