Interview with Mathieu Leyssenne - Ani



Mathieu Leyssenne began drawing at a very young age and at only 11 years old he began cultivating his skills at the Beaux-Arts in classes taught by local artists. His first contact with digital art was at the age of 14 when he discovered the software Deluxe Paint 2 on his Amiga 500. He started aligning pixels one next to another with the help of a mouse to create his first digital paintings. Mathieu continued his regular school education and went on to a school of applied arts in the design section where he spent 4 years learning about design, industrial drawings, packaging, the techniques of basic drawing and a lot of anatomy, perspectives and typography courses.

In June 1998 Mathieu graduated and made a promise to himself he would not work in industrial design. He had discovered the internet a short time before and created his own website to expose his drawings online. In 1999 he started working at Lankhor where he did design interfaces for the game F1 World Grand Prix and he developed PC and PSX games there until 2002. After three years at Lankhor Mathieu decided it was time to focus on his own work and dedicate himself to illustration. With the help of three of his friends he started a studio near Poitiers where visitors could watch them work and then buy their illustrations in poster format or as post cards. After two years at this studio he was ready for true independence and decided to go back to Mans where he continues to draw from home.

IT’S ART: Cats, dogs, rabbits, frogs... a menagerie rich with colors, and amusingly rich with human traits that you applied on these animals. Can you tell us more about the personality of your characters and what part of your own personality you reflect on them?

Mathieu Leysenne: Each of my characters has a story that I imagine while I draw them. I like to give life to my drawings, to give them a “look”, an identity, a personality of their own. I also imagine them in a situation, which I think makes them much more interesting and yes, funny.

Personally, I feel much better about my work and I can’t say that this was the case in the past years, but today I’m comfortable and full of confidence in what I’m doing. I have many orders coming in and I can finally choose the ones I would prefer to work on. My work is appreciated and that makes you feel much more secure. This state of mind is certainly projected on my work and of course on my characters, they look cool and relaxed, they are funny and full of life.

IA: What about your new game Jamaica?

ML: This game went on the market last Christmas. Jamaica is my second project with GameWorks after Animalia, which was the biggest project I have ever worked on. For Jamaica there was a lot of material to illustrate, such as a deck of cards that is meant to form a long panorama, the classical game board, carton cards that go in multiple directions and a computer folder larger than a whale’s brain.

Jamaica was a very interesting experience. We planned out the work really well, took our time on the details and I think we created a flawless game. It was also a great experience working with the authors of the game, Malcom Braff and Sebastien Pauchon. These guys are perfectionists and I really enjoyed working with them and hope that I will have the opportunity to work with them again someday. Such great collaboration doesn’t happen around often.

IA: 2008 seems to be starting well for you with the Metropolys game project? Are you excited?

ML: Yes of course, I worked on the board of Metropolys and the game will be on the market pretty soon. Indeed this year seems to be starting very well and I hope that it will continue this way. I might stop working on illustrations for a while because I’m thinking of integrating a team to start developing video games. Working by yourself from home has a lot of advantages and gives you a lot of freedom but I miss working with people. I miss the action that others bring to your life and I think I need to socialize a little more after all these years of working by myself. I don’t want to end up a computer geek.