Interview with Mathieu Leyssenne - Ani





IA: The style of some of your work is comparable to the style of the creators of Avalanche. This style is very big in the United States but remains unknown in France. Can you tell us of your sources of inspiration and whom do you favor between these artists?

ML: I am indeed close to this style of drawing and I admire the work of the creators of Avalanche, I think they are truly talented. It is also interesting to see on their blog how each one of them treats the same subject differently and how rich with diverse graphic personalities the results are.
Internet is actually a treasure and I discover daily new artists whose works influence mine. On forums like Café Salé or Concept Art I keep meeting artists whose work I admire, it’s hard to make a list of these guys. I have referenced as many as I could on my blog and website and I also added links to other artist’s websites that I visit a lot and really enjoy their works.

Nonetheless, I would like to name some artists whose work has influenced my own at decisive moments of my artistic career starting when I was a teenager: I admire the work of Thierry Segur with “Légendes des Contrées Oubliées” for the details in his drawings and the various colors that he mixes. I would also like to name Varanda for his exceptional talent in black and white; Siudmak the virtuoso and Brom for his fantastic universe and the energy in his work…I can’t count the hours that I spent studying the works of these artists.

IA: We can easily imagine your characters as part of a comic book or animations, do you have any comic or animation projects?


ML: I have been approached on several occasions by authors of comics, but I don’t feel like working on such projects for the moment. I think this kind of work needs a lot of patience and I prefer to jump from one graphic universe to another very quickly. I also like to work on the details, even if viewers will not pay a lot of attention to that. In a comic book there are so many visuals and scenes to work on that I will not be able to work on the details.

As for animation, I have never been approached nor have I ever tried to start something myself, as I have no experience in the field. Nonetheless, I’m really attracted to animation and I hope one day I will get the chance to work on one.

IA: You are known to be a “computer” artist, have you ever tried traditional drawing methods?

ML: During my years in school I tried many different traditional techniques and I realized that I can draw with a pencil but I can’t get anything out of a paintbrush or an airbrush. When I discovered digital tools it changed my life by finally giving my work access to color. I directly shifted to using these tools and as I became more familiar and settled on a working style and I slowly neglected working with pencil.

The practicality of digital tools makes the shift to them very easy and fast. Contrary to traditional tools digital tools are easily accessible and always available, you don’t need to buy them again and again, you don’t need to clean them, they don’t take space, etc. But what I think makes the biggest difference is the fact that you can repair your mistakes, with a simple Ctrl+Z you can erase an error that would have cost you hours of work in the traditional way.
I do regret not having original copies of my works instead of computer files, but it would take me such a long time to get familiar with the traditional tools that I no longer think of it anymore. I prefer to evolve even more the techniques I adopted and this alone is not easy.

IA: Can you tell us about your project Monstronicus?

ML: I like to draw small characters from time to time for my own pleasure and as a distraction from work. As I started gathering a small “stock” of tiny creatures I thought of grouping them under one theme that I called Monstronicus. For the moment there is nothing much to say about this small collection and I can’t say I have future plans for it, I’m happy to keep it that way since I do it for myself. I’m work on them at my own pace and I might even decide not go further with this collection. All I can say for the moment is that it is building up and I have no idea where it’s going to lead.