Michel Kutche: Even if some of the stuff in my portfolio looks like 3D, it actually isn't. 99% of it is painted digitally with Photoshop/Painter and a Wacom.

I've always been interested in the behavior of light. I did a lot of 3D animation some years ago, mainly character animation, and I think this still influences my 2D works. Since the first time I worked on a Wacom I’ve been hooked. From the first moment I loved that it gave a feeling similar to working with traditional media, which I had done my whole life, but as I got more used to it, it was like kind of a quantum jump. I was able to create artworks with any style or look I wanted, but 10 times faster than with oil colors or 3D software!

I decided to move forward into that direction, I was always a creator, I'm addicted to painting and drawing and with that tool I can create whatever I want on the digital canvas with the blink of an eye. No more pushing around vertexes and polygons for days and days, then texturing, weighting, shading, lighting, rendering...Now I can quickly bring together a couple of colored sketches with complete scenes, characters, vehicles, whatever you want, textured and well lit in some hours instead of having only a half finished stiff looking 3D scene.

I sometimes play around with Zbrush 3, it has that cool clay feel, it's a lot of fun, but I don't use it for projects.

IA: How would you describe your universe?

MK: I do my best not to stick to only one universe, cause there are so many more!
I'm somewhere between movies, comics, fine arts, animation, architecture and design. I simply don't want to decide if I am a concept artist, illustrator, fine artist or whatever; I want to do all of that!

I would be bored like hell if I had to be a pure comic artist, painting the same characters over and over again. I need to experiment, transform, invent. Art influences film, film influences fashion and the other way round.

Everything is connected with everything, that's a fact; you just have to open your eyes. It's amazing where each project takes me. Each one is a new experience and all together is a journey.

IA: Can you describe your creative process?

MK: It changes from time to time, but it's something like this:

1. Getting inspirations from the internet, the real world or the last aware moments before sleep.

2. Doing some sketches

3. Worrying if the idea is really good or just crap

4. Painting the final piece

IA: Some of the characters you depict are close to caricature. Is it something you like to work on?

MK: I prefer to do stuff where no one can say whether it is a caricature or not, it can be close to something but I think it's getting boring when it's clearly identified. Everyone knows how caricatures look. I bet there are lessons like: Learn to draw caricatures in just one hour, or get your money back. What I mean to say is I try to do things not too typical, like fantasy, Manga etc.