All you need to know about me
I am a digital and physical sculptor as well as a NFT Artist based in the UK for the last 22 years
doing freelance work specializing in characters, concept sculpts, illustrations and more.
I was born near Montpellier in the south of France, and I currently live in U.K. and work freelance as a NFT digital artist, as well as teaching online and in Academia at the University of South Wales.
I am proud to say that I have successfully taught 100's of students around the globe who now work in the biggest game and companies (Blizzard, Rare, EA, Ubisoft, Rebellion, Creative Assembly, Airship images, Codemasters, TT games to name a few) My online workshops have had tremendous success to this date.
About the journey that took me where I am today:
I moved to the UK in the year 2000, after relocating from Paris where I studied History of Art in the Louvre museum. While in Cardiff, I then completed a Bachelor of Arts and Master Degree in games and animation in the University of South Wales, in the U.K.
I started to draw at around the age of 10, when I first came in contact with the hip-hop and graffiti culture which originated from NYC, and spreading across Europe in the early '90s in Paris and most capitals.
I became truly fascinated by the street art culture, which provided a new medium that opened up to groundbreaking ways of dealing with forms and color. Little did the Art world knew how much of an impact it would have on the entire world Art scene. Banksy is an example of this radical change. My home city of Montpellier had a thriving local graffiti scene which remains to this date.
I was also influenced by my grandfather Gerard Calvet, who's lead a very successful international career as a painter for decades. He was awarded the prestigious Legion of Honour (Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur) by his close friend the french actor Michel Galabru.
I remember attending his vernissage as a child and being overwhelmed by his prolific and successful career. A major influence for me and it showed me how art can lead you anywhere if you believe in yourself.
Additionally not having a TV in the 1990's at my mum's home (which is where I lived most of the time) was the best thing that happened to me, as it meant there was nothing to distract me, and I had plenty of time to draw and analyze the work of classic Artists in museums, libraries and books. In school, I have also fond memories of making caricatures of my teachers to make my friends laugh. Caricatures was something I was into already.
I spent a lot of time going to the public library reading up every comic book I could get my hands on. I still have a good collection of Belgian comic books which I read now and then, and use as reference.
I then moved to sculpting and stone carving when I was 15 under the supervision of a great sculptor called Serge Destarac who carved in marble and wood. Then I studied in the famous school of the Museum of the Louvre in Paris in 1999, studying Greek, Egyptian, Roman and Assyrian antiquities, which was great for understanding the origins of European Art foundation later on down the line, and laid the pathway of artistic trends that followed up until the 1900's and beyond in Europe.
I see that transition as not into the 3D world, but as a continuation of my previous practice with traditional art mediums.
Character art has always been something that I enjoy doing, from a very early age. I always loved comedy and to me, characters are at the base of the whole storytelling.
My dad is a photographer and had a VHS rental tape store back in the '90s, so I watched tons of films at his place, mostly during the summer holidays. No internet back then obviously, just a different era. I somehow miss those times. My source of inspiration was always very diverse. From the antique sculptures of Egypt and Greece to the Renaissance and beyond.
Turning point
I always knew that the art galleries and the auction houses would embrace the digital art and that the art sold as an NFT would happen, I just didn't know it would happen so quick though.
Nowadays every thing is moving so fast, not only in the NFT world obviously.
I thought that it would take another 10 years or more for it to finally become a reality. The reason why that is, is simply because I noticed that Art galleries gave a warm welcome to street Art when the likes of Banksy started to be sold at Auctions at Christies and Sotheby’s reaching millions of pounds. I then knew that the digital art would be the next big thing to be given its turn.
I then knew that the digital art would be the next big thing to be given its turn. If street art made it in the mainstream art market, then why couldn't digital art do the same?
I started selling NFT's back in January 2021, I quickly felt that it would be giving a lot of opportunities to use this new platform to finally sell digital art, and Illustrations in the same way as traditional art. Now, finally there are no more gaps between traditional and digital art. The same value is given to each medium. The same value is given to each medium in its own right. And that gives credibility to a new generation of artist. An exciting opportunity has arisen suddenly. I am very thankful for this to have happened and to be where I am today.
I have always drawn inspiration from a wide variety of comic books, and I'm huge fan and collector of the Belgian and French (Tintin, Lucky Luke, Asterix and Obelix ...) comic books from authors such as Franquin, Hergé, Uderzo, Morris, Peyo, Turk & De Groot, Enki Bilal, Albert Dubout, Edika, Goosens, Frank Margerin ...
Exaggeration of forms is a technique which I have used over the years to define myself.
I have been doing 3D characters for 10 years now, and I still see lots of faces I want to have fun recreating in my own way and experiment with different ways of representing them.
When you Look around you every day, you’ll see the infinite variety, and that’s fascinating.