Hello, dear readers. It's been a while since I've posted here, and I'm sorry about that. Building a blog is a discipline that often gets pushed to the wayside by real-life issues. So to get around that hurdle, I've decided to find inspiration in inspiration itself - in one of my favorite designers and illustrators of all time. Jean Giraud, aka Moebius.
Trying to sum up the entire lifetime of Moebius' achievements here would be impossible - for a far better written and more insightful look into his history, check out his amazingly detailed history at comiclopedia. For those who want the elevator version, he started off his illustration career with the groundbreaking cowboy comic Blueberry in the early 60's, then spent the next forty years of his life developing his realistic and detailed art style into something dreamlike and transcendental.
The draw of Moebius' art has always laid in his pristine linework. It goes beyond the confines of normal comic art, defining volume and form with even the barest hint of a darker line or a thicker stroke. His stark lines don't work alone, though; Moebius usually accompanied his illustrations with vibrant colors and incredible, muted shading. He used watercolors not just to color between the lines, but to add a muted feeling to distant landscapes and skies.
More amazing than his technique was his imagery. His most famous works are filled with vast deserts, monolithic cities, bizarre technology, and fantastic aliens. It's his imagination that really put him on the map; his work for Heavy Metal magazine, and Alejandro Jodorowsky's The Incal not only pushed him to underground stardom, but helped influence an entire generation of comic artists, and even the French comic scene itself.
His work goes beyond comic work, though. Moebius' imagination and style is so genre-defining that it's been used as concept art in numerous movies, from the original version of Jodorowsky's Dune to Luc Besson's The Fifth Element. His visual imagery in the latter is one of the main reasons the movie was such a success - he combined a jaw-dropping palette with dystopian visuals to give The Fifth Element a rich, almost electric feel.
I've personally found him a huge source of inspiration as well. Moebius' art helped define the feel of my videogame Redworld, as well as being a massive influence on my personal art. I'm nowhere near his level of detail or proficiency, but it's not about imitating him perfectly; it's about seeing the world the way he did, or at least trying to.
So, if you're interested in looking up the work of one of the most prolific, talented illustrators to ever grace this planet, I highly suggest you start with The Art of Edena, available on Amazon - or just go to Pinterest and search for him. You'll find literally hundreds of examples of his work there.
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