I was lucky enough to win two passes for the 10th VIEW Conference in Turin, an opportunity that could not be missed. Due to work reasons I and my wife could not go for the whole duration of the conference, one whole day in Turin was the most we could obtain, but I must say that the experience wholly exceeded our expectations.

Even though I'm strictly a 2D illustrator abd the conference gravitated mostly towards the 3D area of the digital field and the applications in medicine, animation, games and cinema FX quite a lot of what was said with a little extrapolation could also be applied to 2D (storytelling, for instance is just as important when you have to tell a story with a single still image, isn't it? ).

It was stunning to see the array of incredible talent that gathered at Turin this year, and, even if it sound naive, it was also stunning to find such high-profile relators extremealy approachable and willing to spend their time in impromptu conversation with the attendees, it isn't something one sees very often over here.

An added bonus was the possibility to meet Paul Hellard in person, after getting to 'know' him through e-mail exchanges following submissions for Ballistic books, the time wasn't long, but was extremely appreciated and enjoyable.

Thanks for the opportunity, CGSociety!

I can share a piece of news that almost had me bursting:

a while ago I was contacted by ms. April Madden from Corel Painter Official Magazine, and I was offered a free promotion page, so my 'Kativa' was published on issue 32.
I was already on cloud 9 (or 99), but while discussing the offer, April asked me if I could be interested in becoming a columnist for the magazine.

I think you can imagine what my answer was.

The contract was signed, I received my assignement, and... my first ever Q&A is out now, on issue 33.

Can I say cloud 9999?

IT'S ART Vol 03-2008 is out. :-)

This volume includes interviews with Kirsi Salonen, James Neale, Sean Ellery ('ProMotion Studio), Neil Mc Cormack, Thierry Marchand (Oktapodi), Yap Kun Rong, Andreas Rocha, Lukasz Pazera...
...and myself.

To be in such company is both exilarating and intimidating, what a great way to start the year!

I can't wait for the printed version to be available.

http://store.itsartmag.com/iastore/...4|&cat=4&shop=1

I've not been very active here in the last months, but I was deep in a big industry project, my first cover art.

It is a job for a new gaming company based in Alaska, I painted a two-panel illustration for the Game Master screen (whose left -hand panel will also be the cover for one of the main books in the line) and another, totally different cover , for another of their books (no idea at the moment if they'll be used for the Game Master manual and the Player Manual or for a manual and the setting or a different combination).

At the moment they are under non-disclosure, of course, but I'll post them here as soon as I'm able (at the latest early next year...).

Meanwhile I found the time to take part in the 'We Human ' challenge launched by 'It's Art' (the newest piece in my portfolio), I'm working on a personal piece for submission to Exposè (and other annuals) that should be ready by the end of the week, and I entered CG Society's latest Challenge (my thread will be updated this week-end and possibly during the week, while I'm waiting for the briefing on my next work, cover art again, but for a different client) .

Hopefully I'll not be this long before the next blog update, but if it is, the reason would be that I'm busy working, so I don't think I'll really complain... ;-)

Hello, friends!

I'm back home after a few days in beautiful Paris.
Some time away from tablet and PC has done wonders to get the creative juices flowing again, as did finding oneself in a different, rich and not-usual environment.

Tons of material and tons of ideas, now I've only to wait on the 'go-ahead' on a couple of projects to get my schedule moving.

Happy to have gone and happy to be back!