Jean-Claude Mézières - a cartoon hero

Jean-Claude Mezieres is one of my heroes, and as a kid reading science fiction comics, he inspired me immensely as a comics artist. (Now usually called Graphic Novels.) His drawings and inspiring way of drawing science fiction, did not only inspired myself, he also inspired many others.. for example the people doing the Star Wars movie in the beginning, and as a consequent of course through all the movies in the series. Because of this inspiration Jean-Claude Mezieres draw a funny sequence in his Linda & Valerian comic, when Linda and Valerian, the heroes in his and Pierre Christin Sci-Fi cartoon “Valerian”, met up with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and the rest of the gang at a bar on a planet somewhere in the universe.

Its a bit funny to read that Linda And Valerian (Linda & Valentin in Sweden), don't seem to be so well known in US-America. Especially knowing how it was an inspiration for the Star Wars movie, as well as being a really great Science Fiction cartoon/ graphic novel. But then the sci-fi cartoons, graphic novels coming from the US was very much about super heroes, in contrast to the subject matters in European sci-fi comics. And then I mean the giants French and Belgian comics.

To quote myself in my post about Jean Giraud: You should really take the time to read the wikipedia presentation on his work, you will be surprised, especially if you are a non-european having not read European comics/graphic novels.

Stefan Lindblad

Illustrator & artist

Jean Giraud aka Moebius - one of the great comic artist´s

MOEBIUS REDUX - A Life in Pictures- Opening

Jean Giraud aka Moebius is one of those fantastic comic´s/ graphic novel artist´s, that have been a huge inspiration for more people than one at first might expect. And one of mine as well of course. As an artist and illustrator myself I have learn to draw and paint by getting inspired by all these great comic´s artist, as well as the painters and artist in the “art world”. Of some obscure reason comic´s artist have been looked down by the “fine art´s world” and media. At the same time they have been the inspiration for so many. The impact the Metal Hurlant magazine & movie, (Heavy Metal movie) had on me, and the "Arzach" comics was very strong at the time. Here a link to the IMDB site: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082509/

On You Tube you can see the documentary about Jean Giraud aka Moebius. Its called MOEBIUS REDUX - A Life in Pictures. http://youtube.com/watch?v=VyF0NsRFw0o I saw the documentary my self this weekend with my girlfriend. Its pretty basic and straight forward as a documentary but still worth a look. Jean Giraud aka Moebius was an involved in the great movie Blad Runner. The vertical city, the perspective, the way Jean Giraud draw City´s was new and inspiring. For me being a European it never been any direct difficulties to get hold of great and inspiring artists like Jean Giraud. France and Belgium having been one of the giants of European graphic novels and cartoon art.

Do take time to look at this documentary, it will hopefully give you some inspiration. And if you like to read more about Jean Giraud aka Moebius then Wikipedia has a great site with more information on his work, click this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Giraud
Jean Giraud is also the co founder of the French Sci-Fi magazine Metal Hurlant also known in its English version as Heavy Metal magazine.

You should really take the time to read the wikipedia presentation on his work, you will be surprised, especially if you are a non-european having not read european comics/graphic novels.

Stefan Lindblad

Illustrator & artist

THE Unleashed Magazine - BEST buy ever all for FREE

Okey, if you havent discovered the best Corel oriented magazine yet, then seriously I have to question where you have been lately :-)
CorelDRAW Unleashed Magazine is an absolute GOLDMINE for all about CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint. And one of the best thing with it; it is free to download each new issue, and you only pay for the back issues. To me thats the best buy ever! If you dont have the back issues, then you seriously should consider buying them. I am really impressed with the magazine Foster D. Coburn at Unleashed have put together, for all who like to read and learn about CorelDRAW and Corel Photo-Paint.

In a way its a no-brainer. Dont think, go get it.
Click the images/cover banners to download it.
(see image sample to the left)

I am a myself a longtime user of CorelDRAW and Photo-Paint, and still I learn something new when reading this magazine. Oh how I wish this magazine had been around when I started out.

You can easaly compare it to all quality magazines out there, like Computer Arts Magazine for example.

Okidoki, so this is my tip for today.
Have fun learning and getting inspired

Stefan Lindblad
Illustrator & artist

Hard work as an illustrator - the coffe break

A sunny day having to go to an outdoor café by the beach, + 27 celius, moving the office outside. I guess this is one of the nice things one can do as a self employed, so called free lancing, illustrator: to sit outside at cafés a bright sunny day. Stockholm in Sweden is a town built on islands. And I biked down to one of the beach walk´s, where there is a tiny boat club with an outdoor café. I dont think so many turist´s find this place. Not many Stockholm people either, if they dont live in the neigbourhood that is. I sat down with my laptop, photo-paint and my Wacom Intuos3 tablet. A ordinary brewed coffee and a classic swedish cinnamon bun. "Kanelbulle" as we call it. Oh, yes, and a glass of water. Yes I did get a lot of work done, beleive it or not :-) Here is my photo I took with my mobile phone camera. Behind the trees in the image the town continues. And that side is a great beach walk to run , bike and walk on. You really feel as escaping the intensity of the city. Sitting at this boat club gives the feeling of being at a small tiny town somewhere.

Stefan Lindblad
Illustrator & artist