Whatever the nature of the project, drawing on paper is the very first step. I draw in a quite small scale in a sketchbook, with a pencil or a black pen. At first, there’s a time when I let the pencil guide me without trying to stay close to my subject. Abstract organic patterns often result from this automatic drawing; faces, eyes or legs …. Then I begin to draw the subject that interests me several times. I do this by remembering seen or lived images and, in the case of MIRAGES, sometimes inspired by pictures from photojournalism websites (New York Times Lens, The BigPicture, et cetera). It’s during this time of research, though the drawn line, that ideas come: for example, to connect screens with placards or to put the line of a river in relation to the line of a wall. As I go through my sketchbook’s pages, I can find the moment when I had an idea, then I revolve around this idea by repeating and specifying it.
If needed, I use other sheets of paper to have more space or to colorize. But currently I’m mainly trying to simplify the figures, to keep only the »good« lines that support the meaning. I believe this is one of the influences of my 3D drawing practice: I want to keep it simple because experiencing a volumetric drawing is already complex. I also pay attention to the temporality of my drawings on paper, because if, once in the virtual space, I choose to make this drawing reappear in time, my first attempt will be to preserve the order and speed of the original drawing.