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Hello everyone!

This week of Mr Owl started on the 31st of October. Of course, I felt compelled to do a little Halloween related drawing. I quite liked the idea I had, but I’m not so fond of the result. As a matter of fact, I really rushed through this one, due to very little time. And it speaks for the rest of the week, sometimes it was hard producing a drawing every day, so I’m glad I still managed to make it happen. Hope you enjoy!

MONDAY

Mr Owl is struggling to put his weird hospital clothes on. He is scaring everyone at the hospital, there has already been one heart attack and three screaming nurses. “Happy Halloween”, he says, without really knowing why.

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TUESDAY

Mr Owl has been moved to another room. He is sleeping next to a panda. He’s probably called Mr Panda, but Mr Owl doesn’t know that. In fact he couldn’t ask any questions because the panda was always sleeping. “I wonder what bamboo tastes like”, he wonders.

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WEDNESDAY

Mr Owl underwent an X-ray scan, or something like that. This brand new technology allows doctors to see what happens inside of Mr Owl’s body. “I’m not sure how it works, but it sure is impressive”, he thinks.

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THURSDAY

Mr Owl is trying out hospital food. “It isn’t as bad as I thought it would be”, he thinks

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FRIDAY

The doctors said he shouldn’t try flying, so Mr Owl is trying to walk with crutches. “How do people manage?”, he wonders.

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SATURDAY

Mr Owl was in a lot of pain, so the doctors made him a little injection. Now he’s feeling quite special… “Agagnagna”, he thinks.

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SUNDAY

Mr Owl’s doctor is rather pleased by the progress his patient is making. This doctor looks a bit like someone from his dreams last week… That’s a bit odd. “What a wonderful moustache though”, Mr Owl thinks.

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Voila! I feel like my technique is evolving little by little, and some things are coming together. This series really helps me learning new skills, and most of all, is a lot of fun to make. I wish I could have more time to explore some ideas that I have, and refine my drawings a little further, or even make more animations. I need to get an agenda or something, to manage my time more efficiently. Anyhow… This week I noticed that I released more than 31 drawings on a daily basis, since it’s a bit symbolic, I’d like to say a massive thank you! Your support in whatever form it comes really helps me.

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“BEHIND THE SCENES” BONUS

I have spent quite some time working on faces this week. That’s why I wanted to do a man’s face for the last day. I’m not super proud of how it looks, but I got this result in very little time, so that’s an improvement I’m very happy about.

Right! Thanks for reading, take care, and see you around.

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Hello everyone! This week of Mr Owl started on the 24th of October, which is the moment I went back from a week of vacation. To justify this absence I invented an inner journey in the head of Mr Owl while he was in a coma. While creating I listened to this music a lot :

MONDAY

“Some bad news to start the week… Mr Owl has been in the hospital during the past 2 weeks. Although they don’t know owl’s anatomy very well, doctors are quite confident he will get better. It’s a mystery what Mr Owl thinks during his coma…”

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TUESDAY

Mr Owl is reliving his past in his deep lethargy. “Paris is truly beautiful”, he thinks…

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WEDNESDAY

Mr Owl, pursuing his trip in limbo, now finds himself on a cinemascope reel. “How did I get here?”, he thinks.

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THURSDAY

Mr Owl is going deeper, he’s now back as a kid and is sorrowful because everyone is laughing at him. “I never realised my feathers were weird until now”, he thinks…

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FRIDAY

Mr Owl is now reliving the moment someone took his wing for the first time and told him they fancied his feathers no matter what he’s been told before. “What a warm feeling”, he thinks…

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SATURDAY

Mr Owl is now falling in a psychedelic universe. “What?”, he thinks…

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SUNDAY

Mr Owl finally woke up. His body aches but his mind is somehow rested. Besides, he’s got quaint flowers by his bed. “Who could have such a nice attention?”, he asks himself.

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This week may have seemed a little more dramatic, and I hope it didn’t put you off. I really like this series because it allows me to try and explore new things. This week features my first fully drawn background, and I’m somewhat happy with this little view from the Alexander III bridge in the Paris from 1900 (Yes this is very precise haha). At the beginning I thought I would go a little bit more in depth in the 1900 Exposition Universelle, because I found it fascinating to document myself about how Paris evolved, to see what kind of technology was used in that time, or what kind of art style (Art Nouveau). And that’s what I did when I put Mr Owl into a Melies film (Wednesday). But then I went sad, so I just drew a sad Mr Owl. I also really enjoyed making a Gif, so there might me a bit more of those in the future if I find a good reason to animate Mr Owl.

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Little “behind the scenes bonus”

Hands are fucking hard to draw. Sorry for the swearing, but really, they are my kryptonite. On Friday, I decided to practice a bit on paper before I started working with my pen tablet.

That’s it for now, I hope you enjoyed!

Take care and see you next week.

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This Mr Owl’s week started on the 3rd of October. And this week, there’s a challenge again! I’ve placed some references to pop culture in my illustrations (Movies, series, video games). I don’t think they’re very subtle, so don’t over think it. You can participate up to Wednesday 12th at 23:26 (Paris time zone). If several people found them all, I’ll find a way to randomly chose a winner. The prize is a drawing again, you can chose the theme, but it will probably an ink drawing. You can submit your participation either on commenting the Facebook post, or on this post directly. Alright, good luck!

Challenge is over! Solutions here : http://www.lairlair.com/en/2016/10/13/solutions-to-last-weeks-challenge/

Now for the retrospective : I had a lot of fun working on this week’s Mr Owl. It was quite challenging because I wanted to put as many references as possible, without completely losing any coherence in the story. Not that it makes any sense in general, but it had to keep the same kind of narrative. I’ve also introduced a new character : The Minister, a charismatic penguin. I generally feel that the backgrounds are getting a tiny bit richer. There’s also been a little incident on Tuesday so I had to improvise… Enjoy.

MONDAY

Mr Owl was summoned to the Minister of the Silly Walk’s office, before he started working. “I didn’t think such a minister would take himself so seriously”, he thinks…

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TUESDAY

For some reason, Mr Owl was turned into vegetables for a brief period of time. “Oh dear” he thinks
(Sorry guys, I was called in at work earlier than expected, no time to draw today…)

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WEDNESDAY

Mr Owl is wrathful. Yes, he’s back to his normal form but some shifty individual took a bite off his bow tie while he was made of vegetables. “Well… At least normality is restored…”, he thinks.

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LAST WEEK’S PRIZE

Mr Owl finally meets his mysterious employer. And he’s a penguin. “I thought they lived in a parallel universe”, he thinks.

Challenge won by Matthias! The solution was 1909.

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THURSDAY

Mr Owl is delighted! He couldn’t dream of a better boss.
“What a great day it is”, he thinks.

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FRIDAY

Mr Owl was told how much he would get paid. “Excellent”, he thinks.

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SATURDAY

Mr Owl is still in the Minister’s office. He’s given some rules about how things work. “2nd rule of the ministry, you don’t talk about the ministry”, he repeats to himself.

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SUNDAY

Mr Owl was sent home after his meeting. On the train home, he notices a strange presence next to him. “Is it a dream again?”, he thinks.

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I’ll be off this week, so I won’t be able to draw much. There are still some things coming, but Mr Owl won’t be around until roughly the middle of next week I’m afraid.

Take care! Catch up when I get back.

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Okay, that’s it. I’ve had enough of trying to make nice things. Today, I will write an ugly article about the ugliest things I’ve made. Fart, and puke. Guts and brains. Let’s get it started. And yes this is a reference to the Black Eyed Peas. Told you it was going to get ugly…

# 1 – Wolverine

Let’s start off with one of my least ugly among my ugly creations. Featuring the will to draw a badass and dynamic posture, and the disillusion before how hard it actually is.

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# 2 – Alien

We’re diving slightly deeper into ugliness. Hang on to your pants and retina, it’s only getting worse. This one is featuring the famous, the classic, the renowned “Guy who hides his hand because it is too fucking hard to draw”. Sense of space, anatomy and composition are still hurting to this day. But they don’t take the main role. Just look at this hand you can’t see. Seriously, give it a try.

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#3 – Lumberjack

You still there? Good. This one is a bit abstract, but if your imagination is not completely obliterated by the images you watched above, you can probably see a sort of lumberjack. Kind of. Created by my will to explore new photoshop brushes. The legend has it that it was inspired by a puddle of puke…

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# 4 – Dog_ugly.jpeg

(Yes that’s the actual name I gave this file)

Do I really need to comment this shit? I wish I could forget this image, but in the end I don’t and it’s probably for the best, otherwise my eyes would bleed every time I discover it again.

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# 5 – Waterfal

(Yes the spelling is intentional, shut up, it’s art)

Actually I dare you not to shut up and to find the words to describe this piece of… Art. I’ll give it a go “Hello, I’m 6 years young and I like the drawings and the colours blue. Yesterday I ate sand”

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# 6 – Pixart

I’m sorry for the people working at Pixar, you didn’t deserve this pun. This may be a low point in your carrier if you’re reading this, but I promise I meant no harm. Also, it pains me that the title of this includes the word “Art”. Featuring the ugliest of the ugly Photoshop effects, I name “Pattern Overlay”

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# 7 – Poor Kid

He is supposed to be a kid. Hey kid, I don’t know if images have souls, but if they do, I’m really sorry for yours buddy. Why do you have an old man’s face? Why do you have such a weird butt? Those questions will sadly remain unanswered. Oh wait, a little bird told that was because I couldn’t draw either faces or butts back then. That clears it all up!

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# 8 – Chick Duck

Didn’t know where I was going when I started this masterpiece. Turns out it was into the uncharted realm of the vast ugliness. It went that far thanks to the trusty “Pattern Overlay”, but couldn’t have done it without gross colours and a poor composition.

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# 9 – Rose

I have no excuse for this one. I used the blending mode “Disolve”. This is unforgivable.

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# 10 – Swords

Fun  fact : This was actually done by the exact same team than the first picture. I asked Flashy Ugly O’Colors to give them a hand.

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# 11 – Face

What. Just look at these eyebrows.

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# Bonus – Bunny Geek

This one is intentionally ugly and it cracks me up every time I see it so I thought I should share.

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Okay that’s enough. I’ve beaten my past self up more than I probably should. That said, I feel that it’s important to see where you’re coming from. I’m still not satisfied by the work I do, and I still have a long way to go. But when I see the pictures above, it puts everything into perspective. It’s hard to realise the amount of work that is necessary to acquire the skills to just be able to create descent images. I thought that, besides being somewhat funny, this article would help both of us realise what kind of path I’ve been walking for the past few years. And sincerely, I think most artists would tell you the same : if you saw my first works, you’d laugh. I feel it’s important to look at this painful truth : you won’t stop sucking until you’ve sucked for a very long time.

Case in point :

Now you might think this is actually allright. But what you don’t know is that it took me hours to do this. I erased so much that I used up a significant chunk of my eraser, and this piece of paper has become thinner and changed colour. I didn’t want to put it in the ugly category, because it is the first drawing I did when I decided I wanted to improve my skills. On the first page of my first sketch book. So it’s a tiny bit too meaningful for me to laugh at it.

If you’re working on improving any skill, I hope it gave you the reassurance that we’re all struggling, we all fail, and that it’s important to keep going in spite of that. Let it be your drive, your source of learning and inspiration. So now go. Look at how you’ve failed in the past and don’t let it define you.

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This week started on the 26th of September. And Mr Owl was once again by my side. This week I wanted to do a little game, I’ve left some clues so that you can guess what year Mr Owl is living in. I tried to respect the clothing style, news and technology of that year. The first one to guess the right year wins a personalised drawing of a penguin. Or of Mr Owl, you chose! Awesome prize right?

This time I didn’t really want to tell a story but expose a few different situations that depict the universe and the personality of Mister Owl. The illustration in the subway is the one that got the most attention apparently, so it seems you guys could relate to the sleepy annoyed face of Mr Owl… Be strong, and avoid eye contact in public transports, your soul could melt instantaneously.

Mr Owl is stuck with an old lady trying to explain something to him. She is somehow speaking Hungarian, and has one curler left in her hair. When Mr Owl tries to tell her he doesn’t understand, no sound comes out of his beak. “I’ll be late for work if I don’t escape this eerie situation pretty quickly”, he thinks before he wakes up.

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Mr Owl just had a coffee. He’s feeling hyper. “I am feeling hyper”, he thinks.

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Mr Owl can fly, but not when he’s wearing a suit. So he has to take the subway to go to work. “Good that the Great Northern Railway Line opened last month”, he thinks.

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Mr Owl was walking to work when he realised a fancy lady was waving at him. As he readjusted his bow tie before waving back, he noticed that she was actually waving at someone behind him. “I was on the verge of doing something stupid”, he thinks.

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Mr Owl is trying to read some road sign. Unfortunately, it has come to his attention that his sight has been dwindling lately. “I’ll raise some fund to afford a monocle”, he thinks.

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Mr Owl is reading the papers, there’s been an incident in the Ottoman empire. 74 soldiers were killed during a rebellion. “I hope history doesn’t repeat itself”, thinks Mr Owl, concerned.

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Mr Owl is standing in front of the door. He’s ready to start his new job. He takes a badass posture to give himself confidence. “I’m the best”, he thinks.

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Here we are! Another week went by. Time flies. So does Mr Owl. I mean maybe someday he will. Ah yes, spoiler alert. Naaah actually I still don’t know yet what’s coming next week. I have a few ideas, but we’ll see how it goes.

See you next week!

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This week, I started a series starring an owl. His name is Mr Owl. Creative name, I know. I wanted it to have a 20th century look, partly because I thought it was funny. Owls have a very stern look, so I thought a very serious and old school outfit would suit him just fine. Also, I watched Peaky Blinders recently (a show taking place in Birmingham, in 1919), so my mind was soaked in this retro universe.

On the 19th of September, I posted the first image on my facebook page. And as a reply to a comment, I drew something else the next day. That’s when I realised it had the potential to become a modest series. One image a day, black and white, not too refined, abstract backgrounds, and very little story. It tells the daily little problems, embarrassments and situations of Mr Owl. This week, he is going to work, and it’s not going how he expected it at all.

“Mr Owl is looking forward to starting his work at the Ministry of Silly Walks”

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Mr Owl had a bit of time before beginning his first day at work. So he popped by the hat shop to get a new one.

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Mr Owl has lost some time with all these shenanigans, now he is afraid to be late on his first day at work. “A bad way to start”, he thinks…

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  Mr Owl arrived just on time in front of his new work place. He smells a bit like sweat but it’s okay. “At least I’m not late”, he thinks..

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Mr Owl has been waiting for half an hour now, and his coworkers are still not here. He’s a bit peckish so he thought he would have a bite of the lunch bag he prepared himself. The nice sandwich makes him forget the waiting. “Nothing infelicitous has happened to me yet” he thinks…

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Mr Owl had forgotten that he was an owl, and that owls work at night. He mixed up 7am and 7pm… again. “Hope no one saw me” he thinks…

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Mr Owl went home to sleep. In the end, his previous mistake will allow him to rest a little longer. “I’m proud of being an early bird”, he thinks before he falls asleep.

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Through the week I wanted to tell a very simple story of an Owl who is confused in a human world, but is still trying to fit in. It was meant to set the foundations of the tone I would use in the future. I talk as if I know what I’m doing, but usually the idea I have is very vague until I actually start drawing. I use photoshop and my faithful (and crappy) pen tablet.

See you next week!

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It is time to write a new page.

The following articles will be dedicated to topics that I’m passionate about, or updates on projects. I’m not the best writer out there, so this is more of a practical tool than an way to express myself, if that makes any sense. But my goal is to communicate with you casually. There won’t be a specific theme, but I assume it’s going to revolve around image creation, other topics that I hold dear or share someone else’s work.

I’ll also share these articles on my Facebook page, so that if you don’t come to the blog, the blog will come to you! Haha!

Well, thanks for reading.

Goodbye.