Ok so this is something of a re-post lifted from the excellent designboom.com. Re-posting content in such verbatim fashion is something In which I tend to shy away from, but since it concerns quite possibly the worlds premier Sci-Fi Illustrator I’ve made an exception! We are of course talking of French comic artist/legend Jean Giraud, better known as Moebius and this article relates to his current exhibition “Transe-Forme” which is running now at Fondation Cartier in Paris until Saturday the 13th March, 2011. So as of time posting you have roughly a month too experience it.

Read the full article over at DesignBoom with a much larger selection of images of this simply stunning exhibition.

Many thanks to Manchester based Illustrator/Designer Ben Lamb for originally pointing me towards the article…

*** Quick amend thanks to Micheal Van

Official Home page of exhibition: http://www.moebius-transe-forme.com/

Check these videos from/of Moebius for exhibition http://dai.ly/e86lED

Whilst I prep some new feature post’s I’m going to follow on from my recent Flickr Round with a collection of images I’ve bookmarked and backtracked via the excellent FFFFound.com – lazy? yes I know!

I actually still have FFFFound set as my Firefox home page and although I don’t spend quite as much time browsing as I used too, I still think it’s an excellent resource. In fact I’ve even saved off hundreds of bookmarked images too form offline inspiration scrapbook- It was a boring chore, but has since proved to be very handy!

Ok so here’s the notes on this somewhat arbitrary selection:

Top: Stunning Gothic, fantasy tinged fashion Illustration from Russian Artist Vania Zouravliov, this piece is entitled “The Head”. Really beautiful work, I think you’ll agree and someone I’ll definitely be looking to run a full feature on in the near(ish) future – in the meantime check this post at Jeff Hamada’s superb Booooooom.com or maybe just a general Google image search on Vania Zouravliov http://bit.ly/gwiMLU

2nd Top: I’m not sure on who the artist is here, only that I very much like the piece! As is often the problem with backtracking from FFFFound the link ends http://supersonicelectronic.com but not on the exact page – If you know who it is and have more info, please post a comment.

3rd Top: Now I really like this photograph, but again I’m lost for any more info on it – is it real? or a composite? The link ends here: www.ryanduenas.com – please help!

4th Top: Here’s one that’s easy to spot, it is of course the work of SF French illustrator extraordinaire Moebius this Image is via the fantastic butdoesitfloat.com – check out much more here: http://butdoesitfloat.com/filter/moebius

5th Top: This haunting portrait is the work of another illustrator I’ll be featuring again soon, Autumn Whitehurst – see more from her gorgeous portfolio here.

Bottom: Again this is another piece I’m not entirely sure on, though it looks somewhat similar to the work Cartoonist Spain Rodriguez whom I featured earlier in the year http://bit.ly/bm2l8q

** Proper posts coming soon! please give us a shout if you can help out at all identifying any of the unknown pieces…

A Halloween special here, consisting of zero Halloween related material! Instead what we do have is an excellent selection of obscure(ish) French SF Illustration…

These images come via bxzzines.blogspot.com a blogger site maintained by “Clifford Brown” (an anonymous pseudonym) The focus is mainly on vintage soft erotic magazines and related material; however Clifford also blends the occasional SF & Fantasy Scan into the mix, and that’s where this set has come from…

Here’s a link to the full post with 30 or so large scans: http://bit.ly/aPjHlO there is some mild nudity on the site, hence the warning. Merci beaucoup à Pierre for originally pointing me in the right direction!

Top: I think this is a Moebius Illustration (or is it Enki Bilal?) as I’m unsure of the source I can’t confirm – If you do know the origin please post a comment…

2nd Top: No real info on this piece I’m afraid, I’m guessing it’s from the 60′s? – The creatures great anyway…

3rd Top: This is definitely the work of Philippe Caza, again I’m not sure of the exact source though it’s dated 1973. Caza really does possess a knack when it comes to Illustrating freaky looking monsters – out there! Check more of Philippe Caza here

Bottom: A slice of Psychedelic Sci-Fi and Surrealism dating from 1970, these paintings are part of a set composed by polish born but French based artist: Wojciech Siudmak – more of him here: http://www.siudmak.com/

Once again the link to the source: http://bit.ly/aPjHlO

These spindly and fragile looking spacecraft are still’s taken from the 1982 French Animated Film ‘Les Maîtres du temps’ (The Masters of Time, a.k.a. Time Masters) directed by René Laloux and designed by Moebius. I have to admit that I’d never actually heard of this until I saw it featured over on Eric Carl’s excellent Blog.Sans-Concept.

Full post here: http://blog.sans-concept.com/?p=293 and check the full stills set at: http://flickr.com/photos/mr_carl/sets/72157612581774973/

In my opinion, pretty much any French Sci-Fi automatically qualifies as extremely interesting, and ‘Les Maîtres du temps’ certainley fit’s the bill! Also worthy of more reading; the career of Animator & Director René Laloux (July 13, 1929–March 13, 2004) most famous for ‘La Planète Sauvage,’ (Fantastic Planet 1973). Check his wonderfully bizarre 1965 Short film ‘Les Escargots’ : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiXn6d13YC0 a parable of Nuclear Holocaust?

Top left: “Duke Leto Atreides”
Top right a “Sardaukar” – I still prefer this depiction
Bottom left “Feyd” – played by Sting in Lynch’s 84 Version
Bottom right “Kynes”

All concept Art from Mobieus for the aborted Alejandro Jodorowsky 1976 version of “Dune”. With Mobieus in charge of Costume Design and Storyboarding, Chris Foss taking care of Spaceship’s and Vehicles and H.R.Giger creating the evil Harkonnen Homeworld + a Pink Floyd soundtrack & starring Mick Jagger and Salvador Dali amongst others! it goes without saying this is definitely the greatest film never made. The project stalled when funds dried up and other assorted spanners randomly flew into the creative machine. Truly a project of immense scope and scale – alas never to be, at least not in this Universe!

Read all you need to know about the project, see all the art, interviews and more at this amazing site: http://www.duneinfo.com/ - Thanks Dan for the tip on that!  The Mobieus feature is at http://www.duneinfo.com/unseen/moebius.asp

It’s also well worth having a read about Alejandro Jodorowsky himself at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jodorowsky -

Also some more at:

Manny Z’s Cininite Blog: http://citinite.wordpress.com/2008/08/25/jean-moebius-giraud/
And the excellent io9.com http://io9.com/5088014/costume-designs-and-storyboards-from-the-dune-that-never-was

Dovetailing nicely into Bladerunner comes some of the original visual inspiration for that film – ‘The Long Tomorrow’ – a 1976 Proto-Cyberpunk Comic with art By French Artist Mobieus and a script from Dan (Alien) O’Bannon. Many Thanks to Dick Hogg for putting me onto this, and supplying the scans.

Read much more about ‘The Long Tomorrow’ and the birth of Cyberpunk here: http://www.brmovie.com/FAQs/BR_FAQ_BR_Influence.htm

Costume Concept Art for the Ridley Scott Movie ‘Alien’ 1979 from French comic Artist Moebius AKA Jean Giraud.