who am i ?

Well, believe it or not, I’m a surgical resident. I know what you might be thinking—that it has nothing to do with comics, that it’s incompatible with a surgical vocation, bla bla bla. But I can’t help it—I’ve always been a dreamer.

Ever since I was little, I dreamed just as much of magical worlds that let me escape reality and become a superhero as I did of becoming a surgeon. So why sacrifice one of those dreams? Why force myself to choose when I can do both? Why not give myself the chance to pursue what makes me happy, fulfilled, and balanced?

The choice was obvious, and continuing my creative project despite the tough years of residency became my little island of peace and relaxation.

Genesis of the project

The story behing PAX AURORA was first and foremost meant for my personal needs of adventure and evasion that all the animes and movies of the world could not satisfy anymore. I had a few characters in mind, a general plot and I would invent action scenes or emotional scenes to suit my whims and fancies. I did that during my whole childhood, my teenage years and my young adult life. I would write down scenes or description of my characters from time to time in order not to forget about them and being able to keep dreaming about them for years. Nothing more.

And then one day, in 2021 precisely, I come across my rambling scenario by chance, written over the years. It was muddied, most of it was incoherent, sometimes ridiculous but the characters and the concept were so endearing that a crazy idea started to appear in my head. ‘’What if your stories would finally get out of your head ? What if this imaginary world of yours was to become reality ?’’.

That day, it turned into an obsession. A serious project. There was work to do. I started to put in order the scenario and the characters (more than a decade spent inventing, it was crowded). I sorted out the different plots in order to cherry pick only the most interesting ones. I wrote, failed, crossed out, started over, changed my mind a thousand times. Until I ended up with a scenario that I liked, that made sense to me and that excited me. I broke down my story in 16 volumes because I like even numbers and symmetry. And then, I made a to-do list of everything that was necessary for this project to become reality : writing the scripts for the whole saga, design each and every character, 3D modeling characters and regular backgrounds, learning how to paint a background, learning how to draw with perspective, learning how to draw convincing facial expressions, learning how to stage a scene, produce content for social media, drawing the story boards, create a website, etc etc.

If you are reading this text today, it means that there’s been progress on this list. If you are reading this today, it means that the definitive pages of the first volume are in the process of being drawned. So stay tuned, follow me on social media, be patient and let me make you dream.

the artists

After years of relentlessly training to draw at a high enough level to illustrate the story of my dreams, I was finally satisfied with the quality of my artwork. I had finally reached a point where I could draw my characters in a way that made them recognizable from one drawing to another, I was getting faster, I could give them expressive facial expressions, and so on. Thanks to 3D tools, I was finally able to create beautiful backgrounds with accurate perspectives and intricate details, while also ensuring I never made mistakes in my characters’ morphology.

But as the years went by, I was also progressing in my surgical residency. That meant long hours, constantly reviewing anatomy and surgical techniques, working on my PhD, publishing scientific papers, and more. I realized that the main limitation in this project was no longer my artistic skills—it was my time. As a comic book reader, I couldn’t imagine having more than a year of waiting time between each volume. Additionally, I had been incredibly patient with PAX AURORA, but the thought of having to wait until I was 35 or 40 to release my first volume would have been heartbreaking, and I might have ended up giving up altogether. And finally, as I worked on this project, I came to a realization: what truly makes me tick, what really excites me, is the creation of the story and the universe—both visually and narratively. Drawing, for me, is simply a means to show others what’s in my mind, but it’s not an end in itself. So, in the end, it wasn’t that important for me to do ALL the artwork of the final pages alone.

That’s when the idea of seeking help came to me. I started joining artist groups on Facebook and discovered that many artists had a drawing style similar to mine! So, I made the decision to hire artists to help finalize the pages of PAX AURORA, allowing me to speed up the project and free up time to develop the extended universe and refine the story.

Of course, since I had been working on this comic for years, I had a very clear idea of how I wanted it to look (#controlfreak). So, I drew the storyboards for all the volumes—very detailed ones, which looked more like rough drafts than traditional storyboards, including framing, character poses and morphology, lettering, etc.

Once I had multiple volumes planned in advance, I took a leap of faith and posted about the project in artist groups, hoping to find my creative partner. And bingo! It ticked with a brilliant Argentinian artist, Federico. He now helps me with the inking of the pages, refining my storyboards using all the reference sheets I created for the visual universe. All I have left to do is add the final details and adjust the characters’ faces to make sure they stay consistent. Federico is saving me an insane amount of time.

I then used the same method to find a colorist… and bingo again!

long term project

As I mentioned in the PAX AURORA Project section, I’ve always imagined this story as scenes. And not just any scenes… anime scenes! That’s right—I’m a total anime fanatic. The epic moments, the music, the pacing… everything is amazing. From the very beginning, PAX AURORA existed in my mind as an anime. At one point, I even thought about trying to pitch my project to production companies. But I quickly came back down to Earth and remembered that, to those people, I’m a nobody. It would have been a waste of time. At best, maybe—by some miracle—I could have sold my script. But it would have been reshaped and distorted beyond recognition, so… no thanks. Since I’m neither a millionaire nor an influential figure in the industry, I had to explore other options.

My family has always been passionate about comics. It’s a format that conveys a ton of emotion and information, even if it’s in a different way than anime. So, naturally, I turned to comics as the best medium to tell my story. Plus, it was the most accessible option—because with a looooot of time and a looooot of persistence, technically, a comic is something you can create on your own.

I’ve always drawn a little, but I never had the skill level to make a full-fledged comic—drawing movement, staging, lighting effects, landscapes, backgrounds, making sure each character looks consistent from panel to panel… But I didn’t lose hope. I told myself, “It’s okay if it’s not perfect.” So, I bought a graphic tablet and a digital painting program. Thanks to 3D models, layers, and filters, I’ve been able to make up for a lot of my artistic shortcomings.

All this to say… even if the chances are slim, deep down, I still hold on to the dream of one day convincing an animation studio to turn PAX AURORA into an anime. That would be the greatest day of my life.

my inspirations

PAX AURORA started (the very very very beginning) when I was travelling in Greece with my family. I was eleven, I was an absolute fan of FullMEtal Alchemist and my head was in the clouds (still is). If you have ever been to Greece, you would know that there many ruins to visit, most often very well preserved. This is when I had this idea of a group of young people searching ruins for something, in the same adventurous style FMA was all about. That’s precisely when the main plot formed into my head. The visit of the minotaur labyrinth inspired me a scene you will get to discover in the 4^th volume.

Then, there was ‘’The Godfather’’. I watched it for the first time not long after. I enjoyed this mafia vibe. I knew I wanted the group of protagonists to be supported by a larger group, that they could come back to when in difficulty. Just like Ed and Al with the army of Westeros. But I didn’t want to copy FMA so I decided this group would be a mafia. This is how the Great Toméan Families came to life. Initially, there were only two families with one character in each : Lola EGRIFFE and Georgio SARATE. They then became Nicole deBRABAND and Georges MALAQUIN and I added other family members to make it more interesting.

In high school, I discovered Naruto Shippuden. This anime confirmed my natural attraction for shônen style long adventures. It inspired me a scene that will appear in the 7^th volume. Then, there was Anna Karenina. I enjoyed the ambiance, so it inspired me an entire volume, the 8^th one. It will be like bubble of glitter dust in the story, you will see.

And finally, the great, the awesome, the famous Shingeki no Kyojin entered my life at the end of high school. Now that was a slap in the face. I really discovered the meaning of the word ‘’epic’’. At that time, I decided to ‘’epic-ify’’ a lot of scenes I had already invented. The military, a great war for humanity : it inspired me the whole third arc.

After that, I was filled with inspiration. I started to dream on a loop of the scenes I had imagined while listening to the OST of my favorite animes.

A huge thank you to all the creators and artists responsible for the medias quoted above. You guys excited me, you made me quiver, you made me cry my eyes out, you made me want to join the battle to save human kind (#SNK), you made me wonder ‘’why am I not a jedi ?’’ or ‘’can I marry Sasuke some day ?’’. Yes, you offered me your dreams for me to live them to the fullest and that is the best gift possible.

final format

In this digital age, I really wondered : should I make PAX AURORA a webcomic ?

I thought about it for like three seconds and I can assure you that PAX AURORA will never be a webcomic. Not because I hate it, I myself read a few ones with lots of pleasure (Eggnoïd from Archie the Red Cat, Freacking romance from Snailords, Lore Olympus from Rachel Smythe), but because it is not the format I hope for PAX AURORA. I want to be able to turn the pages, to draw a cover. I want to have the possibility to break my story down in volumes, with the narration rhythm it implies. The 9^th art (= refers to BD = bande-dessinée = francophone comic book) isn’t very famous around the world and that is a shame, because it is worth going out of your way for. So PAX AURORA will be a BD format : 23,5 x 33,5 cm (= 9.3 inch x 13.2 inch), minimum 48 pages depending on what I have to tell in each volume, colorized, from left to right.

I choose to opt for self-publishing for two reasons. First of all, I have a job that I love and I am not ready to stop doing my job, even for PAX AURORA. I draw on my free time, when I can, at my rhythm, with no pressure. If I were to try to work with a publishing company, it would probably give me deadlines (that’s normal, they invest in your project, time is money). I would certainly not be able to abide by these deadlines.

The second reason is directly linked to my personality and my sensitivity when it comes to my art : I can’t accept that anyone would change anything in my art. PAX AURORA would definitely be better if I were to work with BD professionals, but I DON’T CARE. I do not aim for it to be perfect, I just want it to be the way I imagined it. I just want to do justice to the baby me and leave it the way I pictured it in my head. It must depend on the company and the team you work with, but, knowing myself, I know I wouldn’t bear for anyone to make me cut scenes or dialogs all the time.

Self-publishing isn’t a magic remedy. It adds a huge amount of work. But you know, you gotta make choices.

tools

I use a HUION GT-191 graphic tablet. For drawing software, I work with Clip Studio Paint EX. When it comes to 3D architectural modeling, I use Blender. For furniture and objects in my architectural backgrounds, I rely on free models from TurboSquid. I also have a 12-inch iPad Pro, which I take everywhere with me, allowing me to draw anytime, anywhere.

I love using 3D models, mainly because I’m a perfectionist to an obsessive degree, and 3D lets me create a draft with perfect proportions in just one click. That’s why I chose to model recurring environments like the protagonists’ house in Pylore, the Great Tomean Families’ palace, and several cities. Creating 3D models is also a way of grounding something in reality, and it’s incredibly satisfying. You have no idea how happy I was the first time I could walk aroundthe protagonists’ house as if I actually lived there.

A huge thank you to everyone who makes tutorials online. Thanks to you, I learned how to use Clip Studio Paint and Blender. Thanks to you, I discovered tons of small tricks to improve my drawings, learned how to paint backgrounds and landscapes, how to frame a comic book page, and so much more. Thanks to you, I even learned about self-publishing.

Sure, the internet has its flaws, but it’s also a place where anyone can learn anything. So thank you for sharing your knowledge!