Core Collapse Supernova is a 140+ page artbook with entirely new color illustrations & sketches.
The creator
I’m Bengal, a comics artist & illustrator born in France, with an itch to tell stories through mysterious and colorful illustrations!
For over 20 years, I have provided illustrations, concept designs and graphic novel work for the European market. After a shift of interest and a professional move to the US comics industry in 2015, I’ve been working as both interior & cover artist on dozens of books for publishers such as Marvel Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, Boom Studios and even Blizzard on the Overwatch comics.
To be constantly busy with work is a blessing and a privilege, but it also kept me from producing personal art and from exploring intricate, intimate & colorful content to share with fans as an outlet from my daily professional routine.
This project has been carefully in development for over 5 years, one small step at a time, and now I need YOU to jumpstart it and make it real! With your help and contribution, I will be able to free a large amount of time to work on the illustrations so I can guarantee the best possible quality for the book and the extras. My goal is to make the illustrations look perfect on paper!
Readers & fans have been so supportive for years, I am incredibly thankful. Finally, it’s time to show you all what’s been on my mind!
The Book
Looking back, I’ve always been one to produce eccentric and fun personal pieces. Back in the early 2000s, I was very active on art forums, getting inspired everyday, and I ended up even co-creating the most important french art community, the CafeSale forums.
Through this artbook, I can finally go back to my roots and try to express once more this nostalgia that fuels my creativity!
(cover placeholder, not definitive)
The project is not just a succession of random images. For months, I crafted and developed coherent stories in my mind and carefully organized the illustrations in chapters that make sense to me. Ultimately, my goal by doing so is to try to make YOU visit peculiar places and imagine, with each single picture, what the story is. I want you to be surprised, enthralled and eager to uncover what’s beyond the illustrations, or come up with your own guesses!
I want to pique your curiosity about my characters, and make you wonder what they’re about!
The book will feature
▶ a presentation written in English, French & Japanese, featuring several old works from my previous, discontinued artbook
▶ the core of the project : a collection of dozens of brand new illustrations, organized in chapters
▶ a tutorial chapter about my art process with steps and images (depending on stretch goals)
▶ several pages, at least 12, of never seen sketches and B&W versions of the illustrations (up to 20+ depending on stretch goals)
▶ a ‘Thanks’ page with the names of all the backers
(artbook mockups, not definitive)
The book is a work in progress as you can see, but a lot of the work is already prepared! I already have over 40 more pieces sketched and some inked. You can see below some of them, all meant to be inked and colored one by one until completion of the project!
(some of the illustrations already in progress)
Nothing is definitive for now and as I progress on the illustrations, I will also do my best to tweak and improve the design & layout of the book, to make it as coherent, balanced and beautiful as can be.
One note of importance : there may be some light nudity in a few of the illustrations, but never anything vulgar, sexual or provocative.
What We Need & What You Get
There’s no question about it : the main part of the funding will go into freeing time to work on the book instead of committing to licensed work. Although a lot of the artbook has been planned and sketched, inking and coloring those illustrations will take a lot of time and dedication!
Then, the other big part will go into printing fees. I’ve already selected 2 potential, expensive, high quality printers with whom I’ll work closely to get EXACTLY the book I want. No cheap printing : the colors need to be clean and vibrant and the book needs to be sturdy.
Also, 8% of the sum goes to the crowdfunding platform.
To show appreciation for backers’ support, in addition to a unique artbook, I will be including several extras that won’t be available to anyone else after the campaign ends!
The basic Campaign Pack contains :
▶ a printed & signed backer certificate with your name on it
▶ an exclusive, high quality A4 print of one of the most noteworthy illustrations of the project (TBD)
▶ a PDF version of the artbook
▶ a selection of digital wallpapers
The Premium Campaign Pack contains :
Same as the basic pack, plus
▶ a printed & signed Premium backer certificate with your name on it (instead of the basic one)
▶ access to a video showing my process on a complete illustration, from pencils to colors
▶ an A6 size sketchbook featuring a series of original art, paying homage to favorite pop culture characters, inked with screentone, that is done for fun on my off-time (at least 50 pages, art is already done)
(sketchbook mockups, not definitive)
(certificate mockup, not definitive)
(sketches samples from the artbook’s last chapter)
(samples from the older artworks featured in the book)
Original Art, Remarques & Commissions
The numbered copies will be up to n°285 at most and distributed across the 4 higher tiers : signed (160), remarqued (75), with commission (30) and original art (20).
▶ Generous backers who will go for the highest tier will have the privilege to choose from a pool of new, original pieces drawn specifically for this book. The choice will be available once all illustrations are finalized and the book is ready for printing. A “first come, first served” basis will be in place at the time backers confirm their slots, based on their favorite picks. Despite the pieces still being in progress, I can guarantee that there will be images to everyone’s liking!
▶ Remarques will consist in a character from the book, at the artist’s discretion, on the first page!
▶ Backers who will choose a bust commission will be contacted individually to agree on a character of their choosing. Commissions will be done on a B5 size paper with some marker values!
(examples of original art)
Stretch Goals!
Schedule & Risks
I have been a professional artist for over 20 years, mostly working on comics interiors, but also producing many, many covers for the past 7 years now. I’m very proud, and very lucky to have achieved already so much ; but I also learned a lot and I know very well how to budget my time and pace myself once I start working on a long term project, until I see it through. My most recent series, Death or Glory (with R. Remender for Image Comics) took just over 4 years of steady work (pencils, inks & colors!) while still producing covers for other publishers regularly, for example.
I can’t possibly entirely stop working on my usual jobs for publishers and so, I already know the project will take time to be completed. I’ve mapped out a schedule that should allow me to complete the project within 2 years or so, and I will keep backers up to date as the book gets done!
Any Help matters!
Thank you so much in advance to all of you who will show an interest in this humble project, and if you’re not able or interested in backing it, you can still help by sharing it around and talking about it! That’d be incredibly nice and helpful!
MANY thanks to my fiancée Rianbowart, and my brother Grelin, for their immense help setting up this campaign!
*Mockup files from https://mockups-design.com/