The very realistic drawings of Maxime Thevenet

by Patricia Lacombe

Maxime Thevenet, whose artist name is Skima, is a young man from Dijon who is passionate about drawing, photography, and street art. He skillfully handles colored pencils and creates numerous black pencil drawings, mostly inspired by photographic portraits of humans and animals. His drawings are so realistic that it's unsettling, a work that requires a great deal of precision and patience. We asked him a few questions to get to know him a little better!

Introduce yourself in a few lines

Maxime Thevenet, 24 years old, Dijon-based artist and designer , perfecting realism with Faber Castell colored pencils/paper pencils since 2012. I also enjoy everything related to tattoos and street art.

Where does this vocation come from, when did you start drawing?

After completing a vocational baccalaureate in carpentry, I completed an upgrade to a diploma in habitat and decoration arts and crafts in Autun, which allowed me to work with wood, textiles, and drawing. So I started drawing at that time in 2012, I was 18 years old.

I then started in 2013 to do an applied art refresher course in Dijon and I made my first self-portrait for a current study. And subsequently I drew my friends, stars and then I perfected my high-contrast black and white style.

Tell us about how you work when you start a drawing.

To create a drawing, I first start by having an HD photo (if possible) allowing me to create a general sketch of the drawing, then I go into the details by working on them zone by zone.

What do you prefer to draw?

I really like drawing human/animal faces. But I'm not closed, I work on feeling, and on the impact of the photo .

What are your artistic influences and inspirations?

I am influenced by great artists such as the photographer Lee Jeffries , the cartoonist Jono Dry & Julian Farrar & Emmanuel Dascanio and many more.

How many hours did it take you to do the portraits of Jimmy Niggles or the one called Old Beardman Smoke?

To draw Jimmy Niggles (the bearded man) about 100 hours & Old Beardman Smoke (the man who smokes) about 65 hours.

What are your next projects?

For future projects I would love to collaborate with photographers who are lucky enough to travel and bring back beautiful shots (faces showing a certain emotion, animals, landscapes, etc.) I repeat I am not closed but I mainly want to focus on black and white which is timeless for me.

What are your favorite media for drawing and reproducing your designs?

My favorite media are Bristol paper for drawing and having a very smooth texture (for portraits of women for example) or a slightly more textured paper to reproduce things with more character, while keeping a sheet at 250-300g. For reproductions I prefer matte paper to keep the same rendering as the original drawings with a fairly smooth rendering.

Reproduction of Skima's works in our photo lab

The artist Skima contacted us to reproduce some of his drawings. We have a camera that allows for high-quality reproductions of artwork with finely detailed images. The sensor's surface offers a large number of megapixels, allowing for remarkable definition and sensitivity. We will show you the different stages of a reproduction in a video.

Maxime Thevenet chose the Tecco matte paper 230g , which has a matte and smooth surface. It is perfect for black and white drawings and portraits . It has excellent value for money and you can discover it right here here .

If you would like to know more about the work of Maxime Thevenet (Skima) you can follow him on:

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