There is really nothing I can tell you as far as the details go regarding PHOKS, other than whoever they are, they are French and I love the art direction of some of their photography work. It pushes that hyper-reality threshold to where it almost becomes cartoon-like.
There is an interesting style conveyed by Paris-based Art Director/Illustrator Emmanuel Polanco. He has worked for several French clients and apparently really likes playing video games. He works by both hand and mouse combining the results of each. He has been working since 2001 and is currently looking for freelance commissions. You can keep up to date with his artistic endeavors at his blog, where there are enough images that you don’t even need to speak French to appreciate it.
Alright, I cannot honestly say I understand exactly what is going down at Zamak because I am a unilingual American and I can’t speak French. It appears to be mostly character design however and that is not something you see very many people specializing in. Whatever it is, you can view a Flash website here where you can see some of the fascinating characters created by Zamak. There is a blog as well, where you can keep up to date with more current entries of Zamak’s creative endeavors.
Costume 3 Pieces is a French creative agency that represents a diverse body of artists, illustrators, graphic designers and animators. As hard as I tried, apart from their newsletter, I couldn’t seem to find out much about them other than perusing their work. There is some great work in there if you can figure out how to navigate their rather frustrating website. Be sure to check out their animation work as well because it is every bit as interesting as their print and illustration portfolio.
There is some really nice work in the portfolio of Thomas Couderc and Clément Vauchez. I can’t devise too much from there website because it is in French and I am a dumb American, but there is some great work there that is worth spending a little time to thumb through.
There is some interesting Photoshop illustrative work going on in the portfolio of the France-based Julien Morel, AKA Joolz.
There is some nice work, a nice blog and a lot of overall good content to soak up at Evasion, the home of French Freelance Graphic Artist Jérémie Werner.
French bank, Societe Generale has stated that a 31 year old rogue trader named Jerome Kerviel has cost the bank upward of 7 billion in a series of fraudulent trading scams. It is being tauted as the most expensive cases of fraud in trader history. Other sources have reported the Kerviel blamed part of his dealings on troubles at home with his father’s death. His father must have died pretty horrifically to justify stealing 7 billion dollars. It is a whole new era when a single human being can be responsible for losing such a vast some of money. It reminds me of the 12 billion that was flown, in all it’s literal physical bulk, into Iraq and massive sums of it were lost. Except that was a government responsible for that blunder, not a single rogue trader.
