French illustrator Clément Thoby is developing a contemplative practice in which idealized landscapes and cinematographic references are sensitively interwoven. His residency at Livart, in summer 2025, was marked by a rethinking of his approach and an opening up to new forms.
Background
As a teenager, Clément Thoby developed a passion for drawing. He began his career in animation, specializing in set design, a field where stylistic adaptation to the project is paramount. He collaborated on series for adults and children, signed the art direction of a video clip for the group Mashrou’ Leila, and finally worked on animated feature films, notably Le Sommet des dieux.
It was during the pandemic that his switch to illustration took shape. Despite his success in animation, growing fatigue prompted him to reconsider his priorities: “Back-to-back productions are like back-to-back marathons. It’s exhausting, even artistically. My personal projects stimulated me much more than my salaried work”. He left the world of industrial animation to become a freelance illustrator. This new-found freedom enabled him to rediscover his own visual voice: dreamlike landscapes, often devoid of human figures, inspired by European Impressionism, Japanese shin hanga prints and Miyazaki film sets. Today, he describes his practice as dreamcore, a soft, idealized aesthetic evocative of memories.
His creative process often begins with long explorations on Google Maps, where he captures and reinvents places he has sometimes never visited. He draws inspiration from light, architecture and vegetation, using pastel pencils to create images of calm and delicacy. Recently, photography has been added to his practice, challenging the boundary between reference image and final work.
Invited to Montreal as part of a cross-residency, Clément Thoby immersed himself in the local art scene with curiosity. “I saw works that I wouldn’t have naturally gone towards. It challenged me a lot. Touched by the exhibitions he saw at the Fondation PHI, and by the works of Jean Paul Riopelle and the Groupe des Sept, new creative desires were born: to change scale, to try his hand at painting, to explore less illustrative, perhaps more conceptual forms.
He left deeply inspired, nourished by unexpected discoveries and driven by the desire to evolve his visual language without ever freezing its contours. Several projects are in the pipeline, including books, exhibitions and new formal explorations. True to form, he is constantly challenging himself, driven by the desire to evolve his visual language without ever freezing its contours.
A collaborative residency
While KIBLIND Magazine was looking for a partner for an international illustrated residency, a first contact was made with Livart. They contacted the organization looking for a place to showcase their mission and enable a French artist to spend a month in Montreal to be inspired, research, create and enjoy the spring’s teeming art scene. Le Livart joined forces with KIBLIND from May 12 to June 9, 2025, hosting Clément Thoby in a residency funded by the Institut Français. The residency led to several activities: a public presentation of the artist’s work, two studio openings and an exhibition in his new building, l’Atelier. The work produced by Clément Thoby during his stay at Livart will be presented at the IF – Illustration Festival in Lyon, organized by KIBLIND Magazine on September 27 and 28, 2025.
Since 2004, KIBLIND has been dedicated to contemporary and international illustration through the publication of KIBLIND Magazine, a free, independent biannual distributed throughout France. Its creation marked the beginning of a project and a history totally dedicated to illustration and its dissemination as an art form in its own right and as an applied art form, to express an idea, a story, an emotion. In 20 years, it has become a recognized object and a meeting point for a network of artists, creative people and enthusiasts in France and abroad. Along the way, KIBLIND has also diversified its activities, opening a visual communications agency, a print shop and boutiques in Lyon and Paris. In 2023, KIBLIND is going one step further, bringing illustration and illustrators together with the public through its International Illustration Festival.
Interview and editing: Khadija Ben Ali
© Photo credits: Christophe Roberge