CSP Featured Artist: Mathieu Reynès
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How did you become an artist?
Part of my family was made up of artists—aunt who was an art teacher, a cousin who was a fashion designer, and another who was a painter and sculptor. As a child, I admired them a lot, but even though I drew constantly, I didn’t really imagine I could make a career out of it.
I initially pursued scientific studies before changing direction to attend a 2D/3D animation school. That’s when I started meeting comic book artists and decided to try my luck. My first album was published in 2001, and I haven’t stopped since.
Where do you get inspiration?
I draw inspiration from everything—films, TV shows, novels, images on Instagram or Pinterest, and observation in general. In fact, I don’t actively look for inspiration—I let it come to me. Inspiration is everywhere. It’s like walking through nature without a specific goal, and suddenly noticing a particular scent or hearing a unique sound.
What’s your hardware setup?
I work on an iMac with an XPpen Artist Pro 4K tablet.
What do you like best about Clip Studio Paint?
Clip Studio Paint was designed with manga and illustration in mind, making it the ideal tool for me. I’ve been using it since 2019—before that, I worked with Adobe Photoshop.
I particularly appreciate the perspective tools for backgrounds, as well as the 3D models, which can be very helpful for posing or choosing a camera angle. The text and speech bubble tools are also very practical. The ability to export time-lapse videos is great for sharing on social media.
CSP handles high-resolution files and projects with many layers very well. All the online assets—materials, tools, 3D poses—also make it an ideal software for comics or manga.
On top of that, CSP regularly releases updates with increasingly smart tools.
And one last very important point: unlike Adobe Photoshop, CSP doesn’t use AI—and I hope it stays that way.
How long does it take you to make a single illustration?
It really depends on the illustration! It can take just a few hours for some, or a full day for others. It’s hard to say, since it’s very rare that I complete an illustration in one go from start to finish. I usually work on them in stages, in between drawing comic pages.
My “main job” is comics—illustration is more for pleasure or occasional commissions.
How has Clip Studio Paint improved your workflow?
For a long time, I worked traditionally—with pencils, brushes, ink, and paper. Thanks to Clip Studio Paint, I save time on various steps like sketching and coloring. I think the final result—whether inked or colored—is cleaner and more precise.
I also feel like I work with less stress, less fear of messing up a drawing or an inking, which allows me to take more risks and experiment more.
Building a background in perspective using CSP’s rulers is also much easier and faster than on paper—or even with other drawing software.
Would you like to promote some recent project?
My current series is a blend of European comics and manga. It’s called The Theory of K.O.
The first two volumes are available in both French and English, and I’m currently working on the final one.
Where can we follow your work?
Mainly on Instagram as @mathieu_reynes.