Sometimes, you come across artists that tickle your heart as much as your visual senses. Those who create with love, passion, and a sincere depth within every brush stroke, picturing both the small and big things in life in a highly relatable way. One of those artists is Cédric Debled, who we are immensely proud to have on board as a Featured Artist on enter.art. 

Cédric is a traditional 2D artist who has found his niche in web3, with his beautiful artworks created with everything from charcoal to acrylic paint. An inspiration for all the brilliant traditional artists out there, who might wonder where they fit in this very digitally focused NFT space. You might have already noticed his collections Traditional Art and Minimal Art, which have been warmly welcomed by collectors in the enterverse. Now, Cédric is focusing his attention on dropping several exciting new collections on enter.art, and while we wait, he’s invited us to take a little stroll through his creative mind... 

The Eye of a Storm - An enormous swirl. An all-absorbing center.
(Minimal Art Collection -  traditional meets digital)

Cédric Debled, born in Metz (FR) 1981 was raised in Auvers-sur-Oise (FR), the same village where Van Gogh lived in his last productive years. Due to that and the fact that his father was into art and music, art was always around him. Since he was able to hold a pencil, he has always been drawing, which was the start of his passion for two dimensional art. 

Later, he moved to the Netherlands, the birth country of his mother, where he started to study at Grafisch Lyceum, Rotterdam, and St. Joost School of Art & Design, Breda. He has always been fascinated with human anatomy and has studied shapes, form, and movement which is very visible in his work. Human interaction, culture versus nature, and the contrast between organic and geometric shapes are also recurring themes in his work.

How did you get into NFTs? 

You know that feeling: “If only I had…”

I didn’t want to experience that again, even though I had no knowledge about NFTs and the world of crypto. It was something that came across my path a little over a year ago through a friend of mine named Gary Soetodrono, and later again suggested by Roger Cadiz. They introduced me to this technology, but I had a hard time trying to understand it because it was so out of my comfort zone. Yet, I was very much interested because I felt and still believe that this will become the new "watermark" technique to protect artists. That's why I decided to jump into it. Try and take a risk instead of playing it safe and continuing the old way that is familiar to me.

On The Lookout - 1/6 pieces in the Traditional Art Collection, based on the Fibonacci Sequence

Why did you choose enter.art?

You wanna know the truth? Of course, who doesn't 😃

It's the name! What more do you want? A platform that has the word “ART” in the link! enter.art says it all for me. It basically tells you what you can expect. It has a valuable name in my opinion. So I decided to jump into it and offer traditional art pieces, but soon realized I should break the walls and also offer digital work on the platform. And I have only just begun…

We’d love to hear about your current collections Traditional Art and Minimal Art! 

I have always had an incredible passion for trying to represent the human body on two dimensional surfaces. Preferably by heart or from memory, without using any kind of references. It somehow has become a personal challenge for me to be able to do so. I like to represent a pose that feels natural or realistic, yet roughly (gritty) drawn or painted. But sometimes I like to search for an extreme posture. Then I try to find the boundaries in which I can represent a body.

The motivation for the pieces in the “Traditional collection” is purely the love for the human body and its perfection.

Minimal Art however came alive entirely because of the NFT world. I wanted to sell smaller pieces that would travel faster from owner to owner. That typical NFT thing… And I wanted to make it possible for people to own one (or more) artwork(s) I made for an affordable price to also help others grow in their wish to make a collection or artwork grow in value.

And I accidentally fell in love with the balance of minimal images next to carefully chosen words. I personally think that the words are as important as the art itself.

You’re doing a live online class this coming weekend, what will you bring with you?

I am going to share skills (and secrets ;-) so that illustrators that are going to attend the course will have an easier time representing a figure afterward. I’ll be using my Stick MEN collection as a base for the class!

I came up with the idea to make a stick MEN collection with simplistic figures, as well as more detailed ones, due to the contrast between what the internet has to offer and what people like. From weird and crazy meme-like content to knowledge and helpful learning tutorials. This collection can be approached from an educational perspective on how to grow towards a better level of drawing, and it gives the possibility to simply buy a character NFT that’s to your liking. This makes “stick MEN” a handy but playful collection. 

What can we expect from Cédric Debled on enter in the future?

The platform has given me the possibility to release a series that has been waiting for such technology for a long time. It's gonna be shared soon. I have plans for four series that are going to be released on enter. No joke.

One is gonna be… Yeah, let's give you loyal readers a sneak peek…

Stick WOMEN! Of course!

Everyone talks about stick men. But hey, we’re only 50%, although things are changing in the world regarding naming things. Let’s say the body of a traditional woman. This collection has to be made next to the stereotype of a MAN. Women deserve a bigger place in the world, especially here, because there are many in the enter team! I like that about enter a lot. Feminine quality. 

Maybe I should name the NFTs like the crew members. How many are there? Yeah, I’m gonna do that. Give me their names! 

Note from the enter team: Cédric was given a list of names and we’re excited about the results ;)

We expect loads of exciting collections and activities from Cédric in the coming times in the enterverse. First up, make sure to stop by our Social Media channels @enterNFT this Sunday at 19:30 CEST to get a live drawing class you don't want to miss! Meanwhile, check out his fantastic artworks and follow the journey to NFTs here:

• https://www.enter.art/artist/cedricdebled
• https://www.debled.nl/
  
• https://www.instagram.com/cedricdebled/
  
• https://twitter.com/debledcedric