Two weeks ago, Netflix started the day off with an epic mic drop announcement: they had acquired the rights to Brian Jacques' Redwall series. The streamer plans on adapting Redwall into a movie helmed by Patrick McHale, and also developing a Martin the Warrior event TV series.
Accompanying almost every online story was an entirely new piece of concept Redwall artwork featuring Matthias gazing at the Tapestry of Martin the Warrior in Redwall Abbey. It was created by French artist Pierre Breton, and the Redwall Wiki exclusively spoke with him to learn about his involvement in the project(s).
Pierre Breton, visual development artist: The Redwall Wiki was a great help in my research, and I thank you and your team for the work you do on it, it is a very complete and very well documented website!
Redwall Wiki: Thank you, Pierre! How did you come to be involved with this Redwall Netflix project?
I was hired to do visual development for a short time, after interacting a bit with several members who are working on this project at Netflix.
It was on this occasion that I discovered the world of Redwall, which immediately touched me and really liked it!
Were you familiar with the books before becoming involved?
For more comfort and understanding, I read the original English language version, so that we can talk about the same terms with the team, and also the French translation, to be sure not to miss any detail. It was a very enjoyable read I must say.
Will you be working on the Martin the Warrior TV series as well, or just the feature film?
I cannot make any predictions for any future collaboration on my part on these projects under construction, whether on the feature film or the serie.
Pierre Breton's Redwall artwork, as compared to Juanjo Guarnido's Blacksad #1. Image via Instagram @davidedecubellis
It has been observed that your image is heavily inspired by Juanjo Guarnido's Blacksad #1. Was this intentional?
Blacksad is one of the best animal series to have existed until then, and Guarnido a real master, as much in the world of animation and comics and to whom many have a real admiration - I am part of them of course. This image is obviously a direct reference to his work, which I obviously wanted to be recognizable by his fans and his readers. It was quite intentional to let people make the connection between the two, like a nod to another masterpiece in animal literature.
Thanks again, Pierre!
- This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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