Nicolas Bouvier (AKA Sparth)
Concept Designer and Illustrator
Ubisoft
Sparth has been an active artistic director and concept designer in the gaming industry since 1996. Born in France, he now lives in Montreal, Canada, where he has been working for Ubisoft since 2003.
Having had the privilege of travelling extensively at an early age to such places as far afield as the USA, Singapore, China, France and Europe, he was influenced greatly by the various cultures, and he enjoyed observing people and making notes of all these tiny details of life that he was witnessing. The varied influences are largely responsible for his multiple creative passions, which range from space, to buildings, to robotics and beyond. After several years abroad, Sparth returned to France in 1987 to begin his studies.
There are no limits to his creativity when it comes to translating forms and concepts.
One of his greatest passion remains contemporary architecture, of which he applies principles in his own art, with an experimental and original approach. He also harbours a fascination for modern skyscrapers, although he admits that he wouldn’t be able to live too high above the ground himself.
After graduating from the ENSAD (Ecole Nationale Superieure des Arts Decoratifs),
he began working for Darkworks studio, the French gaming company responsible for such titles as “Alone In The Dark 4” and “Cold Fear”. He was particularly heavily involved in the former title, for which he began creating initial material in 1998. Working as the sole designer initially, he later invited additional illustrators (Bengal and Benjamin Carre) to join the project as the production pace increased.
The game was finally released in 2001. The three years of production paid off as it turned out to be a major success as a pre-rendered game for this period, selling 1.4 million copies. Within Darkworks, Sparth then contributed to the development of several game projects (“Lost Mantis”, “Time crisis”) with large companies like Capcom and Namco, and in the beginning of 2003, started the pre-production of “Cold Fear“, a survival horror genre title later produced by Ubisoft, in March 2005.
In 2003, en route to Canada, Sparth decided to leave Darkworks while working on the production of “Cold Fear“, and joined Ubisoft in Montreal.
He was assigned the task of exploring new directions and atmospheres for the new “Prince of Persia - Warrior Within“ title, working both on the environment and on the Prince’s new look. a very challenging year.
During the last four years, Sparth has also been having a enjoying a career illustrating book covers. His images have been actively chosen by publishers to adorn the covers of authors such as Jack Vance, Frank Herbert, Robert Heinlein, Roger Zelazny, and Robert Silverberg.
When he is not working, he finds time to relax with his wife Lorene and his two sons Arthur and Leopold.
Related links:
www.sparth.com
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