About the author
I live and work in Paris, France, and I am doing computer graphics as a hobby. My day job doesn't involve graphics at all.
My email is gtran (at) oyonale.com. For technical questions concerning POV-Ray, you can also use my Technical Assistance Group email: gilles.tran (at) tag.povray.org
Where can I find posters, cards etc.?
Various types of prints are available at Zazzle.
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Copyright
The copyright and licenses are different for the artwork and for the technical materials.
1. Images, animations and texts
Images, animations and texts (i.e. the artwork on this site) are copyrighted in the traditional way: fair use is autorised but copy and distribution is not allowed unless you get permission from me (usually granted for non-commercial use).
2. Source code, models and textures
Source code, models and textures are licensed under the
Creative Commons
Attribution License.
Can I use the image, can I have the source or a larger image?
Anything under fair use is of course autorised (see the terms of use above), so you can use the images as wallpaper, or print them for your private enjoyment. If you want to put them on a web site I'll probably agree, but I'd appreciate that you ask for permission before, unless it's just a thumbnail with a link to these pages (no deep-linking of course).
Except those already available on the site, I don't release source code and larger images that could be used in a commercial way, at least not without a contractual agreement. Also, most scenes use copyrighted material that cannot be distributed, for instance Poser, DAZ, Xfrog, and other commercial models and textures.
Do you do commercial work?
Being a hobbyist, and having a regular day job, I don't need to do commercial work for a living. I don't have that much free time and I can't afford to spend it on other people's stuff. So, while I do commercial work from time to time, I normally turn down job offers.
Why the name "Oyonale"?
Oyonale doesn't mean anything, at least in languages I know. It was a cow name in the "Urk" story. When I had to buy a domain, every cool name I could think of was already taken. I don't regret it because it is unique and therefore it is very easy to look it up and see who's linking to it.
Why the title "Book of beginnings"?
It is called the Book of Beginnings because the stories do not have any endings. They stop after a few lines, right in the middle of a sentence.
Why don't the stories end?
I'm too lazy to go on. All the fun is in writing the first lines. A real writer could probably make something of them. There won't be a "Book of Endings" (which sounds like a downer anyway).
How do the pictures and the stories relate to each other?
There is no strong relation between the picture and the story. The story is a spin-off inspired by the picture, or sometimes by the context in which the picture was made. They are indeed quite independent, though one may shed occasionally some (dim) light on the other.
A note to non-French speaking readers
The first version of Book of Beginnings in 1996 didn't have stories. The 1997 version had some stories in French, and people started asking for translations (some even kindly offered to help). In 1998, I introduced a totally bilingual version of the Book, so that non-French speaking readers could enjoy the stories or, at least, make use of the links and various comments. Since I'm not a native English speaker, this was quite a challenge. There are now more than 100 pseudo-literary fantasies in the Book. Asking for free help would be unfair due to the amount of work necessary (even for a professional translationservice that I can't afford). So, after translating the original stories myself (from French to English), I started writing the new stories directly in English and made the French versions afterwards. This is very time-saving, since I don't have to translate contorted Gallic puns anymore. Instead, I write in English according to my own level in this language. Since the 1998 edition was out, I haven't received negative comments from English or American readers. Some people corrected my spelling in a few cases and a few others actually encouraged me to continue. However, I still want to apologise in advance for all the (numerous I fear) occurences where my use of the English language will seem awkward, inappropriate, unintelligible or just wrong. The English versions are here to give you an idea of what the stories are about, and are not supposed to be written in the good, literary English I enjoy so much.
When will the site be updated?
I used to update the site once a year, but real life has definitely taken over, so the answer is "when I have enough new material to show". The new design should help to add things more regularly though (before that I had to modify the hundreds of html pages by hand).