Cyril Rolando, known online as AquaSixio, is a French illustrator who works predominantly with digital mediums, such as Photoshop. “My artistic approach is set between surreal and fantasy style… in one word : Otherworldly,” he says of his art.

“I want to ‘tell a story,’ not just ‘show pixels,'” says Rolando of his digital art. “Tim Burton and Hayao Miyazaki are both the roots of my own world. I like the surrealism movement, especially the work of Boris Vian and his Foam of the Daze (l’écume des jours). I like the absurdity, the creativity and the enchanting universes, where colors bring more emotions than thousand smiles or a million tears.”

Living on an island, I’m drawn to many of the thematic elements that Rolando incorporates into many of his images: waves, underwater, aquatic life, snow, rice beds. Doubly impressive is the way that the running theme of water is utilized without all of the images feeling repetitive or same-y. Rolando fills his images with deep blues, rich purples and reds, and nurses out a lot of evocative emotion through his use of colour.

You can follow Cyril Rolando on Tumblr and DeviantArt. His art is available for purchase through his online store.