Clément Oubrerie

Clément Oubrerie studied graphic arts at the École supérieure d'arts graphiques Penninghen (ESAG), but interrupted his studies in 1992 to move to the United States. For two years, he worked in a variety of roles in illustration and animation, and saw his first works published, including the children’s books The Kooken and It’s Hard to Read a Map with a Beagle on Your Lap. In 1994, upon his return to Paris, he began a career as a children’s book illustrator and created nearly fifty books for Mango, Nathan, Albin Michel, Le Seuil, Gallimard, and Bayard. He won the Youth Press Award at the Montreuil Book Fair in 2003. In 2005, he made a sensational debut in the world of comic art with the first volume of Aya de Yopougon, co-written with comic scriptwriter Marguerite Abouet. It won the Best Album award at Angoulême in 2006 and was shortlisted for the Eisner Awards. The series now comprises eight volumes translated into more than fifteen languages. The effortless precision of his linework, his use of color, and his mastery of composition are on full display across a wide range of projects: the adaptation of Zazie dans le métro by Raymond Queneau (2008), Jeangot with Joann Sfar (2012), the Pablo series dedicated to Pablo Picasso, followed by Voltaire in Love and the two-part series dedicated to Dalí, with Julie Birmant, as well as the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials with Stéphane Melchior, which won the Fauve Youth Award at Angoulême in 2015. He has collaborated extensively, working with François Bégaudeau on Mâle occidental contemporain, with Leïla Slimani on the diptych À mains nues, and with the Cépanou collective on Cyberfatale. Alongside his prolific body of work, he co-founded the animation studio Autochenille Productions with Joann Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux. Together, they produced The Rabbi’s Cat (winner of the César Award for Best Animated Film in 2011) and the film adaptation of Aya de Yopougon (Aya of Yop City, 2013), which he co-directed with Marguerite Abouet. He also created the animated series Moot-Moot with Éric and Ramzy, which won an award at the Annecy Festival in 2008. In 2026, he passed away at the age of fifty-nine, leaving behind a poetic, joyful, and colorful body of work that left its mark on contemporary Franco-Belgian comics.