François Bourgeon

François Bourgeon (born 5 July 1945, Paris) is a French comics artist, who creates his work in the Franco-Belgian "Bande Dessinée" (BD) tradition.

Biography

Bourgeon was originally educated as a master stained glass artist, but difficulties in finding employment and a passion for drawing altered his course onto a different career. Getting illustrations published in magazines from 1971 eventually led him to pursue graphic storytelling and to develop his craft over the next few years. His first major BD work became the first two, 1976-77, outings in the medieval series Brunelle et Colin, whose two subsequent comic album formats were published by publisher Glénat Editions in 1979-80, in the process becoming Bourgeon's very first BD books thus released. These two titles already foreshadowed his later, more grim medieval epic Les Compagnons du crépuscule (The Companions of the Dusk), both thematically as well as art-wise.

When the likewise by Glénat published Les Passagers du vent (The Passengers of the Wind) series, for which Bourgeon abandoned Brunelle et Colin, was serialized in Circus magazine in the time period July 1979-June 1984, it became recognized as one of the most important European comic series of its era. His graphic novels have ranged from nautical and medieval historical fiction to science fiction, and characteristically, within settings of violence and sexuality, epic stories revolve around strong female characters. Brunelle, Isa, Mariotte and Cyann are the heroines of each their series, Brunelle et Colin, The Passagers of the Wind, The Twilight Companions and The Cyann Saga, respectively. Over the course of his career, Bourgeon became in his home country honored for his BD work with no less than four awards from the Angoulême International Comics Festival, Europe's second largest, but most prestigious BD festival.

Bourgeon is noted as a thorough researcher and his drawings, from 17th-century ships to 14th-century clothing, have a reputation for historical accuracy.