Anouk Ricard, Queen of the quirky animal fable, Grand Prix of the Angoulême BD festival

It should certainly be expected, given the overwhelming presence of Catherine Meurisse and Alison Bechdel in the final trio of the selection of the Angoulême Grand Prix 2025. It was with surprise and joy that Anouk Ricard was crowded Price of the city of Angoulême, thus succeeding the very distinguished posy Simmonds.

A beautiful consecration for this fifties whose work cultivates both humor and self -mockery, the absurd with some surreal flights. The style of Anouk Ricard is part of the tradition of the animal fable in comics, thus going back to a tradition initiated by Benjamin Rabier, creator of the laughing cow, of Tintin Lutin and Duck Gédéon.

Born in 1970 in the south of France, the graduate designer of the decorative arts of Strasbourg, where she specializes in illustration, began in the youth press before continuing her career in comics by publishing Anna et Frga. A wonderful chronicle of a bunch of shammen friends, then Patti and ants, The funny adventure of a little girl rapeted in the land of insects.

Falsely naive style

“When I started to canvass publishers and the press, I arrived at Astrapi And Serge Bloch, artistic director of Bayard Jeunesse, said to me: “Ouh there, your drawings are a little afraid!”, entrusted Anouk Ricard in Le Figaro, in 2023, before recognizing that his characters were indeed a monstrous chouïa. “My way of making them funny was to make them awful!” I had to adapt, do cute things. ” The frog seems to be the cartoonist’s animal of the designer, who dotted her work as a Batraciens. About twenty years later, his creations continue to delight publications for children … but also Bédéphiles of all hairs. The author is distinguished by her falsely naive style, her realistic and incisive dialogues that contrast with the often polite writing albums for youth.

Anouk Ricard alternates illustration work (his Small manual to go on the pot is one of its bestsellers!) And comics, skillfully sailing between many publishers. Posted in 2008 at Sarbacane, TOUMI Commissioner is his first comic clearly intended for adults. But it is with the tasty Coucous Bouzon, Published by Gallimard in 2011, that she made her best known album. This hilarious satire of the business world has attracted readers and was selected in official and awarded competition at the Angoulême Festival in 2012.

Read too Anouk Ricard and his mane

In 2022, his last comic Animan tells the adventures of a man who can change into different creatures, as in the American television series Manimal. If the principle is similar, Anouk Ricard undoubtedly adds his grain of absurd and burlesque salt. His hero is called Francis. Small bald bald in Mustache at Gérard Jugnot, he lives with a frog. His sworn enemy, Objecto, can transform into any object. The album is the first published by Exemplaire, an alternative structure that allows authors to self -teem.

Although she has been drawing digital since the early 2000s, Anouk Ricard also produced paintings, some of which appear in her comics. It sells from time to time, in the form of originals or digigraphies. When she grabs a brush, she retains her falsely naive style and her clear line.

If she considers Pierre the police and Daniel Goossens as her spiritual mentors, the designer follows very closely the new generation of comic authors, praising in particular the qualities of Chariospiral, Élodie Shanta and Adrien Yeung. The next generation already seems well assured.