Cyril Pedrosa

Cyril Pedrosa, born in 1972, is a French comic author and illustrator who has made a name for himself with fictitious and autobiographically inspired stories. After completing his studies in illustration at Paris’s Gobelin Art School, he first of all worked at the French Disney studios as an animator and was involved in animated classics like »The Hunchback of Notre Dame« and »Hercules«. In collaboration with comic script developer David Chauvel, he illustrated several issues of the »Ring Circus« series from 1998. The two also worked together to create the children’s series »Brigade Fantôme«.

In 2007 Pedrosa published his graphic novel »Drei Schatten« (tr. Three shadows). This fairytale-like story deals with a boy and his parents who are visited upon by three mysterious writers who force the small family to take a closer look at existential questions such as loss and fate. The book, which is illustrated in a flowing strokes that are inspired by animated films received high praise from the critics. »This book’s great trump card is its story«, wrote Thomas von Steinaecker in the »Süddeutschen Zeitung«. »The way that, in the end, the initial terribleness of death is somehow taken away and is even given something reconciliatory makes ›Three Shadows‹ a deeply touching and comforting book, which one can certainly place on a par with ›The Little Prince‹.« Since 2008, the avowed ecologist Pedrosa – inspired by his everyday life –has been publishing »Auto-Bio« showing humoristic episodes about his not always successful attempts to live an environmentally-friendly life. »Auto-Bio« was awarded the Prix Tournesol at the comic festival in Angoulême, a prize awarded by the French Greens for commitment to environmental issues and social matters. Pedrosa’s to date most important and most ambitious work is »Portugal«, the story of self-discovery through a rediscovery of childhood drawn in warm watercolours and with impulsive strokes of the pen. It deals with a comic artist Simon Muchat, a fictitious figure obviously based on Pedrosa, who travels to a family gathering in Portugal, the country of his forefathers, while experiencing a creative crisis. The journey changes him and his attitude to life. »This comic is far more than the illustrated processing of a family biography«, the »Tagesspiegel« wrote. It is, the newspaper continued, »the psychological portrait of Simon Muchat, the history of a scatty and somehow crazy family and at the same time a European history book. And above all a profound declaration of love for an attitude towards life that is intrinsically linked to words like ›homeland‹ or ›home‹.«

Pedros is also co-founder of the digital comic magazine »Cyclop« in collaboration with Gwen de Bonneval, Fabien Vehlmann and Brüno.

Ring Circus

Delcourt

Paris, 1998–2004

Brigade Fantôme

Dupuis

Charleroi, 2007/2009

Drei Schatten

Reprodukt

Berlin, 2008

Auto-Bio

Reprodukt

Berlin, 2009

Portugal

Reprodukt

Berlin, 2012

cyrilpedrosa.blogspot.com

www.professeurcyclope.fr