Pic et Zou - 'La Course de Camemberts' (Spirou #3144, 15 July 1998).
Denis "Pic" Lelièvre is a French comic artist, illustrator, cartoonist and sculptor, active in a variety of media. His debut in the French alternative comics scene of the 1980s resulted in a collaboration with the American underground cartoonist Gilbert Shelton, with whom he notably made the gag comic 'Not Quite Dead' (1993-1996), about the world's worst amateur rock band. In the artist's own humorous way, Pic's comics and illustrated books have playfully and educationally offered activities for children and raised awareness about the environment. Between 1998 and 2019, he created the game and activity page 'Pic et Zou' in Spirou magazine. His most widely translated comic has been 'Jardiner Bio' (Mama Éditions, 2019), a comic book about biological gardening, also available in English under the title 'Grow Organic in Comics'.
Early life and career
Pic, whose real name is Denis Lelièvre, was born in 1961 in Paris. His passion for street art was fuelled by the murals of street scenes his parents kept, with in the background election and protest posters of the time. The son of an abstract sculptor from the Surrealist movement, Pic as a child began designing and producing all sorts of objects. One of his childhood friends was Nicolas Thuret, with whom he shared a passion for Morris and Goscinny's 'Lucky Luke', and with whom he scribbled his first comic stories during recess. Under their respective pen names Pic and Zou, Lelièvre and Thuret continued to collaborate frequently during their professional lives. At age fifteen, Lelièvre had his first real publication among several other Parisian artists in the comic zine 'Amanite', produced by Henry Seydoux and Jean-Marc Eldin. At the Convention de BD festival in Paris, the young cartoonist was introduced to alternative comic creators like Gérard Lauzier, Fred, Moebius, Cabu and Charlie Schlingo, as well as Pierre Ouin's punk art collective Le Crapeau Baveux. Another influence of his artwork has been the Dutch underground artist Peter Pontiac.
In the French capital, Lelièvre studied Printing at the École Estienne, and subsequently had apprenticeships in calligraphy and masonry. In addition, he was passionate about sports, active in French Boxing (Savate), kendo, archery, sailing and football. An avid traveler, he explored Europe, Africa and Asia, learning several languages on the go. As a musician, he played in the Loewenguth classical orchestras, and in rhythm 'n' blues bands with his friends. With his friend Jean-Marie Pigeon, he made sculptures, but his main interest eventually went to print media. His later sculptural creations were mostly limited to utilitarian objects, and often inspired by comics.
'Finest France's'.
Alternative comics
In 1981, Lelièvre co-founded the Mix-Mix art group with a couple of friends, which further included Zou (Nicolas Thuret), Bratt' (Philippe Leconte) and Ata π Pé? (Jean-Marie Pêcheux). Lelièvre himself picked the pen name "Pic" (pronounced as "peak"). After self-publishing the comic books 'Multiplan' (1982) and 'Mix Mix Comix' (1983), they presented themselves at the 1983 edition of the International Comics Festival of Angoulême. The group was picked up by the publishing house Futuropolis, who released their collective book 'Mix Mix' (1984) in its collection 30x40.
Subsequently, Pic contributed the comic story 'Comix Guédji (Histoire Africaine)' to the short-lived monthly Zoulou. During the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared in the collective comic book 'Dimono' (Mô, 1986) and the anthology series 'Frank Margerin Présente' at Les Humanoïdes Associés (1989-1992). In 1987, Futuropolis released his solo comic 'Une Farce Pour 2 Dindons' (“A Joke For Two Turkeys”). Recurring characters in most of these early comics were Pic and Zou, the two boys Pic would later reuse in his children's comics for Spirou magazine. Later anthologies with Pic's participation have been 'Canabissimo!' (La Source/Sirène, 2001), 'Monsieur Mouche 3' (Zanpano, 2006) and 'Tous Coupables!' (L'Association, 2007).
'Not Quite Dead'.
Gilbert Shelton collaborations
In 1992, Pic met the American underground comix artist Gilbert Shelton, with whom he began a collaboration. Their first joint project was the gag comic 'Not Quite Dead' (1993-1996), about an unlucky rock band. In the late 1980s, Shelton had occasionally used the characters on covers and gag pages in his Rip Off Comix title, but with Pic he turned into an actual series. As Not Quite Dead try to make their big breakthrough, they are constantly confronted with Spinal Tap-esque troubles, accidents and bad luck. The band consists of quiffed lead singer Cat Whittington, the curly-locked guitar player Elephant Fingers, the cool saxophonist Sweaty Eddie (a caricature of Paul Mavrides), while the short-sized, big-nosed suit-wearing Felonious Punk performs on keyboards, dim-witted Thor trashes away on drums and equipment manager Gnarly Charlie helps out on tambourine. The band's management is run by their agent Lorleen. Not Quite Dead plays at a lot of gigs where things go disastrously and hilariously wrong. Their antics range from half and one-page gag comics to short stories. Apart from the characters' squabbles and incompetence, 'Not Quite Dead' also offers satire of the music industry, unreceptive crowds and conservatives who want to ban "dangerous rock".
'Not Quite Dead'.
Between 1993 and 1996, Shelton's Rip Off Press released six issues of 'Not Quite Dead' in the United States. In France, 'Not Quite Dead' was serialized in the magazine Flag, with four book collections published by Tête Rock Underground (1996, 1998, 2006, 2009). Between 2005 and 2010, Knockabout released the series in the United Kingdom. In later years, PIc has continued to work with Gilbert Shelton as a colorist on his regular series 'The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers' and 'Wonder Wart-Hog'. In 2004, Pic colorized the design of Shelton collaborator Paul Mavrides for the final issue of Zap Comix (#15, 2004). In addition, Pic colored Gilbert Shelton's cover drawing for the 2014 album 'Hits from the Road 66' by the American punk duo Hymn For Her.
'Pic et Zou' on the cover of 'Mix Mix' (1984) and Spirou #3272 (27 December 2000).
Pic et Zou
In terms of comics, Pic's signature characters are however Pic and Zou. Already appearing in his alternative comics of the 1980s - their names originate from the cartoon pseudonyms of Lelièvre and his childhood friend Nicolas Thuret, suggesting an autobiographical element - Pic reused the characters for a regular activity feature in the Belgian comic magazine Spirou. First appearing in Spirou issue #3128 (25 March 1998), each installment shows the duo playing a weird game or doing a magic trick while informing readers on how to do it themselves. The series ran on an irregular basis in Spirou's pages until 2018, with one final episode appearing in 2019. 'Pic et Zou' also ran in Spirou's Dutch-language version Robbedoes under the title 'De Spelletjes van Prik en Zof'. In 2004. Albin Michel released a book with the duo's magical tricks under the title '45 Tours de Magie avec Pic et Zou'.
1994 cartoon. Translation: "We're not alone!!! The Netherlands, the other country where a federation makes cheese by using its feet." A pun on the expression "faire une fromage", which literally translates to "making cheese", but figure-of-speech means "to overreact".
Street art and commercial art
As an allround artist, Pic has made book and press illustrations, sports cartoons, label designs for alcoholic drinks, and also crafted objects like pins, patches, T-shirts, weather vanes bookends and candle holders. In the press, he has appeared in a variety of magazines: from alternative humor titles like Hara-Kiri and Psikopat, to children's titles like Fripounet and Le Journal de Mickey, as well as the mainstream magazines France Football and the International Herald Tribune. He has also provided artwork to Les Allumés du Jazz, an association of over 100 independent record companies, which has its own quarterly newspaper. Also active as a graffiti artist, Pic's work in this field has been featured in the books 'Pochoirs à la Une' (Parallèles, 1986) and Denis Riout's 'Le Livre du Graffiti' (Alternatives, 1990).
'Cradingue'.
Book illustrator
As a book illustrator, Pic has been working extensively with publishers like Casterman, Nathan, Albin Michel, L'École des Loisirs and La Sirène. At Casterman, he has been the writer and illustrator of children's activity books, including 'Nœuds Malins' ("Knots for Kids", 1997), the pranks book 'Cradingue' (2009) and several anti-boredom books, including 'Je Ne Sais Pas Quoi Faire! 1001 Idées Pour Ne Jamais S'Ennuyer' (2005) and 'Trop Cool!: 1001 Idées Pour Ne Jamais s'Ennuyer' (2008). For some volumes, he was only the illustrator, for instance the survival guide 'Guide de Survie Nature' by Ariane Coquelet (2008) and Paul Merlo's game book 'Jeux de Group Pour Mieux Vivre Ensemble' (2009). For publisher Presses de la Cité, he additionally illustrated the book 'Les Meilleurs Codes Secrets: Créez et Déchiffrez Tous Les Messages Codés' (1999) by Pierre Lecarme and Guillaume Calin, about creating secret codes.
For L'École des Loisirs, Pic illustrated several books in the series Collection Mouche, for instance 'Les Sept Nains' by Letizia Cella. The Asiathèque commissioned Pic to illustrate a second-level Chinese language course for university students. Éditions Rackham released his flip-book 'Le Bois Ne Rend Pas Les Coups'.
'Jardiner Bio' (2019).
Jardiner Bio
For publisher Mama Éditions, Pic has illustrated books about biological gardening, namely 'Le Bio Grow Book' (2016) by Karel Schelfhout and Michiel Panhuysen, as well as Léon-Hugo Bonte's 'Un Potager Bio Dans La Maison' (2019). In 2019, Pic notably made a comic book adaptation of 'Le Bio Grow Book' under the title 'Jardiner Bio', which inaugurated the Mama Éditions Graphics collection. In his offbeat and humorous style, Pic tackled the subject of biological gardening by telling the story of a farmer's intensive farming over thirty years, without synthetic pesticides or chemical fertilizers. This "comic book guide to best practices" was additionally translated into English ('Grow Organic in Comics'), Dutch ('Biologisch Telen In Stripvorm') and Spanish ('Cultivo Orgánico').
'Pic & Zou' (Dutch edition from Robbedoes #3236, 19 April 2000).