Simon Roussin writes comics since he was eight years old, but many of us spotted him in 2010 with “Robin Hood”, a first book where his unusual drawing, made with well marked felt strokes, served an incredible sense of epic story telling. At the opposite end of frontal experimentation, the author shows an incredible technical ease and chooses to inject it into a classic framework: the adventure story suddenly takes on a young dimension under his acerbic and surprising graphic tonality.
Over time, it is remarkable to see that this interest in reappropriating a certain classicism was not just a transitory experience. Indeed, after graduating from the Decorative Arts School in Strasbourg in 2011, Roussin displays the splashing evidence of an undeniable talent, through books, pages and drawings. His work sometimes takes the form of commissioned illustrations that help establishing Simon Roussin in the landscape of young authors who emerge from their many peers: His bright, elegant and recognizable line stands out among the thousands of others in the years to come. An attraction for the use of felt drawing, a certain science of chroma in general, with flattened surfaces (borrowed from the practice of screen printing) and effects of matter hat are never superfluous: In one nutshell, identifiable at first sight.
Numerous posters, book covers, works for various cultural institutions and other record covers (Les Inrocks, Kiblind, The New York Times, Le Fooding, Monsieur Toussaint Louverture, Sweat Like An Ape! group, XXI magazine, Libération, Télérama, The Sunday Times Magazine, Dada Magazine, The New Yorker…) mark an already significant bibliography for this still young thirty year old. And in thirty years, to include three books in the official selections of the Angoulême International Comic Strip Festival is quite significant (“Lemon Jefferson and the Great Adventure” in 2012, “Barthelémy, the Ageless Child” in 2015, “Xibalba” in 2019)…
Probably sleeping less than two hours a night, Simon Roussin was also one of the co-founders of the beautiful magazine Nyctalope, and a regular contributor to the magazine SoFilm. More recently, he was responsible for the graphic universe displayed in Jean-Charles Mbotti Malolo’s very successful short animated film “Make It Soul” in 2018, and even this does not prevent him from releasing a series of books, whether it be small classic works self-edited in silkscreen printing or a beginning of a cycle dedicated to aviation (adventure, of course) in the form of large and thick books that confirm everything we believe about him.
Online : simonroussin.blogspot.com
Bibliography :
• “Xibalba “(éditions 2024, 2018).
• “Prisonnier des glaces” (éditions 2024, 2016).
• “Ciné-club” (éditions Magnani, 2015).
• “Barthélémy, l’enfant sans âge” (éditions Cornélius, 2014).
• “Heartbreak Valley ” (éditions 2024, 2013).
• “Belmondo” (éditions CBO, 2013).
• “Le Bandit au colt d’or” (éditions Magnani, 2013).
• “Les Aventuriers” (éditions Magnani, 2012).
• “Lemon Jefferson et la grande aventure ” (éditions 2024, 2011)
• “Robin Hood” (éditions L’employé du Moi, 2010).
Collectives :
• “Nicole #7” (Cornélius, 2018).
• “Nicole et Franky 4#” Cornélius, 2016).
• “Nicole et Franky” (Cornélius, 2015).
• “Nyctalope #8” (Magnani, 2015).
• “Nyctalope #7” (Magnani, 2014).
• “Jade 166U – Le jeu des influences” (6 pieds sous terre, 2013).
• “Mon Lapin #3” (L’Association, 2013).
• “Nyctalope #6” (Magnani, 2013).
• “Nyctalope #5” (Magnani, 2012).
• “Appendix” (L’Employé du Moi, 2010).
• “Cheval de Quatre #6” (Cheval de Quatre, 2009).
