René Follet | |
---|---|
Born |
Brussels, Belgium |
10 April 1931
Nationality | Belgian |
Area(s) | artist |
Pseudonym(s) | Ref |
Notable works
|
Les Zingari Yvan Zourine Steve Severin Terreur |
Awards | full list |
René Follet (born 10 April 1931), sometimes known by the pen name Ref, is a Belgian illustrator, comics writer and artist.
René Follet was born in Brussels in 1931. His first publication appeared when he was 14, illustrating a promotional issue of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island for Aiglon, a chocolate factory. In 1949, he started working for the two main Franco-Belgian comics magazines of that time, Tintin and Spirou. For both, he collaborated on the series of 4 page historical stories which functioned as a starting point for many young artists like Jean Graton and Hermann Huppen. He also provided numerous illustrations for both magazines, as well as books for Casterman publishing.
In his long cartooning career, spanning over 50 years, Follet never had a long-running or particularly successful series, but his many shorter series and one-shots have earned him the acclaim of many of his peers. He has worked for the Dutch magazine Eppo, and for the major publishing houses in Belgium and France, including Dupuis, Le Lombard, and Glénat. He has also worked as the main penciller for artists Mitacq and William Vance, and has made a long promotional comic for Citroën. At the beginning of his career, he was asked by Edgar Pierre Jacobs to help him draw Blake and Mortimer, but Follet refused because Jacobs did not want Follet's name to be included in the credits.