Henri Louis Avelot worked as a writer, artist, caricaturist and illustrator, mainly for publisher Laurens. His first assignment was making illustrations for Marius Bernard's opera 'Autour de la Mediterranée', published in book format by Laurens between 1892 and 1902. In 1893-94 and again in 1896-97, on the occasion of the Olympic Games, Avelot travelled through Greece and the mid-Orient with his friends Raymond, Joseph and Georges de la Nezière.

Upon their return, Avelot and Joseph de la Nézière captioned their experiences in two illustrated books. Avélot then cooperated with magazines like Le Pêle-Mêle (1900-04), L'Illustration (1900-05), La Joie des Enfants, Jeudi de la Jeunesse, La Baionette (1926-27) and La Semaine de Suzette. For the latter, he took over Pinchon's character 'Bécassine' in the supplement 'Les Vacances de Suzette'.

He created the character 'Philibert', that appeared in a series of books published by Laurens from 1908. The stories were also translated to English, and appeared under the title 'Philibert's Bright Ideas' in 1932. Avélot worked with the brothers Raymond and Joseph de la Nézière in a studio in Montmartre. Avélot was part of the Comité de La République de Montmartre, a beneficence association for the health care.