'Habemus' (Spirou #3573, 2006).
Jean-François Debaty was a Belgian illustrator, cartoonist and writer, also known under his pen name Schmurl. During the 1980s and early 1990s, he worked as a colorist and gag writer for the comic artist Patrick Cadot, notably co-creating the gag strip 'Arpo' in Hello Bédé (1991-1993). He later turned to commercial art, and served as writer for children's book series like 'Sourimousse' (2002-2004).
Early life and career
Jean-François Debaty was born in 1964 in Rocourt, a town in the province of Liège. Between 1980 and 1983, he studied at the Institute Secondaire Saint-Luc in Liège, and subsequently continued his artistic education at the École Supérieure des Arts Saint-Luc in Liège, graduating three years later with great distinction in Plastic Arts. Among his first illustration jobs were two record books written by Paul-Henri Thomsin in the Liège dialect, 'Li Noyé dè P'tit Colas' (Éditions Labor, 1984) and 'Mi Vî Papa, C'è-st-ine Saquî!' (Éditions Biblio, 1986).
Collaboration with Patrick Cadot
In 1985, Debaty began his collaboration with the comic artist Patrick Cadot, providing the coloring for the comic series 'Yvain et Yvon' (1985-1988) in Tintin magazine, and then 'Jordan' (1990-1992) in Tintin's follow-up Hello Bédé. Both series were also collected in book format by Lombard, and since 2023 in additional collections by La Vache qui Médite. In February 1987, Debaty and Cadot founded Studio Bang, through which they collaborated on several illustration and coloring jobs, for instance for the British children's magazines Quiz Kids, Streetwise and Ace of the Keesing Media Group.
As a scriptwriter, Debaty wrote over 80 gags of the humor strip about 'Arpo' (1991-1993), drawn by Patrick Cadot for Hello Bédé. The main character is a green baby bird living in a dumpster, who is adopted by Adèle, a blackbird with an aviator hat. In Hello Bédé issue #26 of 1992, Jean-François Debaty wrote the script for a special five-page collective story celebrating the 1000th gag of the 'Cubitus' strip by Dupa, to which most of the magazine's artists contributed: 'Cubitus contre Fantomus'.
'Platon Le Suricate'.
Commercial art and illustration
After this first excursion into comics, Debaty turned to commercial art, creating artwork for the Seniorenheim Hof Bütgenbach retirement home (1993) in Bütgenbach, Belgium, the Sainte-Marie hospital in Halle (1994), and folders printed by Éditions Weka. In 2005, he made the illustrations for 'Artisans du Bâtiment. Des Métiers d'Avenir', a promotional booklet about the jobs of the future for the artisan's union CAPEB, written by Xavier Fauche, S. Teissier and R. Jansem and published by Une Bulle en Plus. With the same writers and for the same publisher, he also made the booklet 'Mission Delta Vol. 5 L'Escadrille Zeuzère' for the biotechnology firm Bayer Crop Science. Still at Une Bulle en Plus, Debaty drew 'Une Équipe Au Plus Près du Client' (2007) for the Schindler Service Agency.
Children's books
Under the pen name Schmurl, Debaty was also working for children's book publishers. At Éditions Hemma, he succeeded François Gilson as the writer of the children's picture books starring the little mouse 'Sourimousse', writing the installments 'Sourimousse fait son cirque' (2002), 'Sourimousse Bonhomme de Neige' (2002), 'Le Devoir d'École (2004) and 'La Tête dans les Étoiles' (2004). Illustrated by Alain Peral, the books follow the interactive concept of "one word, one image", meaning that certain words in the text are replaced by a drawing, allowing the readers to discover the missing words themselves. As an illustrator, Schmurl made the drawings for 'Platon le Suricate' (Éditions Dédicaces, 2013), a children's picture book written by the Canadian author Francine Minville, AKA Fanfan.
Cartoon by Schmurl for La Balise à Cartoons (Spirou #3548, 12 April 2006).
Return to comics
In 2006, Jean-François Debaty briefly returned to cartooning, also using his pen name Schmurl. He contributed a cartoon drawing for the section 'La Balise à Cartoon' in Spirou magazine #3548, and then created the gag page 'Habemus' for issue #3573. In the following year, he scripted the short story 'Trou Noir Troublant' ("Disturbing Black Hole"), drawn by Gilbert Bouchard and published in Spirou #3609. Also in 2007, he joined Éditions Jungle, co-illustrating the political humor comic album 'Quel Homme Choisir? De Gauche ou de Droite?' with Benoît Du Peloux, from scripts by Antigolus. In 2010, he made a graphic contribution to 'Les Nouvelles de Dupa Grave et de la Petite Chatte Mimine' (Editions de la Débrouille, 2009), a one-shot collective album scripted by Rémi Campana.
Death
On 28 January 2024, Jean-François Debaty died in his hometown Hermalle-sous-Argenteau, at the age of 59 years.
Self-portrait (2006).