'Les Pipelettes'.
Anne Guillard is a French comic artist, who is especially known for her comic series aimed at young females, such as 'Valentine' (2005-2008), 'Ma Vie d'Ado' (2010) and 'Les Pipelettes' (2009-2018). She is additionally an illustrator for the children's magazines published by Milan Presse and Bayard Presse.
Early life and career
Born in 1981 in Paris, Guillard got her interest in art through watching Disney videos, reading the comics of Ptiluc and admiring the illustrations of H.R. Giger. She has attended several Parisian art schools, such as the École Estienne, the Atelier de Sèvres and finally the École des Gobelins, where she studied both 2D and 3D animation. In 2004, she made the short film 'Bagouze' for the ÉnsAD (École des Arts Décoratifs), and in the following year she made her debut as a comic artist and writer.
'Valentine'.
Valentine
Four albums of her comic series 'Valentine' (2005-2008) appeared at the publishing house Vents d'Ouest. It stars a young woman with phobic and neurotic tendencies. The somewhat awkward series, which drew inspiration from the beauty ideals of women's magazines, follows the protagonist in her quest for a smooth skin and her obsession for hair. The cover lay-outs were also stylized like a glossy magazine. Both a commercial and critical success for its uncompromising sense of parody and caricature, Anne Guillard's 'Valentine' was in reviews praised as the modern-day successor of Claire Brétécher's 'Cellulite'.
Ma Vie d'Ado
Vents d'Ouest was also the publisher of Guillard's next comic, the single-volume 'Ma Vie d'Ado' (2010), about the troubled life of an average teen called Patricia. Like most girls of her age, she feels the whole world is against her, in the first place her parents and teachers. Like 'Valentine', the author also played with the lay-outs for this series. Each gag page ends with crucial questions and assignments in the form of a workbook (called the "Not-So-Practical Workbook").
'Ma Vie d'Ado'.
Les Pipelettes
In addition, Anne Guillard has been a regular illustrator for the children's magazines for Milan Presse (Manon, Julie, Zaza Mimosa, À Tout Lire) and Bayard Presse Jeunesse (Je Bouquine). Je Bouquine also ran her monthly comic 'Pat'Bol' (2005).
In 2009, she began writing and drawing the series 'Les Pipelettes' for Milan's Julie. The comic dealt with the school life of a group of girlfriends, which were largely based on the author's own childhood friends. The four girls fill their days mostly with talking and dealing with teen problems, and less with studying and paying attention in class ("pipelette" is the French word for "chatterbox"). The series was collected in book format under the BD Kids label, a joint effort of publishers Milan and Bayard. In 2018, the comic also appeared under the translated title 'De Kletsclub' in the Dutch girls' magazine Tina.
'Les Pipelettes'.
Les Pipelettes: controversy
In February 2018, the 'Pipelettes' characters caused controversy when they appeared in a book called 'On A Chopé la Puberté' ("We've Got Puberty"). The book was written by Mélissa Conté Grimard and Séverine Clochard, with Guillard providing the comic segments and illustrations. The authors attempted to treat the physical and psychological changes that adolescent girls undergo in a comical and playful way. However, the book got caught in the feminist wave initiated by the 2017 #MeToo movement, and was heavily criticized for its sexist content and maintaining clichés. An agressive social media campaign followed, which included words like "rape culture" and arguments that girls were not made to please boys. An online petition was signed by 145,000 people with the request to remove the book from the shops. Publisher Milan announced that the book would not be reprinted after its initial run of 5,000 copies was sold-out. Shocked by the controversy and the resulting polemic, Guillard announced her retirement from the characters altogether in an open letter made public in March 2018.
Commercial art & illustration work
Anne Guiollard has also been active in the animation industry, working on commercials and corporate communications. Working for advertising agencies, she has done commercial art jobs for Pages Jaunes, Schneider Electrics, Carrefour supermarkets, and the Salad&Co chain of restaurants. For Multisim, she has created illustrations for the role-playing game 'Agone'. Between 2006 and 2017, at Hachette Jeunesse, she was an illustrator for youth novel series 'Les Carnets d'Allie' by Meg Cabot and 'Cupcake & Compagnie' by Lisa Papademetriou.
In March 2025, Anne Guillard illustrated the booklet 'Mon Corps, Mon Intimité' ("My Body, My Intimacy") by the psychologist Carine Simonet. Published by Larousse Jeunesse, the book aimed at education about the body and consent in general, featuring two characters: a girl named Mei and a boy named Hugo.
'Mon Corps, Mon Intimité' (2025).