'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 furthermore an illustrator for the children's magazines of 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 a short film project for the ÉnsAD (École des Arts Décoratifs), and in the following year she made her debut as a comic artist and writer.
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 are also stylized like a glossy magazine.
'Valentine'.
Ma Vie d'Ado
Vents d'Ouest is also the publisher of her series '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, her parents and teachers in the first place. 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.
'Ma Vie d'Ado'.
Anne Guillard is a regular illustrator for the children's magazines for Milan Presse (Manon, Julie, Zaza Mimosa) and Bayard Presse Jeunesse (Je Bouquine). Je Bouquine also ran her monthly comic 'Pat'Bol' (2005).
Les Pipelettes
Since 2009 she writes and drawn the series 'Les Pipelettes' for Milan's Julie. The comic deals 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 is collected in book format under the BD Kids label, a joint effort of Milan and Bayard. The comic also appears under the translated title 'De Kletsclub' in the Dutch girls' magazine Tina since 2018.
Controversy
In February 2018 the characters caused controversy when they appeared in a book called 'On A Chopé la Puberté' (Milan, 2018). The book was written by Mélissa Conté Grimard and Séverine Clochard, while Guillard provided the comics segments and illustrations. The authors attempted to treat the physical and psychological changes that adolescent girls undergo in a comical and playful way. The book however got caught in the feminist wave initiated by the 2017 #MeToo movement, and was heavily criticized for being sexist 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 take it from the shops. 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 polemics, Guillard announced her retirement from the characters altogether in an open letter made public in March 2018.
Further activities
She is also active in the animation industry, working on commercials and corporate communications.
'Les Pipelettes'.