Autobiography of Jean Marcellin
Born in Avignon in 1928, I spent my entire childhood in Vaison la Romaine. I was very early on attracted by drawing.. above all to do caricatures of my friends.
In 1942, I left school to learn a "real" occupation, because in province, drawing is not a serious profession! Apprenticed with a bicycle and motorcycle dealer, I would caricaturize the customers once they left the workshop.
With the Liberation, I was given the job of illustrating a collection of authentic accounts of the Resistance, "History of the Vasio Maquis" by Lucien Grangeon. I published my first press drawings in "La Libération du Vaucluse". In 1964, accepted at the Ecole des Métiers d'Art - the present Picasso Museum - I registered for the cartoon workshop which was unfortunately ended, Walt Disney productions leaving no room for French cartoons.
I haunted the painting academies to have live models. Refusing the professors' courses, I often found myself at the Louvre to practice, by drawing a Greek or Roman statue, and in cinemas where I discreetly drew the audience. A great sample of speech balloons of all calibre! You can't do better!
A few years later, after having jobs just to earn money, I remembered the entertaining reading of the Journal de Mickey that my mother bought me each week. Why shouldn't I, like those American cartoonists, make up comics? Just as quickly, an avalanche of ideas, gags, stories, typical French characters invaded my little head. I made two plates, creating a Provençale family: "the Plantevigne family ". I presented them to the paper Fillette, headed by a big name in publishing destined for a young audience: Georges Offenstadt. I went home with my first commission. Others followed for other publishers of children's magazines.... Except for some rare occassions, I am also the author of the texts.
I work for different publishing houses : Nathan, Dargaud, Hachette, Tintin, Larousse, Glenat, Reader's Digest Selection, Les Carnets du Ventoux, l'Accent de Provence....
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