Patricia Lyfoung (18 December 1977 – 15 January 2025) was a French cartoonist known for her series ''La Rose écarlate.'' Over a million copies of her work were sold in France in her lifetime.

Life and career

Patricia Lyfoung was born on 18 December 1977, in

Villeneuve-la-Garenne Villeneuve-la-Garenne () is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris in the Hauts-de-Seine department in the Île-de-France region. History The commune of Villeneuve-la-Garenne was created on ...

, France, to a

Hmong Hmong may refer to: * Hmong people, an ethnic group living mainly in Southwest China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand * Hmong cuisine * Hmong customs and culture ** Hmong music ** Hmong textile art * Hmong language, a continuum of closely related ...

family. She became interested in drawing at a young age and moved to Paris, studying art at the

École Estienne L'école Estienne is the traditional name of the l'École supérieure des arts et industries graphiques (ESAIG) (Graduate School of Arts and Printing Industry). It is located at 18, Boulevard Auguste-Blanqui in the 13th arrondissement of Par ...

and at Gobelins, l'École de l'image. In 2001, she began working for the French studio

Marathon Animation Banijay Kids & Family (formerly known as Zodiak Kids, Zodiak Kids Studios and Zodiak Kids & Family) is a French television production company owned by Banijay Entertainment based in Neuilly-sur-Seine. The company was originally founded in Februa ...

, collaborating on

storyboard A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of simple illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding proce ...

s for ''

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'' and ''

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''. She also worked as an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

for commercial and editorial clients. By 2005, she had shifted to focus on comic books, publishing the first book in her

young adult In medicine and the social sciences, a young adult is generally a person in the years following adolescence, sometimes with some overlap. Definitions and opinions on what qualifies as a young adult vary, with works such as Erik Erikson's stages ...

series ''La Rose écarlate'' with Delcourt. She was inspired by the aesthetic and costumes of the

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

series ''

The Rose of Versailles also known as ''Lady Oscar'' and ''La Rose de Versailles'', is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Riyoko Ikeda. It was originally serialized in Shueisha's manga magazine ''Margaret'' from 1972 to 1973, while a revival ...

''. Her other inspirations include the Japanese artists

Rumiko Takahashi is a Japanese manga artist. With a career of several commercially successful works, beginning with ''Urusei Yatsura'' in 1978, she is one of Japan's best-known and wealthiest manga artists. Her works are known worldwide, where they have been tra ...

and

Mitsuru Adachi is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with ''Kieta Bakuon'', based on a manga originally crea ...

, as well as the European comics creators

Enrico Marini Enrico Marini (born 13 August 1969, Switzerland) is an Italian comics artist. His works include ''Gipsy'' with writer Thierry Smolderen and '' Le Scorpion'' with writer Stephen Desberg. Biography Marini was born in (Switzerland) and studied ...

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and Jean-Pierre Gibrat. She became well known for her blend of Japanese and European influences. The series was a success, and she produced over a dozen issues plus a spin-off series, ''La Rose écarlate – Missions'', with her fellow French comic artist

Jenny Jenny may refer to: * Jenny (given name), a popular feminine name and list of real and fictional people * Jenny (surname), a family name Animals * Jenny (donkey), a female donkey * Jenny (elephant), a female elephant in the German Army in Worl ...

. ''La Rose écarlate'' has also been translated into

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

and published by the American publisher PaperCutz under the name ''The Scarlet Rose''. Lyfoung began another series, ', in 2012. Her subsequent project, launched in 2018, was ', a kids' comic produced in collaboration with her husband, fellow comic artist , and Patrick Sobral. Lyfoung's nearly 60 titles sold over a million copies in France during her lifetime.

Death

She died on 15 January 2025, at the age of 47.

Selected works

* ''La Rose écarlate'' (18 books) * ''La Rose écarlate – Missions'' (9 books) * ''Un prince à croquer'' (4 books) * ''Les Mythics'' (22 issues)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lyfoung, Patricia 1977 births 2025 deaths French women cartoonists 21st-century French women writers Hmong writers Hmong women French people of Laotian descent People of Hmong descent 21st-century French artists 21st-century French women artists French comics writers French children's writers