Olivier Ledroit

Whilst working as an illustrator for gaming magazines, Olivier Ledroit met the scriptwriter François Froideval. Together, they embarked on Les Chroniques de la Lune Noire (The Black Moon Chronicles, Zenda, 1989, later published by Dargaud), a Gothic series that pioneered the 1990s trend for medieval fantasy. Ledroit did not colour the fifth volume, and from volume 6 onwards, the artwork was taken over by Cyril Pontet.  Ledroit reunited with Froideval in 2001 for an episode of Les Arcanes de la Lune Noire (The Black Moon Arcana, Dargaud), a prequel to the series, subsequently illustrated by Fabrice Angleraud. Through his own publishing house, Nickel, Ledroit published Requiem in 2000, the adventures of a German soldier in love with a Jewish woman, reincarnated as a vampire knight. The story was written by his business partner at the publishing house: Pat Mills, who had already authored their violent and macabre saga Sha (Soleil, 1996–1999). Requiem proved a success, cementing the artist’s reputation as a master of the gothic genre and even spawning another series, Claudia, chevalier vampire (Claudia Vampire Knight, Nickel, 2005), illustrated by Franck Tacito. The enthusiasm was such that a host of female readers entered their contest to embody the heroine. In 2003, Daniel Maghen published an anthology of the magical creatures sketched by Ledroit in his Univers Féerique (The Fairy Universe), a world imbued with a unique atmosphere. Some of these illustrations, which reveal another side to the artist, have been reproduced by sculptors. Finally, in 2007, further artworks were featured in the anthology L’Univers des Dragons (The Dragon Universe), published by Daniel Maghen.