Bruno Le Floc'h, whose striking style formed from years working in animation won the artist the Prix Goscinny in 2004, has passed away. No cause of death has been reported.
Le Floc'h was born in 1957 in the northwestern French town of Pont L'Abbé. Interested in comics, with a range of influences that encompassed both Claire Brétécher and Hugo Pratt, Le Floc'h studied at the Ecole Superieure des Arts Decoratifs in Paris but moved into storyboarding for animation rather than comics proper. He worked as an artistic director on both TV series and films. He would later describe his experience on the feature film L'ile de Blackmore as such as positive one that it spurred his desire to move into comics rather than take on an animation gig that would almost certainly disappoint following the 18 months he spent working on the movie. He found a publisher within three days, while attending a festival. He was 45 years old when he sold that first comic.
In 2003 he created the black and white work Au bord du monde for Delcourt, and in the year following released Trois éclast blancs. It was for the 2004 book that he won the Goscinny prize. Another book for Delcourt was released approximately two years later: Une après-midi d'été. Paysage au chien rouge (2007, Ouest-France) and St. German Puis Rouler Vers l'Ouest (2009, Dargaud) followed. Le Floc'h described himself in a 2010 interview as comics-cognizant but actually more directly influenced in his comics making by prose authors such as Joseph Conrad and Francisco Coloane.