Clément Oubrerie, ‘Aya de Yopougon’ Illustrator, Dies at 59

Clément Oubrerie, the French comic artist best known for co-creating the acclaimed series Aya de Yopougon with Marguerite Abouet, has died at the age of 59. The news was announced on Monday, March 2, 2026, by Dargaud publishing house.

A Career Spanning Comics and Animation

Oubrerie passed away on Sunday, March 1, 2026, following a long illness, according to Franceinfo. He was a prolific artist, having published over thirty albums throughout his career, and was recognized for his expressive characters and dynamic panel layouts.

Born December 23, 1966, in Paris, Oubrerie studied at the Penninghen School of Art and Graphic Design before spending two years in the United States, where he began his career as a children’s illustrator Le Monde reports.

‘Aya de Yopougon’ and International Recognition

Oubrerie gained international acclaim for Aya de Yopougon, which debuted in 2005. The series, written by Abouet, tells the story of Aya, a 19-year-vintage Ivorian woman living in the Yopougon district of Abidjan in the 1970s. The comic won the prize for best first album at the Angoulême International Comics Festival in 2006 and has since been translated into more than fifteen languages Le Monde.

In 2013, Oubrerie co-directed with Abouet the animated feature film adaptation of the first two volumes of Aya, produced by Autochenille Production, a studio he founded with Joann Sfar and Antoine Delesvaux Le Monde and Télérama.

Other Works and Collaborations

Oubrerie also collaborated with other artists, including adapting Raymond Queneau’s Zazie dans le métro in 2008 and working with Joann Sfar on Jeangot, a biography of Django Reinhardt, in 2012 Franceinfo. More recently, he created the Pablo series with Julie Birmant, focusing on the early life of Pablo Picasso, and explored the lives of other artists like Isadora Duncan and Salvador Dalí Le Monde.

Dargaud praised Oubrerie’s “palette, his sense of framing, the expressiveness of his characters, the virtuosity of his drawing,” stating that he was “a pillar of comics” and left behind “a poetic, joyful and proteiform legacy” Le Monde.