Sempé's full page cartoons appeared in Paris Match for many years. He won his first award in 1952 which is given to encourage young amateur artists to turn professional. His 'mute' watercolours or single image sketches, where the characters speak in pictures or not at all (but somehow manage to convey a rich story) slowly gained international attention. His career started in France within the context of the Franco-Belgian comics industry. Sempé spent most of his life in Paris's Saint-Germain-des-Prés district. He then moved to Paris and began working with René Goscinny. Upon being disciplined for one such occurrence, his real age was discovered and he was subsequently discharged. Īfter lying about his age, he joined the French Army in 1950, since it was 'the only place that would give me a job and a bed', he subsequently explained, and would occasionally get into trouble for drawing while he was supposed to be keeping watch during guard duty. He then found work selling tooth powder as a door-to-door salesman and also worked delivering wine by bicycle in the Gironde. He was expelled from school as a young man, and then failed to pass exams for the post office, a bank and the railways. He was first raised by foster parents, but then his mother took him back in she lived with his alcoholic stepfather, and the child experienced violence at home. Sempé was born on 17 August 1932 in Pessac, near Bordeaux to a single mother. For decades, he created covers for The New Yorker. He is known for the series of children's books he created with René Goscinny, Le Petit Nicolas, and also for his poster-like illustrations, usually drawn from a distant or high viewpoint depicting detailed countrysides or cities. Jean-Jacques Sempé, usually known as Sempé ( French: 17 August 1932 – 11 August 2022), was a French cartoonist.

Le petit nicolas by rené goscinny