Renaud Vigourt

‘Brain Savers’ 

A greater appreciation of microglia, the army of mobile cells that tends to our neural pathways, is inspiring revolutionary treatments for dementia

The eternal appeal of dice and their continuing relevance to modern gaming

Branding and site specific artwork for Les Egaluantes Film Festival, including a 9m long vinyl curtain for the entrance of ‘Le Magic Mirror’ the marquee on Place Vauban, creating a meeting place between festival-goers and guests used for talks and screenings during the festival

Branding and site specific artwork for Les Egaluantes Film Festival, including a 9m long vinyl curtain for the entrance of ‘Le Magic Mirror’ the marquee on Place Vauban, creating a meeting place between festival-goers and guests used for talks and screenings during the festival

Cover artwork for the fully illustrated middle grade fiction novel 'Monosourcil', published by Seuil Jeunesse

The book, written by Delphine Vallette, depicts life for ten year old Thomas. The anxiety caused by school bullying, mainly based on physical differences, is a central theme of the book. The story highlights the need for accepting differences, discovering a variety of personalities (nothing is what it first seems), understanding and friendship

Internal artwork for the fully illustrated middle grade fiction novel 'Monosourcil', published by Seuil Jeunesse

The book, written by Delphine Vallette, depicts life for ten year old Thomas. The anxiety caused by school bullying, mainly based on physical differences, is a central theme of the book. The story highlights the need for accepting differences, discovering a variety of personalities (nothing is what it first seems), understanding and friendship

Internal artwork for the fully illustrated middle grade fiction novel 'Monosourcil', published by Seuil Jeunesse

The book, written by Delphine Vallette, depicts life for ten year old Thomas. The anxiety caused by school bullying, mainly based on physical differences, is a central theme of the book. The story highlights the need for accepting differences, discovering a variety of personalities (nothing is what it first seems), understanding and friendship

Internal artwork for the fully illustrated middle grade fiction novel 'Monosourcil', published by Seuil Jeunesse

The book, written by Delphine Vallette, depicts life for ten year old Thomas. The anxiety caused by school bullying, mainly based on physical differences, is a central theme of the book. The story highlights the need for accepting differences, discovering a variety of personalities (nothing is what it first seems), understanding and friendship

Cover artwork for 'Monsourcil'

The novel, written by Delphine Vallette, depicts life through the eyes of ten year old Thomas. The anxiety caused by school bullying, mainly based on physical differences, is central to Thomas' experience. The story highlights the need for accepting differences, discovering a variety of personalities (nothing is what it first seems), understanding and friendship

Fold out dust jacket of the front and back covers for 'Monosourcil'

An illustrated middle grade fiction title about the bullying Thomas endures because of his monobrow

The dust jacket for 'Monosourcil' becomes a two sided A3 poster featuring the main characters of the story and a full scale schoolyard scene

Artwork from 'Monosourcil'

Excerpt from the story: "Since this morning, Thomas has a new nickname. Not “kitten” as his mother likes to call him even though he is no longer a baby, but “Monobrow”. It was Leonard, the most popular boy in his class who gave him this nickname at recess. Monowhat? Thomas isn't sure what that means, but he can't stop thinking about it"

Spread from 'Monosourcil'

Thomas' closest friend Sofaine, is a romantic, but he's also a strong character and the only one that stands up to Léonard, the main bully

Artwork from 'Monosourcil'

An illustrated middle grade fiction title about the bullying Thomas endures because of his monobrow

Spread from 'Monosourcil'

An illustrated middle grade fiction title about the bullying Thomas endures because of his monobrow

Spread from 'Monosourcil'

Renaud: 

"School harassment is a very complex subject to tackle. I feel that the author, Delphine Vallette, handled it in a very sensitive way by making it clear and understandable enough for young readers, but without holding back. The text is quite tough at moments. I think she really nailed the general rhythm of the story by making moments of distress and anxiety and little by little recovering some trust and hope. By reading the book with Delphine, we shared similar experiences we had with our own kids - their relations with school friends and with the infamous schoolyard dominated by football games"

Artwork from 'Monosourcil'

An illustrated middle grade fiction title about the bullying Thomas endures because of his monobrow

Artwork from 'Monosourcil'

Thomas' anxiety about school means that he's struggling to sleep at night. At ten years old, he's still a little boy with his toys and his own safe world in his room, while life at school seems to be brutally challenging. The artwork was inspired by Renaud's son's bedroom

Artwork from 'Monosourcil'

The story's pivotal moment is when Thomas feels some sympathy towards his bully, Léonard. They both share a love of swimming and Léonard begins to open up to Thomas about his parents divorce

Artwork from 'Monosourcil'

An illustrated middle grade fiction title about the bullying Thomas endures because of his monobrow

Artwork from 'Monosourcil'

Renaud: 

"The colours are my choice and I proposed them to the publisher. I've always liked to work with a limited palette, and then play with half-tone patterns and overprints. It brings a little vintage vibe to the images that I really like to play with. My favourite artwork in the book is the double-page with Sofiane and Victor playing kung-fu masters!"

Artwork from 'Monosourcil'

An illustrated middle grade fiction title about the bullying Thomas endures because of his monobrow

Inside the wraparound dust jacket, which folds out to an A3 poster

All the main characters from 'Monosourcil' are depicted

Some of Renaud's original character sketches for Thomas in 'Monosourcil'

Renaud: 

"At the beginning I had the idea of completely transforming the characters into creatures or objects in relation to their physical differences. I really liked the idea of making Thomas a broom and Sofaine, his friend, a big balloon. It quickly appeared too unbalanced though, as there are only the main characters with physical descriptions and I felt it would be too confusing to the reader. Of course, I kept the idea to exaggerate the physical particularities of each character and also invented some new ones for the bullies. 

There is a poster that folds out from the cover that shows the portraits of the main characters we encounter in the book. It's like a little 'cour des miracles' - eyebrows, big teeth, braces, snake tongue etc"r

Mural created for Reddit CEO Steve Huffman's office at the new headquarters in San Francisco

The artwork contains various 'easter eggs' based on Huffman's career and interests as well as their infamous 'Snoos'

Internal spread from the Harvard Graduate School of Education magazine

'No Signal'

Is it finally time to ban phones from schools?

The Harvard Graduate School of Education magazine

'No Signal'

Is it finally time to ban phones from schools?

The Harvard Graduate School of Education magazine

'No Signal'

Is it finally time to ban phones from schools?

Wraparound cover for the Harvard Graduate School of Education magazine

'No Signal'

Is it finally time to ban phones from schools?

'No Signal'

Is it finally time to ban phones from schools?

Cover of 'Who Owns These Bones'

A large format children's non-fiction title revealing the secret world of skeletons

Artwork 'Who Owns These Bones'

A large format children's non-fiction title revealing the secret world of skeletons

Artwork about skulls and the distinctive variations between different types of animals

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones'

A large format children's non-fiction title revealing the secret world of skeletons

Artwork about bat evolution and the differences between bird, bat and flying squirrel skeletons. This is one of many artworks in the book which has an accompanying 'lift the flap' that shows the animals skeleton

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones'

A large format children's non-fiction title revealing the secret world of skeletons

Artwork about bird evolution showing the Harpy Eagle. An accompanying 'lift the flap' shows the bird's skeleton

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones'

A large format children's non-fiction title revealing the secret world of skeletons

'Name that Skull' including a dolphin, piranha, walrus and platypus

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones'

A large format children's non-fiction title revealing the secret world of skeletons

Artwork showing the exoskeleton of a lobster and the skeleton of a hedgehog

Cover of 'Who Owns These Bones'

A large format children's non-fiction title revealing the secret world of skeletons

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Different types of skeleton including the exoskeleton of a lobster with the skeleton of a hedgehog

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Different skulls and the distinctive variations between different types of animals

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

The similarities between limb bones in different animals

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

The similarities between hand bones in different animals

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Nearly all the spreads in the book include flaps revealing who each skeleton belongs to

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Comparing the different ways animals walk, on two feet or four

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Skeleton and body artworks for flaps that show the differences between apes and humans

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

The differences in the skeletons of large animals

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Skeletons of different flying animals

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

The ways skeletons are assembled in different animals

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Using xrays we can learn more about human bones and the history of the human species

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Orangutan family

Spread from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

'Lift the flaps' for families of great apes

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Skeletons for the flaps covering a lizard, frog and human

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

How skeletons help us understand evolution

Artwork from 'Who Owns These Bones' 

Skeleton of a helmeted chameleon

Renaud's original sketches from 'Who Owns These Bones'

Renaud's original sketches from 'Who Owns These Bones'

Book Review of Grady Hendrix’s new novel, 'How to Sell a Haunted House'

Cover artwork for 'The World Today' a quarterly global affairs magazine founded by Chatham House

NATO is due to refresh it's strategic concept, setting the alliance's agenda for the next ten years. What will that look like given the current geopolitical circumstances?

Artwork from a commission for SNCF to create a 20m mural for Besançon train station, telling the story of the cuckoo clock 

'Total Exercise'

about the science of exercise

Will Tall Players Dominate the Future of Tennis?

A hand painted mural for Stendhal lodge, part of Besançon University's campus in France

The project was part of a major renovation program for the university and the mural was commissioned to honour the 19th-century writer, Marie-Henri Beyle, better known by his pen name 'Stendhal'

Known for the novels Le Rouge et le Noir and The Charterhouse of Parma, Stendhal is highly regarded for the detailed behaviour studies of the characters in his novels

A hand painted mural for Stendhal lodge, part of Besançon University's campus in France

Renaud's artwork considers the whole of Stendhal's literature, picking character names and adding 'easter eggs' to find within the mural

The composition was created so that names and words could be played with in order to imagine shop fronts, signs and other wall lettering in the midst of a street occupied by a range of characters

 AI Poisoning

Increasingly, the internet is one great pile of training data for AIs. It is now estimated that 1% of all internet traffic is from AI bots, crawling and scraping the internet for use in training AI systems

For many – including media organisations – “crawling and scraping” are synonyms for theft. The solution? Poison and trap the AIs that dare to ignore the rules of your domain

Can you be healed by a sound frequency?

 aliens Club House

The six most common scams and how to avoid them

The six most common scams and how to avoid them

Cover of the illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

One spread includes a 3d maze

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Spread from the illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Spread from the illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Spread from the illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Spread from the illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Spread from the illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Spread from the illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Back cover of the illustrated puzzle book adventure featuring a boy and his lost shadow for Laurence King Publishing

At the Castle Chiaroscuro, the Boy and his shadow, Skulk, have been separated and are desperate to find each other. The shadow has to navigate his way from the deep dungeons, solving puzzles at every level

Medical Records : Top Secret

Who controls our medical date when their are so many difficulties for patients trying to gain access to their own records

Everything you Always Wanted to Know About the Metaverse... but were afraid to ask

Everything you Always Wanted to Know About the Metaverse... but were afraid to ask

For Men’s Health’s ‘Men’s Health Dad’ magazine over a variety of topics, this artwork ‘Infants’

For Men’s Health’s ‘Men’s Health Dad’ magazine over a variety of topics, this artwork ‘Toddlers’

An ancient era of global warming could hint at our scorching future

Looking back at the strange and sweaty days of the PETM

Brazilian fairy tales, the success of teenage Brazilian girls in skateboarding

How to take on ‘Big Sugar’ and win

The UK's sugar tax

Cover artwork for Senet, aboout board gaming

Feats of Agility - taking a look at dexterity games

Top Exercise for Aging Muscles

The toll that aging takes on a body extends all the way down to the cellular level. Certain sorts of workouts may undo some of what the years can do to our mitochondria

No one knows what a perfect night’s sleep actually looks like

The less you worry about your rest, the better it will be...

Tales from the Field

The benefit of getting lost, without using any GPS devices

The father enigma: Why do nature's devoted dads care?

From male pipefish pregnancies to single-father frogs, evolution has produced some truly doting dads – and made the job surprisingly rewarding

Man up: Is testosterone an elixir of youth?

Testosterone supplements promise men a butch boost of resurrected libido, energy and mood. But there's a better way to restore virility

Understanding brain functions

Can the Teamsters Save Union Pensions?

Hit by declining membership and market breakdowns, multiemployer pension funds are in dire need of help

Fat and Thin Worlds