Renaud Denauw was born in Mouscron on 28 November 1936. He graduated from the college of Saint-Luc in Tournai in advertising and lithography.
His classmates included a certain Raoul Cauvin, whom he would meet again later on Spirou, but who would never write scripts for him!
After spending a year in advertising, he adapted the novels of Fleuve Noir as comic strips for the pocket magazines of Éditions Aredit. Keen to improve his talent, he started working on Spirou in 1975 and illustrated the adventures of a pretty time traveller, “Aymone”, written for him by Jean-Marie Brouyère and Terence.
Under the pseudonym of Sylvain, and still with Terence, he published at the same time the (very revealing) adventures of “Merline” in the monthly magazines of Éditions des Archers.
After a few humorous “Myrtille, Vidpoche et Cabochard” stories, with scripts by Mittéï, he left Spirou for Tintin, where the editor in chief Jean-Luc Vernal proposed him to create a trio of adventurous young madams: “Brelan de dames”. The scriptwriter Jean Dufaux collaborated on the writing of this series and soon felt that this artist, who drew so many perfect figures, would be the ideal partner for launching a series with a more adult tone, with the central character a sensuous woman.
“Jessica Blandy” stuck the end of her mischievous nose into Éditions Novedi in 1987, and secured a lasting partnership between Renaud and Dufaux. At the same time, they created the “Enfants de la Salamandre (for Dargaud, then Novedi), then “Santiag” for Glénat, but it was definitely the irresistible Jessica who assured them of success. Revived by Éditions Dupuis with the Novedi catalogue, she became one of the stars of the Repérages collection.
