The Strongest Man in the World

Nicolas writes:

I was born and grew up in a small town of Northern France. As there was not much to do over there, I spent a lot of time reading and drawing. When I was eight or nine, I borrowed my father\'s typewriter and started creating an illustrated newspaper just for myself, my friends and my family. I think it lasted four or five issues. Many years later, I took up art studies, and kept drawing, painting, every day. When my studies were completed, I was offered to work in an office in Canada (Toronto). I was thrilled to discover this new, huge and beautiful country. There, I worked for a stained glass company for a while, and eventually published my first illustrations for children\'s books. I finally came back to France, where I currently live, still drawing and writing stories.

The Strongest Man in the World is a story I very much enjoyed working on. I had been thinking for a long time to work on the universe of the circus and street acrobats. They are genuine artists : instead of using a brush or a musical instrument, they use their own body to express their art and entertain us. I first heard about Louis Cyr one morning, when listening to the radio while having my breakfast. I scratched his name on a piece of paper, and it was the beginning of a research which lasted for months. I was lucky enough to come across old photographs of this giant, sometimes with his little daughter Emiliana. Little by little, this man from a past century almost became alive in my imagination, and the story came along quite easily.

Writing and illustrating a story is not that difficult. I think the most difficult part simply is to begin one day, write one or two pages, and then come back to it again and again, as many times as necessary to make the story grow and develop. Noone really taught me how to write, it comes along quite naturally once you are into your project and enjoy being in that place, a bit like if you were building a cabin in the woods.

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