Jenny Rakotomamonjy (born 1979), known by the

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

Jenny, is a Malagasy-born

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

and

animator An animator is an artist who creates multiple images, known as frames, which give an illusion of movement called animation when displayed in rapid sequence. Animators can work in a variety of fields including film, television, and video gam ...

. She is a co-founder of the Chibimag comics studio.

Biography

Jenny Rakotomamonjy was born in

Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

, in 1979. At age 3, she left the island with her parents and moved to the

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

suburbs. She studied art at the

University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

's Saint-Charles Center, then competed a two-year program on animation at Gobelins, l'École de l'image. In 2002 Jenny, who signs her work with only her first name, produced her first animated

short Short may refer to: Places * Short (crater), a lunar impact crater on the near side of the Moon * Short, Mississippi, an unincorporated community * Short, Oklahoma, a census-designated place People * Short (surname) * List of people known as ...

, ''Le Papillon'', with Antoine Antin. The short was chosen for the Canal J Prize at that year's

Annecy International Animation Film Festival The Annecy International Animation Film Festival (french: Festival international du film d'animation d'Annecy, officially abbreviated in English as the Annecy Festival, or simply Annecy) was created in 1960 and takes place at the beginning of J ...

. Shortly thereafter, she was hired by Marathon Animation to work on character design for the series ''

Martin Mystery ''Martin Mystery'' ( French: ''Martin Mystère'') is an animated television series based on the Italian comic book ''Martin Mystère'' by Alfredo Castelli. The show was produced by Marathon Media Group (French television production company ba ...

'' and

storyboards A storyboard is a graphic organizer that consists of illustrations or images displayed in sequence for the purpose of pre-visualizing a motion picture, animation, motion graphic or interactive media sequence. The storyboarding process, in the ...

for ''

Totally Spies! ''Totally Spies!'' is an animated spy-fi series created by Vincent Chalvon-Demersay and David Michel mainly produced by French animation company Marathon Media and French broadcaster TF1, with seasons 3 to 5 being co-produced with Canadian comp ...

'' Jenny released her first

comic a Media (communication), medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of Panel (comics), panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, Glo ...

, the

shojo manga Shojo may refer to: * , the Japanese word for "young girl", often romanized as (without a macron) or (with a letter u in the word) * ( or ), a sea spirit with red hair and a fondness for alcohol in Japanese mythology * ( or ), a less common J ...

-style ''Pink Diary'', in 2005. The ''Pink Diary'' series, published by Delcourt in France, won the 2006 prize for Best Manga-Style

Bande Dessinée (singular ; literally 'drawn strips'), abbreviated BDs and also referred to as Franco-Belgian comics (), are comics that are usually originally in French and created for readership in France and Belgium. These countries have a long traditio ...

from the French magazine ''Animeland''. It ran through 2008, after which Jenny launched a new series, ''Mathilde'', followed by ''Sara et les Contes perdus''. She has also worked on a spin-off of Patricia Lyfoung's ''La Rose écarlate'' series. She also in 2003 became a founding member of the Chibimag comics studio, through which she has collaborated on various comic

fanzines A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...

. Jenny lives in

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.

Selected works

* ''Pink Diary'' (8 books, complete series) * ''Mathilde'' (5 books, complete series) * ''Sara et les contes perdus'' (6 books, complete series) * ''La Rose écarlate - Missions'' (6 books, ongoing series) * ''Comme un garçon'' (4 books, complete series)

References

{{ACArt 1979 births French women cartoonists French animators French women animators Malagasy women writers Malagasy artists People from Antananarivo People from Eure-et-Loir Living people Malagasy emigrants to France