Pascal Garray (12 December 1965 – 17 January 2017) was a

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...

comics artist 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 a ...

and cartoonist best known for his work on

Peyo Pierre Culliford (; 25 June 1928 – 24 December 1992) was a Belgian comics writer and artist who worked under the pseudonym Peyo (). His best-known works are the comic book series ''The Smurfs'' and ''Johan and Peewit'', the latter in whi ...

's ''

The Smurfs ''The Smurfs'' (french: Les Schtroumpfs; nl, De Smurfen) is a Belgian comic franchise centered on a fictional colony of small, blue, humanoid creatures who live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest. ''The Smurfs'' was first created and int ...

'' and ''

Benoît Brisefer ''Benoît Brisefer'' (French language, French for "Benedict Ironbreaker", published as "Benny Breakiron" in English, Dutch language, Dutch: ''Steven Sterk'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, Belgian comic strip created in 1960 by Peyo (best known for ...

'' (known in

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

as ''Steven Sterk''). Pascal Garray studied comic art at the

Institut Saint-Luc The Institut Saint-Luc () is an arts school in Brussels, Belgium. It consists of six departments, with a total of 2,200 students and 430 employees, spread over five locations in Ixelles and Saint-Gilles. History The school was founded by members ...

in Liège. Following his studies, he joined the staff of Studio Peyo as a comic artist in 1990. During his first two years at the studio, Garray was taught to draw characters from ''The Smurfs'' and ''Benoît Brisefer'' by Peyo himself. Garray helped continue both ''The Smurfs'' and ''Benoît Brisefer'' comics following Peyo's death in 1992. He and Peyo's son, Thierry Culliford, resumed work on ''Benoît Brisefer'' after the artist's death, with Garray, who was 28 years old at the time of its relaunch, heading the project as its principal artist. Despite his work in ''Benoît Brisefer'', Garray became best known for his contributions to ''The Smurfs'' as one of the comic series' most important artists. Since 1990, Garray contributed as an artist and writer on seventeen comic books for ''The Smurfs'' and seven editions of ''Benoît Brisefer''. Pascal Garray died in Liège,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, on 17 January 2017, at the age of 51. Prior to his death, Garray had completed work on his last comic for ''The Smurfs'', "The Smurfs and the Purple Bean" (Dutch: ''Les Schtroumpfs et les haricots Mauves'', Dutch: ''De Smurfen en de paarse bonen''), which was released in September 2017.

References

1965 births 2017 deaths Belgian comics artists Belgian comics writers Artists from Liège {{Comics-artist-stub