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= Martin Panchaud = Martin Panchaud (*born 1982 in Geneva) is a Swiss comics artist currently living in Zurich.



Personal and Professional Life
As a graphic designer, author and illustrator, he has published several comic strips, narrative formats and computer graphics works. His style is characterized by infographic representation.

Panchaud's dyslexia has been an obstacle that shaped him, especially during his academic years. This prompted him to focus on reading, as well as on the interpretation of forms, figures and their meaning. All of which has led to his very own personal style and creativity in storytelling [1].

In 2016, he released SWANH.NET [2], a 123-meter-long illustrated adaptation of Star Wars Episode IV, for which he received appraisal and recognition in various cultural establishments throughout Europe (Barbican Centre in London, Onassis Stegi Cultural Centre Athens, etc.) [3].

In 2020, he published his first graphic novel, titled “The Colour of Things '' (original title in German: “Die Farbe der Dinge”) at Editions Moderne publishing house.

THE COLOUR OF THINGS
The Colour of Things is a tragicomedy and a detective novel[4] and at the same time, Panchaud's first graphic novel, published by the Swiss comics and graphic novels publisher Editions Moderne. The 224-pages story of 14-year-old Simon is told, who grows up in a challenging home environment, is teased by his neighbourhood friends because of him being overweight, and is used for their ‘business’. Thanks to the tip of a fortune teller, he is supposed to bet on a specific horse in the upcoming horse race and win the main prize. Simon collects his small change for the bet and secretly takes his father's as well. Simon does win the main prize, consisting of 16 million pounds, but cannot collect the money because he is still underage. When he goes home to get a signature from his parents so he could collect his prize, his beaten up, unconscious mother is being cared for by the ambulance, and there is no trace whatsoever of his father. So Simon is left completely on his own, but later gets help from an old friend of his mother's, in his quest to find his father [5].

"The colour of things", the highlight of this comic, tells his story through the means of computer graphics. The characters are drawn in an extremely abstract way. In combination with a strong text, however, the coloured circles depicting the characters, gain a depth that is as astonishing as it is touching"[6].

"It's amazing how limitation promotes creativity: one complements the 'real' events while reading and experiences how strict graphics can convey something so touching"[7].

"In this manner, Panchaud approaches the principle of narrative as a comic-strip narrator, challenging our imagination to form its own picture of the characters in the story. His work is not as radical an experiment in drawing as Simmons' at the time, but an intelligent and yet entertaining mapping of the territory of comics. “The Colour of Things” considerably expands its boundaries"[8].

Awards and Prizes
His works have received various prizes and awards.


 * Winner of the Graphic Design Competition of the French Consulate General in Geneva, Switzerland, 2007
 * Aid for Creation Grant awarded by the City of Geneva, Switzerland, 2011
 * Young Comic Art Award by the canton of Geneva, 2012
 * Artistic residence, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, 2013
 * Berthoud, Lissignol-Chevalier et Galland Scholarships, City of Geneva, 2014
 * International KANTAR "Information is beautiful Awards" - SILVER, 2016
 * Comics Scholarship of Swiss-German Cities - Sponsorship Award, 2018
 * Literature promotion of the canton of Zurich, 2018
 * Max and Moritz Prize Nomination, 2020

Weblinks

 * https://martinpanchaud.ch/about-contact/
 * https://www.editionmoderne.ch/de/68/autoren/171/martin-panchaud.html
 * https://www.starwars.com/news/anhinfographic