View source for Renée French

{{Short description|American comics writer and illustrator}}
{{About|the writer and artist|the actress|Renée French (actress)}}
{{Infobox writer
| name        = Renée French
| image       = Renée French at APExpo 7687.jpg
| alt         = 
| caption     = French at the 2010 [[Alternative Press Expo]]
| pseudonym   = Rainy Dohaney
| birth_date  = {{Birth year and age|1963}} <!-- {{Birth date and age|1956|MM|DD}} -->
| birth_place = 
| death_date  = <!-- {{Death date and age|YYYY|MM|DD|YYYY|MM|DD}} (death date then birth date) -->
| death_place = 
| occupation  = [[comics]] writer and illustrator
| nationality = American
| spouse      = [[Rob Pike]]
| website     = {{URL|http://instagram.com/reneefrench/}}
| known_for   = 
}}

'''Renée French''' (born 1963) is an American [[comics]] writer and illustrator and, under the [[pen name]] '''Rainy Dohaney''', a [[children's literature|children's book]] author, and exhibiting artist.

Her work is characterized by her "obsessive-looking and highly unsettling visual style."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcj.com/renee-french/|title=Renée French {{!}} The Comics Journal|website=www.tcj.com|date=14 March 2012 |language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-11}}</ref>

==Books==
Her work includes ''H Day'' (Picturebox), ''The Soap Lady'' (inspired by the display in the [[Mütter Museum]]) ([[Top Shelf Productions]]), ''The Ticking'' (Top Shelf Productions), and ''Micrographica'' (Top Shelf Productions), ''Edison Steelhead's Lost Portfolio: Exploratory Studies of Girls and Rabbits'' ([[Sparkplug Books]]), and ''Marbles in My Underpants'' ([[Oni Press]]).  She also has a weekly strip ''The Taint'' in the ''[[New York Press]]''. Her serialized comic ''Baby Bjornstrand'' appears on the Study Group Comic Books website.<ref>[http://studygroupcomics.com/main/category/title/baby-bjornstrand/ "Baby Bjornstrand" on Study Group Comics Books]</ref>  ''The New York Times'' said her graphic novels "split the difference between adorable and horrifically gross";<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/books/review/Wolk-t.html?_r=0|title=Stuff Nightmares Are Made Of|last=Wolk|first=Douglas|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=October 29, 2010|access-date=November 17, 2015}}</ref> writing about "Baby Bjornstrand", they called it "equal parts Daffy Duck and Samuel Beckett, and all quirky Renée French".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/23/books/24summer-list.html?_r=0|title=Summer Reveries, Frame by Frame|last=Jennings|first=Dana|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=July 23, 2015|access-date=November 17, 2015}}</ref>

French has a serialized illustrated story in the [[Fantagraphics Books]] quarterly [[Mome (comics)|Mome]] called "Almost Sound". She is also the author of the comic book for children, ''Barry's Best Buddy'', released by [[Toon Books]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-9351-7921-4|title=Barry's Best Buddy|author=<!-- Staff -->|work=[[Publishers Weekly]]|access-date=November 17, 2015}}</ref>

== Artistic influences ==
As a child, French found a book plate of Hieronymus Bosch's ''[[The Garden of Earthly Delights]]'' and was enchanted by it. In regards to the influence, French stated "I don't know how many hours I stared at it under the covers, but I'd memorised each little scene within the paintings and thought about them all the time. That world was so real to me."<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=https://wowxwow.com/artist-interview/renee-french-ai|title=Renee French - Artist Interview - WOW x WOW|date=2015-07-27|work=WOW X WOW|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en-GB}}</ref>

French suffers from migraines, which she uses to her creative advantage, as detailed in her interview with [https://wowxwow.com WOW x WOW]. Her book, ''H Day'', is "an attempt to show what it's like to have a migraine, from the outside and the inside."<ref name=":0" /> According to French, "most of the portraits with things exploding out of the face or the skin warping around the head, are based on the migraines."<ref name=":0" />

==Mascots==
[[File:Golang.png|thumb|right|
Mascot for the [[Go (programming language)|Go programming language]]
]]
French drew both the mascot of the [[Plan 9 from Bell Labs]] operating system ("Glenda", aka "the Plan 9 Bunny"), and the gopher mascot for the [[Go (programming language)|Go programming language]].<ref>[https://blog.golang.org/gopher "The Go Gopher"], Rob Pike and Andrew Gerrand, 24 March 2014, golang.org</ref>

==Personal life==
French grew up in New Jersey, and was always drawing as a child.<ref name=":0" /> French is married to  [[Rob Pike]], one of the creators of Plan 9 from Bell Labs, and of the Go programming language at Google.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cnet.com/news/google-hopes-go-will-give-a-browser-boost/|title=Google hopes Go will give a browser boost|last=Shankland|first=Stephen|work=[[CNET]]|date=November 12, 2009|access-date=November 17, 2015}}</ref> They split their time between the United States and [[Australia]].<ref name=":0" />

==Awards==
In 2007, French was nominated for a number of comics industry awards - including for best artist nods from the [[Eisner Award|Eisner]],<ref>[http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07nom.shtml 2007 Eisner Awards: 2007 Master Nominations List] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808201201/http://www.comic-con.org/cci/cci_eisners_07nom.shtml |date=2007-08-08 }}</ref> [[Ignatz Award|Ignatz]],<ref>[http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=84016 SPX Announces Ignatz Nominees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090126033151/http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=84016 |date=2009-01-26 }}</ref> and [[Harvey Award]]s<ref>[http://www.harveyawards.org/awards_2007nom.html 2007 Harvey Awards Nominees] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015010331/http://www.harveyawards.org/awards_2007nom.html |date=2009-10-15 }}</ref> - for the [[graphic novel]] ''The Ticking''.  French won the [[Inkpot Award]] at the 2007 [[San Diego Comic-Con|San Diego Comic Con]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.comic-con.org/awards/inkpot|title=Inkpot Award|date=2012-12-06|work=Comic-Con International: San Diego|access-date=2017-03-11|language=en}}</ref>

== Bibliography ==
=== Select comics works ===
*''Hagelbarger and That Nightmare Goat'' (Yam Books), 2013. {{ISBN|978-0985413828}}
* ''Barry's Best Buddy'' ([[Toon Books]]) 2013
* ''Bjornstrand'' ([[PictureBox]]) September 2012
* ''Baby Bjornstrand'' (Koyama Press) September 2014
* ''H Day'' ([[PictureBox]]) 2010
* ''Micrographica'' ([[Top Shelf Productions]]) 2007
* ''The Ticking'' ([[Top Shelf Productions]]) 2006
* ''Marbles in my Underpants'' ([[Oni Press]])
* ''The Soap Lady''  ([[Top Shelf Productions]])
* ''The Adventures of Rheumy Peepers & Chunky Highlights''  ([[Oni Press]])
* ''Grit Bath'' ([[Fantagraphics]])
* ''Edison Steelhead's Lost Portfolio: Exploratory Studies of Girls and Rabbits'' (Sparkplug Books)  June 2007.  {{ISBN|978-0974271576}}

=== Children's books (as Rainy Dohaney) ===
* ''My Best Sweet Potato'' ([[Atheneum Books]]) 2006
* ''Tinka'' ([[Atheneum Books]]) 2005

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{Instagram|reneefrench}}
*[http://reneefrench.blogspot.com/ Renée French drawing blog]
*[http://reneefrench.googlepages.com Renée French official site]
*[http://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/resources/interviews/4288/ Interview with Renée French]
*[http://www.tcj.com/renee-french/ The Comics Journal interview with Renée French] 
*[https://wowxwow.com/artist-interview/renee-french-ai WOW x WOW interview with Renée French]

{{Inkpot Award 2000s}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:French, Renee}}
[[Category:1963 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Alternative cartoonists]]
[[Category:American comics writers]]
[[Category:American female comics artists]]
[[Category:American female comics writers]]
[[Category:Inkpot Award winners]]
[[Category:Underground cartoonists]]