Tom Haugomat author page

Tom Haugomat biography

Tom Haugomat is a French author, illustrator and animation director. He trained at Gobelins, the Paris school specialising in visual arts and animation, graduating in 2008. During his studies, he met fellow animator Bruno Mangyoku, with whom he created the short films Jean-François (2010) and Nuisible (2013). Jean-François received the award for a first work at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in 2010.

Haugomat began illustrating children’s books with Marche ou Rêve, published by Éditions CMDE in 2012. He subsequently illustrated Hors-pistes, written by Maylis de Kerangal and published by Éditions Thierry Magnier in 2014. His illustration work has also appeared in publications including Le Monde, The New Yorker and XXI.

His wordless graphic novel À travers was published by Éditions Thierry Magnier in September 2018 and translated into English as Through a Life, published by Flying Eye Books in November 2018. The book follows Rodney from childhood through adulthood as he pursues his ambition of becoming an astronaut. Its illustrations use a restricted colour palette and paired viewpoints, showing the protagonist alongside the world as he sees it through windows, binoculars and other frames.

Haugomat also illustrated Fup, L’Oiseau Canadèche, an illustrated edition of Jim Dodge’s novel published by Éditions Tishina in 2022. His illustration technique combines simplified geometric forms, limited colours and carefully arranged negative space, drawing on methods associated with screen printing.

In 2019, À travers received a Special Mention in the Fiction category of the BolognaRagazzi Awards at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. It was also selected for the Institut français’s Pépites internationales programme in 2019.