Jean-Yves Raimbaud

Raimbaud was born on 27 February 1958, in Évreux, France. At age 14, he abandoned his studies in favor of training as a painter in words. Thus, he made his debut in drawing, although initially, he mainly drew billboards.

In 1975, he joined a then-small animation studio called DIC Entertainment created by Jean Chalopin. This was where he learned to make cartoons. In the studio, he met directors like Bruno Bianchi (Inspector Gadget), Bernard Deyriès (The Mysterious Cities of Gold), etc. In the 1980s, he helped launch the series Ulysses 31. He decided to pursue his career in Paris. He contributed to Albert Barillé's series, Once Upon a Time... Space and Once Upon a Time... Life.

In 1986, Raimbaud created his own studio, Jingle, with Christian Masson (advertising and producer). 25 people under them outsourced series like Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea and Rahan. A year later, the company stood out with productions such as Mimi Cracra (A2), Walter Melon (Canal+) and Les Enfants de la Liberté (FR3). It was not until 1988 that Jingle itself made a series: Manu created by cartoonist Frank Margerin. Thus, 104 episodes were broadcast on La Cinq, starting in March 1990. The challenge of Raimbaud was not to create tasteless cartoons for children only. In 1992, the bankruptcy and liquidation of La Cinq caused the closure of many production companies. In 1993, Jingle itself became bankrupt.

By then, Raimbaud was known in the community and Gaumont Film Company hired him to revive the films of Asterix and Lucky Luke, that were last produced in the 1970s. Promoted artistic director of the then-new studio Gaumont Multimedia, he began working on Highlander: The Series for M6. At the same time, he created the series The Little Witches, the story of Sherilyn and her apprentice witches who use their magical powers to thwart the diabolical plans of a businessman. This series was produced by Millésime Productions for TF1 and it will be sold very little in Europe. Raimbaud came up with an idea he could not have realized at Jingle – a story of shipwrecked aliens on Earth who took refuge in a house for rent. With writer Philippe Traversat, he created the series Les Zinzins de L'espace, similar to 1950s American cartoons, akin to titles like Looney Tunes. It was localized as Space Goofs and co-produced by Xilam, during its broadcast on France 3 in September 1997. Against all odds, the series became the most popular among programs introduced the same year, becoming a hit worldwide. In 1997, Marc du Pontavice approached Jean‑Yves Raimbaud with a specific creative brief: "think about what Tom and Jerry would look like in the year 2000." Raimbaud responded by designing a blue cat (later named Oggy) and replacing the classic mouse with three mischievous cockroaches—effectively inverting the usual predator-prey dynamic, and thus Oggy and the Cockroaches was created.^[2][3]

Raimbaud was diagnosed with lung cancer in the early 1990s, and died on 28 June 1998, in Montrouge, France, from a colorectal infection caused by the tumor. Raimbaud's passing was mourned by Marc du Pontavice's Gaumont Multimédia and Millésieme Productions.^[1] His series, Oggy and the Cockroaches, was released posthumously.