French artist to illustrate comic on Taiwan based on 2025 residency

Taipei, Feb. 9 (CNA) Christopher Boyd, a French comic artist, said that after completing a one year residency in Taiwan in 2025, he plans to pen a visual journal about his experiences using his eccentric and comedic style.

Born in 1993 in the French city of Toulouse, Boyd is currently based in Taiwan as the winner of "Villa Formose 2025" art residency program organized by the French Office in Taipei.

As a person whose multiple disabilities encourage him to simplify things, Boyd said he will attempt to translate the nuances of the beauty of Taiwan into video content and comic form, like he did with popular book "Moi, dyslexique" (Me, dyslexic) and drawings from the "Journal de Penghu" (Penghu Journal) series he produced in 2024.

Trips around Taiwan

Speaking at the 2025 Taipei International Book Exhibition on Friday evening, the French artist revealed that his 2025 residency is not his first time in Taiwan.

Boyd said his first visit to the island was a three-month trip in 2017 after he graduated with a degree in comics from the Institut Saint-Luc de Bruxelles (Institute Saint-Luc).

However, as described in "Me, dyslexic," Boyd's dyslexia soon caused the artist to lose his credit card privileges.

With limited finances, he had to resort to hitchhiking as a means of traveling around Taiwan and was forced to come up with ways so he did not have to sleep on the side of the road.

"Later I found a school; they were willing to let me exchange teaching drawing for a place to stay," Boyd said at his Friday forum. "I have been scared of schools since I was small, and the thought of going back to school was a terrifying idea."

Boyd said he never expected teaching to be the way he would find a new life passion, as the school allowed him a lot of creative freedom.

"I learned in Taiwan that I actually enjoy sharing with people," he said. "That is something I didn't know in France."

After leaving Taiwan following his short stint, Boyd was only able to return to the nation last year after the end of the COVID-19 pandemic.

2024 saw the artist featured in an art residency in Taiwan's outlying Penghu Islands where he created the "Penghu Journal" art series.

This year will see the Boyd expand his 2024 experience into a "Taiwan Journal" which he hopes will further introduce the beauty of Taiwan to his readers.

Drags of dyslexia

In addition to his experiences of Taiwan old and new, Boyd also touched on his multiple disabilities at the Friday forum, especially his dyslexia and how it has affected him throughout life.

He said the difficulties his dyslexia brought him, such as the inability to discern left from right, landed him in trouble with his teachers.

Such difficulties were the reason he became ambidextrous, he said, adding that these disabilities are also why he found comfort in art as his academic grades did not improve.

Boyd said he knew he wanted to pursue a career as a comic book artist as early as six years old, which was why he eventually enrolled at Institute Saint-Luc where he graduated from in 2016 before attending multiple art festivals in Europe as an ambidextrous portrait sketcher.

With his talent in one hand and stories in the other, Boyd later set out to draw "Me, dyslexic" when he returned to France from Taiwan.

He said he initially self-published the work before it caught the eye of French publisher Dunod who released it more widely in 2023.

Currently, Boyd's illustrations of Taiwan and his life are documented on his social media, where video content with his narration can also be found.