Guy Billout (born July 7, 1941) is a French artist and illustrator. In 1989, Billout received the Hamilton King Award and in 2016, he was inducted into the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame. Billout's aesthetic style is described as clean, spare and precise, often incorporating some ironic element, with lush colors and exquisite craftsmanship. His style and technique often portrays a surreal parallel dream world where something is always out of kilter. Early life and education Born July 7, 1941 in Decize, Billout grew up in Nevers, a small town in the center of France where he received a conventional education. His father, René George was a journalist and his mother, Christiane, a bookseller. No one in his family had an artistic background. In the 1950s, he studied advertising at the Ecole des Arts Appliqués of Beaune, in the Burgundy region. In 1962, Billout moved to Paris and worked for the advertising agency, Publicis as a designer until 1966. From 1966 until 1968 he worked at the advertising agency, Thibaud-Lintas. In 1969 the artist moved to New York City and begin a career as a full time illustrator. Artistic influences Billout' influences include Belgian comics artist Hergé (1907–1983) for the detail of the works in The Adventures of Tintin, French poster artist Raymond Savignac (1907–2002), French-Hungarian cartoonist André François (1915–2005) and British illustrator Ronald Searle (1920–2011). Illustration career Early career In 1969, new to the United States and inexperienced as a professional illustrator, he showed an illustrated story about a young artist and his obsession with America which used a mix of comic pictures, photographic collage, watercolor, colored pencil and ink to Milton Glaser, the design director of New York magazine at the time. Glaser loved them and published the entire portfolio. Billout's first assignment came from art director Bob Ciano at Redbook magazine. The assignment consisted of a series of 12 small illustrations based on short stories under the titled Summer Fiction Bonus in the August 1969 issue. Ciano would continue to call on Billout over many years to come as the art director moved on to work at The New York Times, Life, Travel & Leisure, Encyclopedia Britannica, and at other publications. Editorial works In 1982, Judy Garlan from The Atlantic Monthly would offer Billout a bi-monthly full page in the magazine. Billout was given total editorial freedom and the column became an integral part of the