Académie de Bande Dessinée DELCOURT

What Académie de Bande Dessinée DELCOURT does

The Académie de Bande Dessinée DELCOURT (ABD) is a Paris-based private higher education institution dedicated to training professional comic book (bande dessinée) authors, founded in 2014 as the training arm of Groupe Delcourt, France's leading independent BD publisher. It is legally organized as a SARL under the entity name "Formation Bande Dessinée" (RCS Paris 803 391 689 000 53, €10,000 capital), registered as a private technical higher education establishment (Code APE 8542Z, UAI 0755803A) and is non-VAT registered under Article 261-4-4a du CGI. Operations are run from a single campus at 77 Avenue de la République in the 11th arrondissement of Paris with a team of 9 employees.

The Academy's product portfolio centers on a 3-year intensive full-time program (cursus principal) that takes students from fundamentals to professional-ready authorship, supported by evening courses (cours du soir) at €450 per semester for hobbyists and career changers, seasonal summer workshops (ateliers d'été) priced at €350 per 5-day intensive, and the "Traits d'avenir" youth talent competition. Payment is accepted by check or bank transfer in up to three installments. The school differentiates through direct contact with practicing BD professionals, a tradition of assigning a renowned author as "parrain/marraine" to each cohort (past mentors include Zep, Andreas, Enki Bilal, Carole Maurel, and Hervé Tanquerelle), and a direct editorial pipeline into Groupe Delcourt for student projects and publication.

Customer acquisition is event-driven and direct: open days ("Journées portes ouvertes"), immersion days, portfolio review with interviews, and a competition funnel target aspiring comic book artists (primary), passionate amateurs and career changers (secondary), and young talent aged 16+ (secondary). Distribution is exclusively on-site at the Paris campus, with no online or multi-site delivery. The school is led by Guy Delcourt as Directeur de la publication under the broader Groupe Delcourt umbrella.

Name

Académie de Bande Dessinée DELCOURT

Legal name

SARL Formation Bande Dessinée

Website

https://academie-bd.fr

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Académie de Bande Dessinée DELCOURT is a Paris-based private higher education institution founded in 2014 by Groupe Delcourt that trains aspiring comic book authors through a 3-year intensive program, evening courses, and summer workshops in bande dessinée creation.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Art Education / Comic Book Training

NAICS

Fine Arts Schools (61161), Fine Arts Schools (611610)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYEDAHAJAD

Performing Arts Colleges (Theatre, Dance, Musical Theatre)

Education/Higher Education (Colleges & Universities)/Arts, Music & Design Colleges

SECONDARYEDAMANAE

Music Schools & Conservatory Prep (Pre-College)

Education/Supplemental & Enrichment Programs (Arts, STEM, Language)/Music Education (Instrumental & Vocal)

SECONDARYMPAGABAN

Theatre Education, Training & Conservatories

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Live Entertainment & Events (Concerts, Theater, Festivals)/Theater, Broadway & Performing Arts

Keywords

• Comic book education
• Artistic higher education
• Professional formation
• Bande dessinée training
• Evening drawing courses

Headquarters

HQ city

Paris

HQ country

France

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Three-year intensive training program: Full-time professional training program in comic book creation spanning three years, providing skills in drawing techniques, narrative mastery, and professional experience for the editorial world.
2. Evening courses (Cours du soir): Flexible evening classes for passionate individuals who wish to train while balancing studies, work, or personal projects.
3. Summer workshops: Intensive summer workshops covering scenario, drawing, watercolor, fanzine, and comic book creation with professional authors and artists.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Académie de Bande Dessinée DELCOURT is a private higher-education institution that delivers a three-year intensive professional training program in comic book (bande dessinée) creation, covering drawing techniques, narrative mastery, and professional experience. It supplements this core cursus with flexible evening courses (Cours du soir), seasonal summer workshops (Ateliers d'été) in scenario, drawing, watercolor and fanzine creation, and a youth talent competition (« Traits d'avenir »), all delivered at its Paris campus under the editorial sponsorship of Groupe Delcourt.

Product overview

Académie de Bande Dessinée DELCOURT is an educational institution offering a unified portfolio centered on professional comic book (bande dessinée) training. The core offering is a 3-year intensive formation program (Cursus principal) that takes students from fundamentals to professional-ready creators. Supporting the main program are flexible evening courses (Cours du soir) for part-time learners and seasonal summer workshops (Ateliers d'été) open to external participants. A youth talent competition (Concours « Traits d'avenir ») serves as both a recruitment pathway and community engagement initiative, with winners receiving training scholarships or editorial mentoring. All offerings are closely tied to the Groupe Delcourt ecosystem, France's leading independent comics publisher, providing students direct access to professional networks and publishing opportunities.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Cursus principal (3 ans) A three-year full-time intensive professional formation in bande dessinée, covering fundamentals, drawing techniques, narrative mastery, and professional experience to prepare students for careers as editorial comic book authors. Designed for aspiring professional comic book creators willing to commit to daily in-person practice at the Paris campus.
• Cours du soir

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Groupe DelcourtcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Academy is the training arm of Groupe Delcourt, France's leading comic book publisher. Students benefit from direct connections to the editorial world, visits from Delcourt editors, and pathways to publication. The Groupe provides textbooks and supports student projects.
• À voir à lireminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership to host the monthly public recording of the BD podcast 'Dans ma bulle' at the Academy, strengthening ties with BD sector actors and making the school a living cultural space.
• XP-PENminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner providing prizes (graphics tablets) for the 'Traits d'avenir' competition organized for Groupe Delcourt's 40th anniversary.
• CansonminorGTM or Marketing PartnerPartner providing drawing materials as prizes for the 'Traits d'avenir' competition organized for Groupe Delcourt's 40th anniversary.
• Zoo MagazineminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCultural media partner for the 'Traits d'avenir' competition organized for Groupe Delcourt's 40th anniversary.
• Quotidien (TV Show)minorGTM or Marketing PartnerStudents visited the TV set of Quotidien to discover how television works from the inside, media coverage enhancing school visibility.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• L'École de la Bande Dessinée (Angoulême): BD-focused training programs in Angoulême, often run via partnerships (e.g., with publishers). Directly comparable to ABD in mission and curriculum focus, though located in the historic BD capital rather than Paris.
• Atelier de Sèvres: Paris private art school offering intensive multi-year programs in illustration, design, and visual storytelling. Comparable in size, Paris location, and private-school tuition model to ABD, though broader than pure BD.
• École nationale supérieure des arts décoratifs (EnsAD): Public Paris-based grande école for visual arts with programs covering illustration, engraving, and photo/video. Targets the same aspiring visual authors as ABD, although EnsAD offers a broader fine arts curriculum rather than BD specialization.
• École Émile Cohl: Lyon-based private art school dedicated to illustration, comics (BD), and animation, with multi-year intensive curricula. It is the closest French competitor to ABD Delcourt in terms of focused BD/comics author training and similar student profiles.
• École européenne supérieure de l'image (ÉESI / CampusBD Angoulême): French higher-education institution with a dedicated BD/illustration track located partly in Angoulême — the historic capital of French BD. Directly comparable as a public-sector BD-focused training pathway and a natural geographic counterweight to ABD's Paris campus.
• École Estienne: Paris public school of art and design with strong illustration and graphic arts programs. Overlaps with ABD on the Paris applicant pool and on training designers/illustrators for editorial and publishing careers.
• Gobelins, l'école de l'image: Prestigious Paris-based school under the Paris Chamber of Commerce offering programs in animation, illustration, and graphic design. Competes directly with ABD for Paris-resident applicants seeking creative image-making careers and shares the intensive, multi-year pedagogy model.
• Penninghen: Paris-based private art and design school with strong illustration and graphic design programs. Competes with ABD for Paris applicants targeting editorial and visual storytelling careers, with a similar intensive studio-based pedagogy.

Regional players

• Royal Academy of Fine Arts (KASK) — School of Arts: Ghent-based Flemish art school with illustration and graphic storytelling programs. Comparable as a European higher-education fine arts institution with intensive studio-based training, though geographically and linguistically separate from ABD.
• La Cambre (École nationale supérieure des arts visuels et de design): Belgium's leading visual arts and design school based in Brussels, offering illustration and visual storytelling tracks. Comparable as a francophone higher-education art school but operates in a different national market.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/academieBD
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/academie-bd
• Instagraminstagram.com/academie_bd
• TikToktiktok.com/@academie_bd

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Académie de Bande Dessinée DELCOURT