Regards Coupables, finally for everyone

In 2015, Julian Bouhenic set himself a rule: post one drawing a day on Instagram. Ten years, a million followers and several books later, Regards Coupables still had never had the book it truly wanted: simple, accessible, available everywhere and built to last. With Vertige, the publishing house he co-founded, that book is finally coming. We sat down with him.

One drawing a day

How did Regards Coupables begin?

In 2015. I wanted to get back to drawing alongside my other projects. I was already creating for my band, MAN IS NOT A BIRD, and for the stage, but I wanted to step out as an artist.

2015 was an incredible year on Instagram. Artists were starting to emerge and share their work. There was room and excitement for everyone. The race for likes and fame didn't exist yet. I followed a lot of artists, and I decided to go for it.

Did you have a method?

One rule: post one drawing a day. And I stuck to it. People started following very quickly, and a real enthusiasm grew around Regards Coupables. It happened fast, and nothing like I had expected.

VOLUME I

And then came the book?

Very quickly I got to work with incredible people. I launched my T-shirt collection with the brand WASTED, who handled production, and I distributed them myself: hundreds a month. I collaborated with brands. Then I met Elias, now co-founder of Vertige, who offered to publish my first book.

Publishing a Regards Coupables book was a dream. We worked on it for weeks. It was called VOLUME I, and it came out in 2019.

What does that book mean to you?

It's the one that best captures the soul of Regards Coupables. Striking drawings, touching captions. A book you can open anytime, at any page. It was the perfect translation of my Instagram into a book.

Back then, this kind of project was just beginning. Today, every Instagram account publishes its own book. VOLUME I was the start of a long adventure in publishing.

Censorship

Then the rules changed.

Censorship crept in little by little, and peaked in 2020. Instagram drastically tightened its rules. Erotic art became almost forbidden, flagged as pornography or sex work.

It happened just as I had reached a million followers. I was at the height of my art and my international reach.

How did you respond?

I never stopped drawing. And I became deeply attached to paper. Books became my hope of continuing to exist in the real world, a way not to disappear. Digital is fleeting: everything can vanish overnight, and you don't control how you're seen.

Commissions, and books of my own

You kept publishing, notably with Hachette.

Yes. Those books were very specific commissions. They let me push my graphic language further and they rounded out my work. I gave all my new drawings to renowned publishers.

But I never found the universal reach of VOLUME I again.

And alongside that, self-publishing.

I released several books myself that did really well: 50 Things to Do in Bed, How to FaceTime Your Lover, LOVE LUST LOUD... I love them. They strengthened my love of publishing and my attachment to independent expression.

Books that disappear

Are those books still available?

No, none of them. Not VOLUME I either. That's normal in publishing: a book has a limited lifespan.

Still, I can't accept it. I realize my art has never been distributed the way I always wanted. I want to reach as many people as possible, to be available everywhere. That's what my drawings are about: a human, universal love.

Did you try to keep them alive yourself?

I wanted to keep self-publishing and distributing, but running an online shop on my own was too much work. And yet so many people still want to get their hands on those books.

Reunion in Los Angeles

How was Vertige born?

Years later, I ran into Elias again in Los Angeles. He told me he wanted to start a publishing house with me.

He had huge respect for my work over the past years, and for the experience I had built up. As an artist, I had learned to create, communicate, produce collections, sell them, and collaborate with major brands and major publishers. That's how Vertige was born.

A book about love, for everyone

What does this change for you?

I'm back where I was in 2015: in full control of my art. I can finally release the book that's been on my mind forever. An accessible book that speaks to everyone. A book about love, light and deep at once.

What will we find inside?

The classic Regards Coupables drawings: 217 of them, chosen from nearly 2,000. They aren't sex scenes. The eroticism is there, but above all tenderness, couples, closeness.

Who is it for?

My followers will probably recognize some of the drawings. But so many people don't know them yet. This book is for everyone. And this time, I hope, it will stay.