FAMOUS FACES.
DRAWN BY
A FRENCHMAN.
Celebrity caricature is not about mockery. Or not only about mockery.
It is about finding the essential truth of a face — the cheekbones, the grin, the gleam in the eye — and pushing it until the personality becomes undeniable.
Every portrait here is 100% hand-drawn in Indian ink and watercolour. There is no AI. There never will be.
🇬🇧 BRITISH ICONS
The faces that define British culture — drawn by a Frenchman who loves them just as much as you do. Click to enlarge.
[ IMAGE À UPLOADER ]
THE AVENGERS
Not the Marvel franchise. The real Avengers — the 1960s ITV series that gave the world John Steed’s bowler hat, Emma Peel’s catsuit, and one of the sharpest, most stylish pieces of British television ever made. Sébastien Rieu has had a lifelong admiration for the show. These are his portraits of its four iconic agents.
“The Avengers was something television will never produce again: a show that trusted its audience to find wit, elegance and danger exciting in equal measure. Emma Peel moved through the frame with a kind of self-possession that was genuinely radical for 1965. John Steed was the last great Englishman — courtly, lethal, always immaculate. Drawing them was less an artistic exercise than an act of gratitude.”
— Sébastien Rieu, BordeauxBENNY HILL —
THE GENIUS.
There is a particular kind of British comedy that can only be called total. Not clever. Not restrained. Not self-conscious. Total.
Benny Hill understood something that most comedians spend their careers trying to learn: that joy is not a small ambition. That making someone laugh — genuinely, helplessly, with their whole body — is one of the most generous things a human being can do.
The show was also something else entirely: a celebration of feminine beauty and humour in the same breath — the pin-up and the punchline, inseparable. Diana Darvey, Hill’s Angels, the whole glorious, insouciant spectacle of an era that didn’t apologise for having fun.
“Benny Hill was a genius. Not a ‘problematic’ genius, not a ‘product of his time’ genius — just a genius. The kind that only comes along once or twice in a century. I have watched his clips ten thousand times and I have never stopped finding them funny.”
— Sébastien Rieu, BordeauxTHE REAL BENNY HILL
Before drawing a face, you have to understand it.
This is the clip that explains everything about Benny Hill — and about a certain idea of freedom.
The mix of pin-up beauty and comedy genius that belonged to a specific moment in British culture — an era of carefree, unapologetic joy. Diana Darvey, Hill’s Angels, the slapstick, the timing, the sheer unbridled fun of it all. Sébastien Rieu has watched this clip more times than he can count.
SCREEN LEGENDS & ICONS
The faces Sébastien has spent his career drawing. Click to enlarge.
À UPLOADER
À UPLOADER
CLASSIC HOLLYWOOD & VINTAGE GLAMOUR
Acrylic paintings on canvas — the golden age of cinema, hand-painted.
Commissionable in this style — ask about acrylic portrait commissions
BRIGITTE BARDOT
Born 1934. The original French sex symbol.
JACQUELINE BISSET
British actress (born 1944) with Belmondo in Le Magnifique.
KIM NOVAK
Born 1933. Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Unforgettable.
CLAUDIA CARDINALE
Born 1938. Once Upon a Time in the West.
DITA VON TEESE
Born 1972. Burlesque icon. The modern pin-up.
MIREILLE DARC
(1938–2017) Le Grand Blond. Alain Delon’s great love.
COMMISSIONS — PRICES AT A GLANCE
| Style | Medium | From | Delivery |
|---|---|---|---|
| Digital caricature | Indian ink + watercolour | £25 | Same day (before 6 PM) |
| Printed caricature | Indian ink + watercolour | £32 | 5–7 working days · Free UK |
| Realistic portrait | Indian ink / graphite | £45 | 7–10 working days · Free UK |
| Acrylic painting on canvas | Acrylic on stretched canvas | £110 | 3–4 weeks (drying time) |
| All styles | Sketch approval included | — | Digital file or posted print |
THE FRENCH EYE ON BRITISH FACES
There is something that a foreigner sees in a famous face that a native sometimes misses. The distance gives you perspective — and perspective is the whole game in caricature.
Mr Bean: What Sébastien sees is not a buffoon. He sees a man of almost painful integrity — someone who refuses to navigate the world the way the world wants to be navigated, and suffers magnificently for it. The eyebrows do the heavy lifting.
Emma Peel: Power made elegant. The intelligence in the eyes, the economy of the posture, the sense that she could disarm you in three moves and still look amused about it. One of the most satisfying faces in 1960s television to draw.
Naomi Campbell: The cheekbones are a statement. The gaze is a full sentence. One of the most rewarding faces in the history of fashion to work with — because every element is already at its limit.
Benny Hill: The gleam. There is a gleam in Benny Hill’s eye that says: I know exactly what I’m doing, and I am having the time of my life doing it. You cannot fake that in a drawing. Either you see it, or you don’t.
WANT YOUR FACE DRAWN
WITH THE SAME EYE?
Send a photo. Sébastien will find what’s essential in it — and make it undeniable.
🎨 COMMISSION YOUR PORTRAITAT A GLANCE — CELEBRITY CARICATURES
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Gallery type | Celebrity caricatures and portraits — British icons and international screen legends |
| Artist | Sébastien Rieu — Bordeaux, France · 25 years experience |
| Technique | Indian ink & watercolour · Acrylic on canvas · All hand-drawn, no AI |
| British icons featured | Mr Bean, Naomi Campbell, Liz Hurley, Elisha Cuthbert, Benny Hill (slot reserved) |
| The Avengers | Emma Peel, John Steed, Tara King, Purdey — all hand-drawn in Indian ink |
| Classic Hollywood | Brigitte Bardot, Kim Novak, Claudia Cardinale, Dita Von Teese, Jacqueline Bisset |
| Benny Hill videos | 2 drawing tutorials + original Benny Hill & Diana Darvey clip (2.8M views) |
| Commissions | Any living or historical figure · From £25 digital · From £32 print · Free UK delivery |
| Sketch approval | Included on all commissions before final version |