Joël Parnotte was born in 1973. He studied at the Versailles School of Fine Arts before following the comic book curriculum at Angoulême. He notably published "Hong Kong Triad" at Le Téméraire publishing, in collaboration with author Vincent Mallié and Delphine Rieu as the colorist. Next up, with the same associates but a different publisher (Soleil), came the five-volume series "Les Aquanautes." Sticking with Soleil, he then produced the one-shot "Un Pas vers les Étoiles," with a script by Jérôme Félix. He was later singled out by the author Balac, who, having been enraptured by his artwork in "Les Aquanautes," suggested they work together. Thus began the epic "Le Sang des Porphyre" (Dargaud, 2008), which eventually amounted to five volumes, the last one released in 2013. In 2015, Joël teamed up with writer Xavier Dorison to illustrate the action-packed 15th-century drama "The Sword Master" (Dargaud, Europe Comics). That collaboration would then lead to the creation of the historical fantasy series "Aristophania," released by Dargaud in 2019 (Europe Comics in English).