People often ask us who draws our books. First portrait in our « At the studio » series: Agus Suherman, Lead Artist at the BDouin studio, who leads the Foulane Adventures drawing team from Bandung, Indonesia. We sent him our questions in writing, one evening in September, after his working day. He answered the next day, in English, with photos of his desk and his team.
Bandung, 10 a.m.
The studio is in Bandung, in the west of Java, a two-hour drive from Jakarta. This is where Agus grew up, and where he works today, as Lead Artist heading a drawing team of about ten people. On the walls, printed pages, proofread with a marker. On the screens, the pages in progress.
Where did you grow up, and when did you start drawing?
In Bandung, West Java. And I started drawing in kindergarten. I never really stopped.
What was the first comic, or cartoon, that made you want to draw?
American comics first, DC Comics. Then European comics, from various publishers. That is what taught me to tell a story in panels.
What does a normal working day look like?
I work from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. But when I am in a good mood, or we have a target to meet, I keep going, until midnight at the latest. For me it is not a burden: drawing is part of the fun.
At BDouin
Agus joined the studio on Walad & Binti, drawing several episodes. He has worked on Foulane Adventures since 11 November 2024, the first day of production of volume 1. He has known the series since its very first panel.
What do you like most in this work?
The variety of atmospheres. With Walad & Binti, we travel around the world, from one ecosystem to another. There are many different camera angles to invent. And these are stories that reflect the social reality of my country. That matters.
Is there an Indonesian detail in your pages that a reader may not notice?
Surely. It all starts with research: before drawing a place, a plant, a boat, a house, we document ourselves. What is accurate ends up in the panel, even if nobody notices.
Lead Artist
At the studio, Agus is Lead Artist: he draws the pages of Foulane Adventures, and he leads the drawing team that takes them from inks to colour. A page goes through several hands.
On volume 2: Norédine Allam on script, Agus Suherman, Lead Artist, on drawing, Hendranto Pratama Putra on inking, Muhammad Iqbal Fauzy, Aditya Pranata and Iwan Joko Triyono on colour. Count two to three days per page, from clean pencils to final colour.
How a page is born, from thumbnail to colour, and why volume 2 takes place where it was drawn: that is our first article, « How we drew both volumes ».
His message
For the French-speaking readers who will discover his work, Agus wrote one sentence, in French:
« Suivons l’aventure au cœur de l’histoire. »
Let’s follow the adventure into the heart of the story.
Interview conducted in writing on 30 September 2026, edited by the BDouin editorial team. The books are published in French.
