René Hausman (21 February 1936 – 28 April 2016[1]) was a Belgian comic-book writer and artist, best known for his dark fairytales and watercolour drawings.

[2] After meeting already famed comics author Raymond Macherot when he was 18 years old, he quit his studies and made illustrations for local magazines.

[2] In the following years, he provided more than 500 illustrations for the magazine, specializing in animals and local folklore, which earned him the nickname "Bard of the Ardennes".

In the following decades, he widened his oeuvre to more adult comics, including erotic fables in the French magazine Fluide Glacial, but he got his major breakthrough in 1985 when he created Laïyna, a fairy story in two parts, the first of which was published as a supplement to Spirou in one week.

[2] Also known as a sculptor and a bagpipe player, Hausman never had a major commercial success but got wide recognition for his use of colours and the use of the fantastic in his stories.