At 17, he left school to work for a pharmaceutical agency while taking art classes in the evening. This led to a job as a letterer at Opera Mundi, a French publisher which translated and published US strips. After his 28-month military service, Gotlib settled as a freelance letterer and illustrator. His first comics were accepted by "Vaillant", a magazine for children later renamed "Pif-Gadget". His one long-running series at Vaillant started as "Nanar, Jujube et Piette", which was renamed "Nanar et Jujube" then "Gai-Luron" for the supporting character who had by then taken centre stage. Gai-Luron is a dog heavily influenced by Tex Avery's Droopy, who almost never laughs or displays any emotions and is incorrigibly somnolent.