Artwork for the writing method 'Handschrift d'Haese' of Éditions Van In (2023).
Frédéric Thiry is a Belgian illustrator and comic artist, mostly active for educational and juvenile publications. Among his regular clients are the publishing houses Averbode and Casterman. After a couple of commercial comic books in the 1990s, he has created regular comic features for children's magazines like Dauphin/Zonnestraal ('Tsiky', 2007-....) and Knipoog ('Fred & Linda', 2004-....).
Early life and career
Frédéric Thiry was born in 1967 in Saint-Mard, a village in the Belgian province of Luxembourg. Between 1979 and 1986, he had his secondary education at Saint-Joseph College in Virton. Subsequently, he enrolled at the Comics section of the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels, graduating in 1990. From the 1990s on, he has been a self-employed illustrator, working for children's media, advertisements and books. Since 2014, he has been based in the Brussels suburb of Schaerbeek.
'Quadrifoglio. Alfa Romeo' and 'Les Voyages du Comte. Knokke Avignon'.
Comic books
Early in his career, Thiry drew a couple of commissioned comics, starting in 1994 with 'Quadrifoglio: Alfa Romeo' for Ideal Times, a book written by Erwin Lapraille and focusing on the history and heritage of the Alfa Romeo car brand. In the following year, he was assigned by Éditions Wine Classics for drawing the second volume of their oenology series 'Les Voyages du Comte', titled 'Knokke Avignon - Beaujolais Côtes du Rhône'. Written by Louis Parent, the series starred a duke with a large wine collection, who participates in a rally through the French wine-growing region in equally classy limousines. Each installment centered on a different type of wine, with the first volume drawn by Claude Gilsoul and the third and final by Jean Pêcheur. In 2000-2001, he made the comic strip 'Diomède & Atalante' for the European Commission.
Part of a five-page comic for the agricultural flyer 'La Vie est BIOtiful' by APAQ-W (2016).
Illustrator/cartoonist
For most of his career, Thiry has been making comics and illustrations for educational and youth publications. He has worked extensively for the books and magazines of the publishing houses Averbode, Casterman, Erasme, Labor and Van In. As a commercial artist, he has worked on communication projects, for instance for the Walloon Agency for the Promotion of Quality Agriculture (APAQ-W), the Walloon Road Safety Agency (AWSR), Brussels Environment, Brussels Mobility, the European Commission, the Red Cross, Finance Watch, the Office of Birth and Childhood (ONE), Saint-Luc Clinics and UNICEF. He has additionally been active as a postcard illustrator.
'Tsiky'. Translation: "Ssst. Tsiky is already sleeping. What's that noise?" - "It's my knee." - "Skeleton! You're rusting. Add a little oil, please!"
For the publishing house Casterman, Thiry has illustrated installments in the juvenile collection 'Les Heures Bonheurs' (1995-1997), as well as four volumes for the 'As-tu vu?' collection of picture books, consisting of 'Le Lapin à la Campagne' (2001), 'Le Chat dans la Maison' (2001), 'Le Chien dans la Ville' (2001) and 'Le Canard dans les Magasins' (2001). For Éditions Millefeulles, he produced the six-volume picture book series 'Arthur et Chloé' (1999). After 2000, his main client has been the publishing house Averbode, illustrating many books in the educational youth collections Tire-Lire/Leeskriebels and Récits-Express.
'Monsieur Lampoule/L. Ampmans.' Dutch-language version. Translation: "You asked me for a 100 percent green decoration." - "I trust you completely, Lampmans!" - "Merry Christmas!" - "Yes, Merry Christmas...!"
Besides books, Thiry has also been a regular artist in children's magazines. For Knipoog by publisher De Boeck, he created the feature 'Fred & Linda' (2004- ), while Averbode's Dauphin (French language) and Zonnestraal (Dutch language) ran his 'Tsiky' comic (2007- ). Another comic strip he created was 'Monsieur Lampoule' ('L. Ampmans' in Dutch), which appeared in the corporate magazine Spectrum-Luminus of energy supplier Luminus (2008- ). He has additionally been an artist for Averbode's pre-school magazine about spiritual growth, Naomi.
Artwork for a story written by Anne-Dominique Derroitte for Naomi magazine (2023).