Pom et Teddy (Tintin #50, 1955)

After a few technical studies, François Craenhals attended a course on drawing. Soon he sold his first caricatures to Vrai magazine and some advertising drawings to an agency. His first comic appeared in 1948, in Le Soir Illustré. He met Fernand Cheneval, who was responsible for the Heroic Albums magazine.

Historical comic from Tintin #34, 1955

Cheneval encouraged Craenhals to create 'Karan', a series inspired by Tarzan. In the early fifties, he created nine stories about this character. He was employed by Tintin magazine in 1952, where he created his first big series 'Rémy et Ghislaine'. This series was soon followed by Craenhals' 'Pom et Teddy'.

For a period, Craenhals also worked for the abbey of Averbode, where Nonkel Fons was the editor-in-chief of a number of educational magazines such as Zonneland. Craenhals provided the story of 'The Miracle of Lourdes' in 1958.

Les 4 As

He joined the daily newspaper La Libre Belgique in 1955, for which he drew the 'Primus et Musette' series for several years. Craenhals was also a versatile illustrator, among others for Georges Chaulet's novels of 'Les 4 As'. From 1964, he adapted these novels to a comic series.

Le Chevallier Ardent

Craenhals created his most famous series, 'Le Chevalier Ardent' in 1966, that was published in Tintin. While continuing the successful series 'Les 4 As' and 'Le Chevalier Ardent', Craenhals adapted the adventures of the masked 'Fantômette' to comics in 1982. In the 1990s, Craenhals moved to Rivières-de-Theyrargues in the south of France, where he continued drawing his two series until his death in Montpellier in 2004.