'Le Fantôme des Canterville' (2003).
Christophe Hanze is a Belgian illustrator and comic artist. Trained in different graphic techniques, he has worked for the press, children's books and advertising campaigns. He became particularly notable for his work in the juvenile press, for instance, his children's book illustrations for the French publishers Flammarion, Milan Poche and La Martinière, and his comics for Éditions Casterman ('Robert et les Monstres', 1996-1997) and Delcourt ('Le Fantôme des Canterville', 2003).
Early life and education
Christopher Hanze was born in 1966 in Uccle, one of the bigger municipalities in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. During his college years, he was captivated by the lively lines of the 1974 Jacques Tardi graphic novel 'La Fleur au Fusil'. It inspired him to fill the pages of his notebooks with his own drawings. He was joined in his passion by another future comic professional, Jean-Luc Cornette, with whom Hanze made his first comic stories. The two friends also took courses together at the Institut Saint-Luc in Brussels, where Hanze first studied Applied Arts (1982-1986), before enrolling at the Comic section (1986-1988).
Illustration by Christophe Hanze for the story 'Concerto in Dood Groot' (Zonneland, 24 November 2000).
Professional career
After graduation, Hanze took some internships with advertising agencies, before working as art director for the Brussels advertising agencies Garbarski RSCG (1989-1990) and DDB Needham (1991-1992). During this period, he made concepts, designs and post-production for clients like Citroën, Quick, Minolta, Alcatel, Felix, Club Med, Volkswagen, Audi, Knorr, Pampers, Kenwood, Chivas Regal and Côte d'Or.
In 1992, Hanze became an independent illustrator for publishing houses, the press and advertising agencies. Since 2013, he also gives workshops in drawing, painting, comics and other artistic activities, both for children and adults. Hanze's illustrations have appeared in the newspaper La Libre Belgique and the English-language Belgian magazine The Bulletin. His art also appeared regularly in the magazines of the Averbode publishing house, including Tremplin (and its Dutch-language edition Zonneland), Bonjour and I.D. Magazine. Starting in 1997, Hanze has illustrated several children's picture books in the French collections Père Castor of Éditions Flammarion and Cadet of Milan Presse, working with writers like Jerry Frisen, Natalie Zimmermann and Michel Piquemal. In 1998, he wrote and drew his own picture book, the Christmas-themed 'Père Noël Sait Tout Faire' (Flammarion, 1998).
Comic books
On occasion, Hanze and childhood friend Jean-Luc Cornette have also worked on comic book projects, with Cornette taking care of the scripts. At Casterman publishers, they made two volumes of 'Robert et les Monstres' (1997-1998), about a young boy who is confronted with all sorts of monsters. In 2003, Hanze and Cornette created a juvenile comic book adaptation of the 1887 Oscar Wilde novel 'The Canterville Ghost' for publisher Delcourt ('Le Fantôme des Canterville'). In addition, Christophe Hanze has contributed to the fourth volume of 'La Fontaine aux Fables', a collective comic book series at Éditions Delcourt with adaptations of fables. In 2010, he also appeared in a similar anthology, 'Les Fables de La Fontaine et Hitler' (Nouvelles Éditions Latines, 2010).
'Robert Contre La Créature du Lac de la Vase Molle' (1998).