René Sterne studied French, History and Philosophy. When he grew tired of studying, he did some traveling with wife, comic artist Chantal de Spiegeleer. Upon his return, Sterne began working in comics himself. He created the series 'Adler,' about a deserted Luftwaffe pilot and Helen, an Irish adventuress. The series started out in Tintin in 1985, and has been published in albums since 1987.
Aside from his comic work, Sterne has been active as an advertising artist. Since 1992, he lived on the Grenadine islands in the Caribbean, where he passed away on 15 November 2006, at age 54. Sterne's final project was an album in the classic series 'Blake & Mortimer', originally created by Edgar P. Jacobs. Sterne and his wife Chantal De Spiegeleer worked on the first volume of 'Le Malédiction des Trente Deniers' ('The Curse of The Thirty Denarii', 2009-2010), scripted by Jean Van Hamme. After Sterne's death, the first volume was finished by De Spiegeleer and Étienne Schreder, while the second volume was drawn by Antoine Aubin.