Cédric, 1990.

Laudec is a Belgian comic artist with Italian origins, who is a longtime contributor to Spirou magazine. He was born Antonio "Tony" de Luca in Spezzano, Italy, but he has lived in Belgium since he was four years old. He grew up in Liège, while his father worked as a miner in the surrounding villages. He studied electromechanics and worked as an industrial draughtsman with a factory in Charleroi from the age of 22, while attempting to build a career as a comic artist. He published his first stories, such as 'Les Cornichons', in local fanzines like À Propos, Bhof and Outfi! in 1976 and 1977. In 1987, he teamed up with Raoul Cauvin to create 'Cédric', a humorous comic about a little boy and his family and classmates. The popularity of the comic led to an animated televion series in the 1990s. In addition 'Cédric', Laudec and Cauvin also made 'Taxi-Girl', a series of gags about a female cab driver, that was published in Spirou from 1992 to 1998. For this comic, Laudec assumed a more semi-realistic drawing style, for which he was assisted by Michel Chantraine. Text (c) Lambiek