After his education in Decorative Arts, François Hemen, who uses the pseudonym Arthur Qwak, founded the Asylum studios in 1984. Qwak and co-founder Riff Reb's were shortly afterwards joined by fellow artists and writers like Édith, Cromwell, Kisler, Joe Ruffner and Gilles Gonnort. The Asylum team worked among others on animation projects, like the cartoon series 'Les Mondes Engloutis'.
