Portrait de Tania Vandesande, huile sur carton

Eugène van Nijverseel, who used the pseudonym Evany, was the first assistant of Hergé. He worked with the creator of Tintin between 1929 and 1931, inking the installments of 'Tintin au Congo' and the 'Quick et Flupke' gags that appeared in Le Petit Vingtième. He also illustrated several covers for this supplement of Le XXe Siècle. He also took over the character of 'Totor' in the Le Boy Scout Belge and created a new run of gags from February to July 1930. While fulfilling his military service in 1931, Evany created his own short-lived balloon strip 'Zim et Boum' for the Catholic children's magazine Petits Belges and its Flemish counterpart Zonneland. He continued to make gag pages and classic picture stories for the magazines until 1937. A 'Zim et Boum' book was published by Bonne Presse-Averbode in 1937. When Tintin magazine was launched in 1946, Evany became head of Studio Lombard, the art studio that provided the editorial illustrations. Artists that worked under his reign were Tibet, Craenhals, Funcken and Macherot. He was also responsible for the layouts. Van Nijverseel was also a painter. Text (c) Lambiek