Thé Tjong-Khing

Tjong-Khing Thé was born in Purworedjo, Indonesia. After a brief period at the Indonesian Art School, he came to live in The Netherlands in 1956. Here, he found work at the Marten Toonder Studio, where he started out with illustrating some short stories for the British magazines Valentine and Boyfriend. From 1957, he assisted Jan Wesseling on the daily strip 'Marion'. At the same time, he cooperated on Toonder's 'Koning Hollewijn'. He then took on the art duties of the newspaper strips 'Student Tijloos' (script by Lo Hartog van Banda) and 'Horre, Harm en Hella' (script by Andries Brandt).

Khing left the Toonder Studios in the late 1960s, and created 'Iris', a comic book inspired by the pop culture of that decade, together with writer Lo Hartog van Banda. Between 1969 and 1975, he produced his most famous series, 'Arman & Ilva', a science-fiction epic in a beautiful, clear style. Afterwards, he drew 'De Twee van Oldenhoek' in Tina, and co-launched the alternative magazine De Vrije Balloen. In this magazine, he drew 'Storende Verhalen'. He also began the gag strip 'Rebbe' with writer Ton Dekker. Tjong-Khing then said farewell to comics to devote himself to his passion, illustrating children's books.