André Roche, born in 1952 in France, is an artist, an illustrator and an author of comics and

children's books A child () is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking countries, the legal definition of ''chi ...

Biography

André Roche received a bachelor's degree of Tourism, Hotel Administration and Culinary Arts ("BTH") from the Lycée Hôtelier Alexandre Dumas in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. He began his career in Germany, working in various establishments in order to perfect his knowledge of German. In 1971, he decided to settle in

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

while working at the prestigious Tantris restaurant in Munich. At this time, he was able to realize a childhood dream, learning to do film animation (animation,

claymation Claymation, sometimes called clay animation or plasticine animation, is one of many forms of stop-motion animation. Each animated piece, either character or background, is "deformable"—made of a malleable substance, usually plasticine cl ...

and

stop-motion Stop-motion (also known as stop frame animation) is an animation, animated filmmaking and special effects technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appe ...

) at studios located in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. In 1975, he went on his own, free-lancing for publishing houses and advertising agencies. As an artist and illustrator, with the help of a team of writers and artists, he created and drew about 160 comic stories and also did merchandising artwork for ''

Maya the Bee Maya the Bee () is the main character in ''The Adventures of Maya the Bee'', a German book written by Waldemar Bonsels and published in 1912. The book has been published in many other languages and adapted into different media. The first Ameri ...

'', then others for '' Wonderful Adventures of Nils'', '' Taotao'', ''

Tom and Jerry ''Tom and Jerry'' is an American Animated cartoon, animated media franchise and series of comedy short films created in 1940 by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. Best known for its 161 theatrical short films by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the series ...

'', ''

Alice In Wonderland ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' (also known as ''Alice in Wonderland'') is an 1865 English Children's literature, children's novel by Lewis Carroll, a mathematics university don, don at the University of Oxford. It details the story of a ...

'', ''

Vicky the Viking ''Vicky the Viking'', known as ''Wickie und die starken Männer'' () in Germany and Austria and in Japan, is an animated television series which tells the adventures of Vicky, a young Viking boy who uses his wits to help his Viking fellows. It ...

'', ''

Heidi ''Heidi'' (; ) is a work of children's fiction published between 1880 and 1881 by Swiss author Johanna Spyri, originally published in two parts as ''Heidi: Her Years of Wandering and Learning'' () and ''Heidi: How She Used What She Learned'' ( ...

'',

Mickey Mouse Mickey Mouse is an American cartoon character co-created in 1928 by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. The longtime icon and mascot of the Walt Disney Company, Mickey is an anthropomorphic mouse who typically wears red shorts, large shoes, and white ...

Donald Duck Donald Fauntleroy Duck is a cartoon character created by the Walt Disney Company. Donald is an Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic white duck with a yellow-orange bill, legs, and feet. He typically wears a sailor suit, sailor shirt and cap with ...

, and the

Pink Panther ''The Pink Panther'' is an American media franchise primarily focusing on a series of comedy-mystery films featuring an inept French police detective, Inspector Jacques Clouseau. The franchise began with the release of the film ''The Pink Panthe ...

. For his ability to create new characters perfectly in line with the style of a series, Medien Bulletin 9/89 (Kellerer & Partners publisher) named him "best adapter of licensed characters in Germany". In the late 70's, he was a pioneer in the use of air-brush techniques for cartoon and animated characters and their backgrounds. This approach gave them a three-dimensional look that only became common decades later with the introduction of computer colorisation and the construction and use of avatars in

3D modeling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based Computer representation of surfaces, representation of a surface of an object (inanimate or living) in Three-dimensional space, three dimensions vi ...

programs. At the same time, he did cover art, illustrations and caricatures for various magazines such as "Das Rechtsmagazin" (legal), "Das Industriemagazin" (industry), and "Die Funkschau" (electronics), later also for "AV-Invest" (electronic equipment), which later became "AV-LIVE". As a founding member of the German Association for Comics "ICOM", André Roche belonged to a small group of artists who, in 1984, succeeded in convincing the culture office of the town of

Erlangen Erlangen (; , ) is a Middle Franconian city in Bavaria, Germany. It is the seat of the administrative district Erlangen-Höchstadt (former administrative district Erlangen), and with 119,810 inhabitants (as of 30 September 2024), it is the smalle ...

that it would be a good idea to have a comic show there. Thi
show
is now held every two years. In 1983, André Roche began creating small three dimensional characters to put in the chocolate eggs called "Kinder Surprise", manufactured by the

Ferrero Ferrero may refer to: * Ferrero (surname), a surname * Ferrero (company), an Italian manufacturer of chocolate * Ferrero Bay, a body of water between King Peninsula and Canisteo Peninsula, Antarctica * Ferrero–Washington theorem, a result in alge ...

company. The first ones he did were to expand the "Happy Frogs" (1986) and "Tapsy Turtles" (1987) series. He also drew the model sheets and the puzzles for the licensed series ''Taotao'', Pumuckl, Disney's version of ''

The Jungle Book ''The Jungle Book'' is an 1894 collection of stories by the English author Rudyard Kipling. Most of the characters are animals such as Shere Khan the tiger and Baloo the bear, though a principal character is the boy or "man-cub" Mowgli, who ...

'' characters, ''

'',

, the '' Smurfs'', the '' Aristocats'', and

. In 1987, he created, for Ferrero, the characters "Happy Hippos", which over the years came back as "The Fitness Hippos", "The Happy Hippos' Dream Cruise", "The Happy Hippo's Enterprise", "The Happy Hippos Get Married", "The Happy Hippos Hollywood Stars", "The Hipperium" (a send-up of the ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic film, epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the Star Wars (film), eponymous 1977 film and Cultural impact of Star Wars, quickly became a worldwide popular culture, pop cu ...

'' trilogy authorized by

George Lucas George Walton Lucas Jr. (born May 14, 1944) is an American filmmaker and philanthropist. He created the ''Star Wars'' and ''Indiana Jones'' franchises and founded Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic and THX. He served as chairman ...

), and "The Happy Hippo Talent Show". The popularity of the "Happy Hippos" characters led Ferrero in 1993 to put new products on the market: the " Kinder Happy Hippo Snack" and the "Kinder Happy Hippo Cacao". More André Roche creations followed, such as "The Crazy Crocos", "The Funny Pingos", "The Tiny Turtles", "The Drolly Dinos", "The Elephantos", "The Bingo Birds" (crows playing tennis) and the "Eco Bunnies" (skiing rabbits). These series had different names from country to country. Several of them were also used in ad campaigns for other Ferrero products. André Roche directed and did the animation of the most animated cartoon TV spots used in German language markets.

Sources

* ''Die Biene Maja'' (''Maya the Bee'') (), 1976, ZuijoEizo/Apollo Film, Pestalozzi Verlag, publisher * ''Das neue Biene Maja Buch'' (''The New Maya the Bee Book'') (), 1978, Zuijo Eizo/Apollo Film, Pestalozzi Verlag, publisher * ''Die Biene Maja und die Maus'' (''Maya the Bee and the Mouse'') (), 1979, Zuijo Eizo/Apollo Film, Pestalozzi Verlag, publisher * ''Nils Holgersson'' (cover) (), 1981, Merchandising, Munich, Unipart Verlag, publisher * ''Art Directors' Index to Illustration, Graphics & Design'', No. 4, 1983, RotoVision SA/Ch-1211 Genf * ''Heut' kommt Micky zu Besuch!'' (''Mickey Comes To Visit Us Today'') (), 1983, Disney, Pestalozzi Verlag, publisher * ''Who's Who in München'', 1983 ( LN) / The international red series Verlag / Zurich * ''The Creative Index Austria/Germany/Switzerland'', 1993, RotoVision SA / CH-1295 Mies * ''Donalds Ducks Abenteuer auf dem Bauernhof'' (''The Adventures of Donald Duck on the Farm'') (, 1984, Disney, Pestalozzi Verlag, publisher * ''ICOM-INFO 23'' (1984) (House organ of The German Comics Association "ICOM") * "Creative City Scene München", 1992, Roto Vision SA/CH-1295 Mies * ''Die Kunst der Comics'' (''The Art of The Comics'') (), 1985, Aleph Publishing / D-8551 Heroldsbach * ''Kinder Überraschung / Bunter Sammelspass aus dem Ei'' (''Kinder Surprise / Colorful Fun From The Egg'') (page 42) (), 1994, Falken-Verlag, Niedernhausen / Germany. * ''Das gelbe vom Ei'' (literally ''The Yellow of the Egg'', a German play on words meaning "The Quintessence") of Holger Jenrich (), 2007, Lübbe/Bergisch Gladbach Publishing Group (pages 23 to 28) * SU-Katalog "Spielzeug aus dem Ei" (''Toy Out Of The Egg'') / Publisher: Fantasia Verlag, Dreieich (Germany). This catalogue appears yearly (for example, the ISBN for 2008/2009 is 3935976510) and has text in German, English, Italian and French. * "O-Ei-A – Preisführer" (''O-Ei-A-Price List'') for example, the ISBN for the 2003/2004 issue is 3933863201 and has text in German, English, Italian and French. * "Dernières Nouvelles d'Alsace" ("DNA") No.192 "DNA reflets" of 15 March 2008 / Easter Special / page 11. * "Mystères et boules de glace" (), 2008, Cosmogone Editions: This book (in French) explains to children where the taste of ice creams comes from.

References

Illustrations by André Roche for Disney's "Jungle Book" - merchandising items

Informations about Maya The Bee
* Diverse informations about hippopotamus: look under "cultural depictions"
André Roche's website

Several international presentations of the Happy Hippos serie "Happy Hippo Talent Show"
*

International catalogue of Comic Book covers (in German). For example: covers / Kategorie B / Bastei / B / Biene Maja (Heft 1st Series)

Long TV story about the "Kinder Surprise" phenomenon: collectors, creators, store-owners, manufacturer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roche, Andre 1952 births French illustrators French caricaturists French animators French comics writers French comics artists Living people