About me

Coco Funck and Paka Zool met in the studio they were sharing in Brussels and decided to team up to form Coco Zool. Their brightly coloured characters range from the crazy to the cute, and are so full of life they've caught the attention of clients - and children - around the world.

Coco and Paka collaborate together on children's books, fanzines, posters, patterns and designs, and enjoy being part of the vibrant creative community in Brussels. The city is known for comic book culture. "It's the perfect place to live if you love bandes dessinées, illustration and children's books," explains Coco.

The city's atmosphere fuels their inspiration, and their studio walls are full of images found on its streets, as well as magazine cuttings, posters and more. They love visiting museums, and their latest initiative is live doodling character concertos. Coco draws on a three-metre sheet of paper while Paka performs the music. They also love David Hockney, Joan Sfar and Kitty Crowther.

Training

Coco is a self-taught illustrator who later studied graphic design at the École de Formation Professionelle in Brussels. Paka studied illustration at the Brussels Academie Royale des Beaux Arts.

Approach

Images begin with a sketching and development process. Characters are designed so that they're easy to reproduce, and are honed to perfection on the light box before being scanned into Photoshop. Here the colour work begins in palettes appropriate to the story or brief.

Style

By simply dropping inked line work from their cartoon-style drawings and using coloured lines instead, Coco and Paka have created a look that's not only fun but has a light and optimistic feel to it. Their work is bright, vibrant, expressive and active, with a touch of humour to it as well. They will hone the drawing style to meet their client's brief.