An Vrombaut
An Vrombaut (born 1967) is a Belgian-born English author known for being the creator of 64 Zoo Lane.
Biography[]
Vrombaut grew up in Belgium with a menagerie of pets: rabbits, dogs, chickens, guinea pigs, tropical fish and even stick insects. She spent a lot of her time writing stories and drawing pictures of her pets and other animals like giraffes whilst wearing stripy jumpers knitted by her favorite half-great-aunt.
When Vrombaut almost grew up, she decided to make her giraffe drawings move. Vrombaut enrolled on an animation course at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent. Later on, she moved to London to make her short film "Little Wolf" at the Royal College of Art. She also served as one of the animators of her second film "When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Tiger", her second short film.
After Vrombaut finished her short film, she adapted her giraffe artwork in the animated series "64 Zoo Lane". The series was broadcast on CBBC and later on CBeebies.
Vrombaut also produced her second animated series titled Florrie's Dragons, based on her "Dear Dragon" books, which was broadcast on Disney Junior. It featuring an assortment of dragons each with a unique personality. Vrombaut recently released a 3D animated short known as "The Tie" in 2015, which was about the interaction between a small giraffe and a large giraffe.
Books[]
During her career, Vrombaut also wrote books as an author. Some of her books were based on 64 Zoo Lane while others were completely original. Vrombaut also published a book "Smile, Crocodile, Smile", featuring a crocodile named Clarabella, who takes all day her to brush them, which in turn won the Nottingham Children's Book Award.
[]
- Georgina the Giraffe
- Joey the Kangaroo
- Kevin the Crocodile
- Snowbert the Polar Bear
- Zed the Zebra
- Henrietta the Hairy Hippo
Other books[]
Vrombaut worked on other books aside from those being part of the 64 Zoo Lane universe, which include:
- The Gingerbread Man (written by Saviour Pirotta, illustrations by An Vrombaut)
- Tiger Trail
- Tiger! (based on When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Tiger)
- The Lost Acorns
- Mouse and Elephant
- Smile, Crocodile, Smile (known as Clarabella's Teeth in United States copies)
- The Lost Acorns
- Dear Dragon
- The Dragon Festival
- Duck Socks
- Ding Dong
- Nipper and Gull
Trivia[]
- Her favourite animal is the giraffe.
- Vrombaut not only served as the creator of 64 Zoo Lane, but also created a second animated series titled "Florrie's Dragons". This series was animated by South African animation studio Clockwork Zoo due to Millimages having no involvement in it, which later ended when Clockwork Zoo went out of business.
- Georgina and Herbert are her favourite characters from 64 Zoo Lane.
- Other animated series Vrombaut worked on as a writer included Bing, Ollie, Patchwork Pals and Rita and the Crocodile.
- The 1994 Disney animated film The Lion King is one of Vrombaut's favourite films about animals which gave her an inspiration of developing 64 Zoo Lane. Vrombaut is also a fan of Disney's first adaptation of The Jungle Book. Her favourite part is where Kaa is trying to hypnotise Mowgli, more specifically the "Trust in Me" sequence.
- She also has a few favourite animals besides the giraffe. During her visit to Beale Park in 2013, some of her favorite animals include: meerkats, owls, capybaras, peacocks, and alpacas as well as adoring the sculpture of an African buffalo. Curiously, Beale Park was also the place where the six of the original books were reissued within this area during the series' 20th anniversary event.
External Links[]
- Author's official website.
- 64 Zoo Lane at Vrombaut's website.