Roger Leloup was born in Verviers, Belgium in 1933. Fascinated by trains and planes since his youth, he studied Decoration and Publicity at the Institut Saint-Luc in Liège. By accident, he came into contact with the Franco-Belgian comics scene when his neighbour, Jacques Martin, told him that he desperately needed a colourist. Leloup got the job and started colouring the Alix album L'ïle maudite in 1950. He has an adopted Korean daughter, who inspired him to draw the character Morning Dew, the little Chinese girl from Le Dragon de Hong Kong, who was adopted by Yoko Tsuno.