His first experiences of comics were the Adventures of Tintin story King Ottokar's Sceptre and Corentin read aloud to him.

[3] Under the pseudonyms "Phil" and "Tom", he published his first illustrations and comics for the school magazine Buck (made by Thierry Groensteen) from 1972 to 1974.

Tome began his professional comics career in the studio of Dupa, the author of Cubitus, where he met Janry who would become a long-time collaborator.

[3] After assisting Turk and De Groot on series such as Léonard and Clifton, they began working at the Franco-Belgian comics magazine Spirou in 1979, their first assignment being the games page Jeureka.

[3] Previously created by a succession of authors including the famous André Franquin, Tome and Janry were given the task in alternation with another creative team of Nic and Cauvin.