Born in Uccle, Michel Tacq spent his childhood in Farciennes and Brussels. He went to study at the Saint-Marie Institute in Schaerbeek and stayed in France for the first years of World War II. He then returned to Belgium to continue his art studies in Charleroi. Ever since his early childhood, Tacq was involved in scouting, a movement that has been of influence his entire career. At 17, he took on the pseudonym Mitak and developed the comic strip Tam Tam, which appeared in magazines related with Scouting in 1944 and 1945. Tam Tam also appeared in book collections, published by José Henin and De Beiaard. He illustrated for Plein Jeu, Carrefour and L'Hebdomadaire des grands recits.