vrijdag 15 december 2023

Schokkend Nieuws #165 - Cover Art

Cover art for the Dutch film magazine, this time with a sea-danger special. An Architeuthis Dux is shamelessly cutting off surfers in the wall of the wave.
 

donderdag 7 december 2023

Expo in record store CONCERTO

 During the month December there's a small but colorful expo of my illustration work in Amsterdam's coolest store for films and music, Concerto in the Utrechtsestraat.



donderdag 9 november 2023

CairoComix festival #8 in Egypt

 Last weekend I was a guest at the anual comics festival in cairo and I had a blast. We showcased some of the musicians portraits I've been making and sold lots of books and posters at my Arabic publisher Nool Books stand. Hope to attend again another year!























maandag 16 oktober 2023

Art prints (Giclée)


Three musicians portraits from my International Pop series, gorgeously and exclusively printed on A3. The color result is beyond what I imagined and I have a very happy customer. Mail me if you are interested. There are now 35 portraits to choose from.




 

donderdag 5 oktober 2023

Nachten (VII)

For every issue, poetry magazine Awater asks a comic artist to work with a poem to create a page. I was aksed to rework one of Couperus' esotheric poems from around the turn of the (last) centrury. Couperus did works of fiction on Pharaonic times so it seemed natural to get that imagery in here too. AWATER

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

maandag 7 augustus 2023

vrijdag 28 april 2023

DABKE! mix

A mix recorded from my 45s with songs in the infectious dance style from the Levant. On the cover we see my drawing of the beautiful Samira Tawfik who's Bedouin style music I came to love while living in Amman, Jordan.

dinsdag 4 april 2023

Outlines

 Working on a comic without lines again. What freedom. If needed details can always be added - or not!



zaterdag 12 november 2022

Ananda Shankar

 Portrait of Ananda Shankar and his psychedelic sitar-grooves.



woensdag 2 november 2022

Bizunesh Bekele

 'The World of International Pop' portrait series - Ethiopian singer Bizunesh Bekele, first lady of Ethiopian popular music.


 

donderdag 22 september 2022

Concept Art

Concept Art for the documentary Een Porseleinen Huwelijk (BNNVara, 2022) about Jorge Zorreguieta.









 


woensdag 7 september 2022

The Smuggler in Arabic

Along with the author's copies, Nool Books generously included a slew of books from their increasingly interesting catalogue in the box. Thanks! https://www.noolbooks.com/ The color printing and paper look and feel just right.



 

woensdag 6 juli 2022

PORTRAITS

A new exiting project I've started to explore. More news soon.



woensdag 11 mei 2022

Donker en onnatuurlijk

Donker en onnatuurlijk (Dark and Unnatural) is a book compiling over 100 illustrations that were done in majority for film magazine Schokkend Nieuws. Concertobooks published it and the printing is gorgeous.


 















 

As a bonus it contains the animated movie Magic Show (2009) on DVD, written by Ruud den Drijver and animated and directed by yours truly.







donderdag 17 maart 2022

donderdag 3 februari 2022

Some of the many drawings I did for readers this year. Especially during the pandemic this was a nice way to be in touch with you.









 

dinsdag 4 januari 2022

Try out

 

There's one story that has been developing in my mind for some 17 years. Whenever I go on long hikes the story bubbles up. I enjoy spending time thinking it over. I never wrote it down. One day I will draw this story. It'll feature some biographical elements in an otherwise fictitious plot featuring the usual bunch of forgers. Last December I felt like trying out a style and mood to see if it would fit the story. It doesn't, at all. Back to the drawing board!




zaterdag 6 november 2021

zondag 31 oktober 2021

maandag 25 oktober 2021

Old work: The Bloodless

A picture book I drew as a young man around 2000 and self-published in a run of 4 copies a few years later. I couldn't find a publisher for this surreal, bleak tale about - I guess - the blurring of the lines between capitalism and socialism in our times. It did end up as a short story in the anthology Wat Fred niet wist (2004).














 

The story shares some themes with the movie Goodbye Lenin (2003), as was pointed out by people when the story appeared in 2004. My protagonist and his mother haven't left their appartment since the Berlin wall fell and fill their days by reading old communist newspapers and him dressing up as his father. I guess the feeling of 'ostalgia' was in the air then.

 














 

I was immodestly and foolishly under the spell of people like Max Beckmann, Otto Dix, Joseph Lada, Picasso and obviously Frans Masereel. I was living in Peshawar, Pakistan when I made this as my girlfriend Tessa worked with Afghan refugees there. I remember bringing the art along on a long trip we did in Pakistan and India and me drawing further panels in the night trains we took. I got the idea for the drawing above at an art show in a church in Goa that warned against the abuse of alcohol. I'd like to see that Goan picture again sometime.




dinsdag 19 oktober 2021

Paul Verhoeven

A new cover for film magazine Schokkend Nieuws. A portrait of our favorite Dutch director.


 


 

maandag 18 oktober 2021

Some old work: Cloud, Castle, Lake

Some drawings from my first attempt at a long story, done while still studying at the art academy in Rotterdam in 1995 or 1996. Done as an exercise as of course I didn't have any permission to rework this Nabokov tale. It is interesting for me to see again today as I realize I've been somewhat consistent in my foolish artistic ambitions. I was mainly reading Moebius, Richard Corben, old Creepy's and Eerie's at the time (and I still do) but for my own work I choose to get entangled in my love for literature.

 


 












 

 


 

 

I drew the 15 pages with reed pen and Indian ink. It appeared photocopied in the amateur comic magazine Incognito and that was that!





donderdag 27 mei 2021