OUT NOW: Stad van Klei (City of Clay)

Out now! And available at Oog & Blik/de Bezige Bij; the graphic novel Stad van Klei (City of Clay). Go here to download a printable 300 dpi jpg of the cover.

Based on the Egyptian novel Over the Bridge by Mohamed El- Bisatie, this 136 page story was drawn in Cairo, Egypt where I have been living for the last couple of years.

The book follows the misadventures of civil servant Salem and his descent into madness when he starts labouring on an elaborate scheme that involves the creation of an entire imaginary town and its police force.

While personally collecting the invented town's security budget, Salem finds himself forced to write an endless amount of believable police reports in order to keep the invented town off the radar of his superiors. For this he starts to obsessively build a clay model of the town and it's citizens in his own living room.

Soon the imaginary and the real world fold into one when the town starts to reflect Egypt's corrupt and bureaucratic reality against Salem's will. Instead of earning Salem bonusses, the police force is cracking down on self inflicted security problems. Salem finds himself victimized by the merciless and corrupt police inspector he himself created.

Stad van Klei will be in bookstores in Holland and Belgium soon! Get one now!

 

                                   

Background Painting

A couple of years back I had a lot of fun working on an animated short directed by Sylvia Kristel, Topor et Moi. I had the chance then to try out some special effects animation and did a lot of background paintings for her. A sequel was contemplated, and I did some art for the pitch of that, like this painting of a ghostly backlot.

John Waters portret

This was suposed to be just a small editorial illustration for a film magazine, but the art sucked me in so I gave it a more laborous rendition. 

De Verzamelaar Verzameld (The Collector Collected)

Three pages from the story De Verzamelaar Verzameld (The Collector Collected). This 11 page horror-suspense story, done in pencil, dealing with pseudo-Freudian science, hypnotism and the pathology of collecting, was made for a Dutch horror anthology, to be edited by Erik Kriek, Luuk Bode and me. The anthology never came out but it did result in a handful of beautiful stories. Michiel de Jong, Erik Kriek and Hisko Hulsing all did some of their best work for the occasion. This story was eventually published in Zone 5300 magazine a while back.

Les Baxter and the Eastern Bunny

The music by film composer and exotica specialist Les Baxter has always been an obsession of mine. I guess his music, especially from the early sixties Edgar Allan Poe films featuring Vincent Price, became part of my fabric as I have always been addicted to them. Baxter's face is only known to the public  from a couple of publicity pictures from the fifties. So an article in the magazine Zone 3500 I did a free interpretation of his face and fused it unconciously with Vincent Price's features.

Next to Les Baxter is a portret of the Eastern Bunny at work. 

Graphic Novel: Stad van Klei (City of Clay)

At this very moment I'm adding the final touches to the graphic novel Stad van Klei (City of Clay), 130 pages. While living in Cairo, Egypt for the last 4 years, I naturally set out to work on a story that enabled me to use all the impressions and experiences I have in this huge Middle Eastern city. The graphic novel is based on the novel Al-Khaldiya (Over the Bidge) by the Egyptian writer Mohamed el-Bisatie. It's about a civil servant and his descent into madness when he starts labouring on an elaborate scheme that involves the creation of an entire imaginary town and its police force. The graphic novel will come out in januari 2011 in The Netherlands (Oog & Blik/De Bezige Bij).

Magazine headers for Schokkend Nieuws



I do a lot of art for the Dutch film magazine Schokkend Nieuws.

These are recurring headers for some of the magazines regular features

(Bizar Bazar, Kerkdijk's Dark Rooms, Lebbing's Inferno, Video Basta, DVD Shift).

Gouache on paper.

The Academic Book Review - line Art

Two drawings for a Dutch review magazine of academic publications, De Academische Boekengids. Cartoons and illustrations by me appear regularly in this magazine. Ink on paper.

Lucker the Necrophagus

Lucker the Necrophagus is a Belgian slasher film by Johan Vandewoestijne from 1986. It's a highly odd film and it will surely gross you out. The actor Nick van Suyt was a nice inspiration when doing the art. Pencil, ink and photoshop.

Waking Up Scheherazade vol 2

The cover for a compilation of vintage garage rock from the Middle East and North Africa that came out a few days ago. This kind of music is very obscure nowadays and the music was carefully mastered from 45's found in the dustiest corners of the world. Brush, gouache and ink, colorized in Photoshop.

Here's the first volume too. Plus the cover for a similar record that compiled psychedelic rock from Iran. These are from a year or so ago. Gouache on paper.

Animated short: Magic Show

Magic Show (Cineventura) appeared in 2009 and is an 11 minute animated short. It's about a magical variety act in which a couple of spectacular acts are actually explained to the audience. The explanations are more unlikely than the acts themselves and towards the end nothing is what it seemed.

You can watch a short clip at Imdb.

Magic Show premiered at the Imagine film festival and played in Dutch theaters as an accompanying film with Let the Right One In. It has played inernational animation- and film festivals since, in both digital and 35mm format.

The film consists entirely of handpainted characters, props and backgrounds. This was animated by way of cut-out technique. Multiplane effects,blurring and extensive shading give it a spaceous feel but there is no 3D animation involved whatsoever. The layouts, paintings, animation and editing took me several years to complete. The story was written by Ruud den Drijver who also produced the film.

Magic Show's screening list at Short Film Central.