Have you always been drawing?
Yes, I have actually. My very first drawing is, as I remember, a landscape of the village where I lived. A rough sketch with a very beautiful old tree, the church and the area around it on it. I was about six years old. My parents were very proud and urged me to do lots of drawing and painting.
When did you realize that
you wanted to become an illustrator?
Not so very long ago. I have been drawing interiors, buildings and environments for many years. But because I was spending a lot of time behind the PC, drawing in 3D programmes and doing a lot of other stuff that is part of daily life, I missed the real drawing for about five years. Then I really started to draw. Telling stories in pictures with funny elements and surprising perspectives is what I find really interesting and nice to do.
Have you studied formally?
What?
I followed a four-year course at The Saint Lucas in Boxtel, majoring in restoration and decoration, went to the Academy of Fine Arts in Maastrcht after that, where I followed a five-year course in design.
Who are your clients and
how did they find you?
I get various commissions through my own website. Some of my clients are: Wolters-Noordhoff, Verhoef and Co., Pi Reach, Bekadidact, Spark of Honour, Studio Imago etc. The commissions are very diverse, from playing carpet, cards, puzzles to educative material and children’s books.
How do you start a job and
where do you seek inspiration?
First I do a lot of research. Usually I hunt for lots of pictures and then study the subject. I make various sketched illustrations first, choose one of them and finish it in ink and markers or paint. I usually get inspired during and after the research.
In what media do you prefer to work?
I prefer working with a very thin black pen, lots of markers and paint. Then I scan the illustration and work on it some more in photoshop.
When is a drawing finished?
Never, actually. I am in everlasting doubt about whether or not an illustration is really finished.
What work have you been most satisfied with?
When an illustration becomes something completely different in the end from what you imagined it would at the beginning. Sometimes you need to turn the idea around, for example, an image that you imagine at the front first that is moved towards the back. Or the other way around. That makes a picture surprising and extraordinary. I am also very pleased with my characters Flip and Anke. I developed these myself. They are very loose, free, and experience al lot of different situations in which I can use my fantasy to no end. Two books have been published already.
What kind of project would you still like to tackle?
Well, a lot actually. I am always chock-full of ideas, fortunately, and want to draw so many things. All sorts of commissions are welcome: puzzles, cards, book illustrations, posters and the illustrations of my own stories.
1] My daughter Linde, always surprising me, and she has an eye for detail.
2] Javier Mariscal, designer and illustrator, founder of Estudio Mariscal, an inspiring man, a wonderful combination of designer and illustrator.
3] The house in Italy, Melazzo, where I relax and get new ideas.
4] Buro Staal/Christensen, their bureau philosophy: confusion helps to clarify things. If you shake elements together first then you will get new and better solutions.
portrait: selfportrait
translation: Ellen van Boggelen-Heutink
