Have you always been drawing?
Just like every child I drew a lot, but I was not good at it. What I actually did was mess about with paper, colours and structures. I can still remember well that I first made the paper wet, then let it dry and worked on it afterwards. I was more preoccupied with free expression than with drawing realistically.
When did you realize that you wanted to become an illustrator?
Actually I was not planning to become an illustrator. I made colourful pictures for fashion and interior decorating companies. I did that in a very unique way by combining photos with painting and drawing techniques. It was after receiving an illustration award from ADCN for a fashion production that I started to concentrate on illustration as a career. In fact, I still think that I am more a stylist than a drawer. I combine images, things and colours and thereby style my own world. Only the end product is called an 'illustration'.
Have you studied formally? What?
I went to Teacher's College and followed courses in textile work forms and manual dexterity. Not long after I started working as a teacher I noticed that I wanted to develop myself further. I went to an evening course in drawing techniques and really learned how to draw. Then I followed an evening course in fashion design at the College of Art in Rotterdam. After working for a year at the Dutch Fashion Institute I started to freelance and did two years of photography at the Free Academy in The Hague.
Who are your clients and how did they find you?
When I started as a freelancer I got work through my connections in the world of fashion and interior decorating. When I decided to enlarge my work environment I started to do acquisition and I also got work from people who looked at my site and saw my illustrations in books and magazines.
How do you start a job and where do you seek inspiration?
In the first place I talk things through in detail with the person giving me the commission. That gives me a good impression of what he/she wants to see. Moreover, a good working relationship with that person is essential for a good end product. If I have to make illustrations for books or articles, I read them first and try to gain some knowledge about the subject. Then I gather all sorts of items that are related to the subject and start to work.
Through the years I have developed a unique sort of imagery which enables me to express abstract subjects and ideas in an illustration.
In what media do you prefer to work?
Actually I use just about everything to work with even though I photograph it or scan it in order to work on it on a two dimensional basis. In this way everything comes together on the computer and I can let the various facets melt together to form a new image. The programs that I use a lot are Photoshop and Painter.
When is a drawing finished?
That was a real problem for me when I just started: when is a picture finished? I used to ask a friend of mine who also paints to get a sort of 'approval' so that I could stop working on it. Fortunately I am now able to make that decision for myself and sometimes the feeling: 'that's great, time to stop' comes quite spontaneously. That's the great thing about working in commission: there's a deadline and the thing needs to be finished on time. I don't do much with the things I make for myself because I think it is never good enough to bring out in public.
What work have you been most satisfied with?
Looking back, that's usually the commissions in which I had the most freedom to do what I wanted. The Campari commission 'The Seven Sins' is one in which I was able to combine all the techniques very successfully.
What kind of project would you still like to tackle?
I would very much like to do a lot of things, among others, make illustrations for a children's book, but essentially, I would love to go back to my starting period during which I would direct a fashion shoot and then work it out further on the computer. I would also like to animate my images in future.
1] Anselm Kiefer: his way of using materials: he paints with all sorts of
materials to create the ultimate story/scene
2] Joel Peter Witkin: his photographic composing techniques but also his
preparatory studies inspire me.
3] Peter Greenaway: A filmmaker but also a super stylist and one of the first
people to use computer effects in films.
4] Dave mcKean: imagery, text and technique.
portrait: selfportrait
translation: Ellen van Boggelen-Heutink
