Have you always been drawing?
Yes, it runs in the family. My two older brothers Ron and Ruud also did a lot of drawing, better than me, actually. We grew up with comic books and had subscriptions for the Pep and the TV2000. Ron and I used to draw our own versions of Suske and Wiske and even earned some money with it. For every complete story our grandmother gave us one guilder!
When did you realize that
you wanted to become an illustrator?
I’ve always known that I wanted to be an illustrator. Only I didn’t get into the comic book thing. However, in high school I made a continuing story in Latin, Roman myths, that sort of stuff, but in a modern version. A bit blasé of course.
Have you studied formally?
What?
I attended the College of Art for a few years: ABK Minerva in Groningen. Did a lot of model drawing and graphic art. Halfway through the course I got ill and had to stop. When I got better I got a job as an illustrator at an advertising agency.
Who are your clients and
how did they find you?
I get my work through my website (magazines, government commissions) and through Dutch Illustration. Through my agency, LEV in Amsterdam, I get commissions for visuals.
How do you start a job and
where do you seek inspiration?
Visualising is very easy: the concept already exists. The challenge is to do it fast and make it look good at the same time. Illustration work is different. No fantastic ideas when I wake up. Working my way through the subject something usually turns up all by itself.
In what media do you prefer to work?
Well, the age of markers lies behind us for sure. I was able to do just about everything with them. Now it is all computer work. The agencies for which I work miss the smell of markers but they do appreciate my digital sketches. I still like traditional handcraft - the use of dry brushes on rough paper – but in practice it is mostly digital work. Just as nice though.
When is a drawing finished?
Real simple: when the time is up
What work have you been most satisfied with?
My contribution to the 2003 calendar for the Bank of Dutch Communities. I used a technique that I had developed for illustrations which accompanied spiritual texts. The bank manager called me afterwards to tell me how beautiful it was. That was great. The GIF animation next to my portrait shows a detail from this illustration.
What kind of project would you still like to tackle?
In the future I will be spending more time building ArtSmart, an image bank for illustrations. ArtSmart is into the re-use of illustrations presenting them to an international public. Illustrators can increase their field of work, art buyers can look for artwork that is ready for use. Now, a half a year after it started up, there are already 600 illustrations for sale from 13 illustrators out of four different countries. In my work for ArtSmart, I use more of my talents than in drawing only: organising, my love for language (ArtSmart is in four languages), working with clients and other illustrators. ArtSmart is a fantastic idea, it takes a lot of time but it gives me great pleasure. So surf to www.artsmart.eu to get some inspiration!
1] As an amateur danser I've been 'hooked' to ballet for the past 30 years. My hero: William Forsythe, here is a scene from 'Artifact'.
2] I have a special liking for modern architecture. Here the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao by Frank Géhry, a real 'must see'. My dream: A voluptious building by Frank Géhry in Amsterdam, in the middle of the river IJ...
3] Bill Viola has a rare talent to make spirituality visible. Here the installation called 'Heaven and Earth': two monitors on consoles facing each other — on one a video shows the first moments of his newly born daughter, on the other a close up of his dying mother: humanity as a projection, appearing and disappearing...
4] Art Smart, the character with the same name as the image bank.
portrait: selfportrait
translation: Ellen van Boggelen-Heutink
