Again I was asked to do a cover for anti-monarchist magazine ' De Republikein', this time about the consequences a united Europe will have for the crowns on the assorted royal heads, and for their so-called subjects.
Europe, in Greek mythology, was abducted by Zeus in the shape of a bull. ( 'Signal' , the 'Newsweek' of the nazi's, used her and her kidnapping beast as a logo, by the way.)
In my first sketch the king was deemed too positive, too powerful, 'his' people too weak.
The final image is more true to the facts: out of fear of change and loss of independence the people cling to 'their' monarch, not necessarily out of love for the monarchy.
As Miss Duvekot already pointed out, this weekend she and me are back to back ( 96, if you pardon me this tasteless pun) in NRC-Handelsblad, 'the mind's grindstone' as the paper calls itself. ( The 'Ghost's Grindstone' sounds better but I'm not sure they're talking phantoms here.)
I was asked to illustrate an interview with professor Weizenbaum, who left Germany in the 30's with his furrier-parents, stood at the cradle of computers at MIT (U.S.A.), denounces now both MIT for working with the Pentagon and his own invention of digital psycho-therapy, hates Bush, returned to Berlin to live opposite the Berlin Dom, doesn't believe his grandchildren will die a natural death, says: 'Who only has a hammer sees the whole world as a nail' and hopes to celebrate his 85th birthday soon, in spite of his doctor's alarming opinion...
When the journalist left he said: 'Wish me a happy landing' and added with a big smile that everything he'd told him had been a lie.
Click image to enlarge.
This is too funny. Peter Pontiac and I are not really side by side, we are back to back, pages 47 and 48. You can check for yourselves, the digital edition of the NRC is temporarily open to everyone. Here's a bigger version of my drawing.
Hope this example is not too vintage for you.
In 1991 I was asked to do an illustration for a magazine meant for yuppie-children, called 'Yukkies'...(What's in a name, right?)
The story to be illustrated was about shoplifting candy. My drawing was deemed not fit for the magazine (because of the tobacconist's hairdo?) and another illustrator was asked to do the job, apparently with my work as a back-up...
This book-cover ('It won't be long before I'll see heaven again" a posthumously published collection of newspaper-columns by Dutch song-lyric-smith Lennaert Nijgh, depicting his huge cat 'Meneer', his boat , his town (Haarlem), etc.) was made including a hand-made title-banner.
I was told Mr. Nijgh personally would have wanted me to do this cover, so, reading in the manuscript how dear maritime life was to him, I tried to give a' sailorly' feeling to the title, as a fitting salute to the man.
At the publisher's they opted for the typographic solution, as shown here...
Thought I'd show you some examples from the weird and annoying things that can happen to an illustrator.
Case #1 is very awkward.
In 1990 I made a cover for a fantasy-book. This book was not only sold in bookstores but also through a 'bookclub'. This club - ECI- has a sale-catalogue and 'The Worm Ourobouros' , as the book was called, was advertized in it.
A not too close inspection already reveals the strange thing that happened.
It's true that the 'necklace' was made seperate from the 'face' but I had it glued, and what could be the explanation for the absurd fact that the 'face' had shifted sideways ?
You think I'm silly for getting somewhat paranoid at the time ?
The pay was decent and undelayed, the publication of the book was not. I'm still waiting for it to appear in the bookstores. (The writer of the book is known for his substance-craving , which might explain it. Still it is frustrating as hell ).
Hence this little preview here.
I was asked by an enterprising utopian to do ( for free) a little ( A -4-ish) painting , depicting 'hope' so he could hang it ( using Velcro), together with lots of likewise paintings by other artists, on the sides of his truck for people all over Europe to see. Thus promoting hope... Unable to say 'No' most of the time to requests like these I promised to think of something.
Around the same time a little painting -on a little easel- was sent to me in the mail by my friend (and Amsterdam spray-can-artist) ' Laser 3.14' showing one of the 1-liners he leaves on so many walls and fences around town.
It took some time before I realised for the 'hope'-project I could paint this mini-painting sitting on my dusty piano, amongst trinkets, statuettes , heron-skull , Daaibooibaai-beach-souvenirs from Curacao, etc...
And , as you can see, I did.
Hi-heeled speed-queen Miss Pigeoncot's latest entry, the housewife with the ironing-board, somehow rang a bell.
Then it dawned on me. I once did a similar ironing scene for 'Mainline', a Dutch subsidized magazine (for some 20 years already) hopelessly dedicated to informing junkies of the hazards of their habit and supplying the dopies with all the news that's vital to their well-being, where to get the best tin-foil, etc.
I was asked to illustrate this gag-page ( haha!) written by a heroin-hooker from Amsterdam, calling her sisters to leave the potato-couch, wash rubbers, iron tin-foils, sharpen syringes, test new drugs on 'john's' and feed your (useless junkiepimp-)partner to your pets when all else fails... (Not hard to understand when you read the diary the poor girl keeps in the same magazine!)
By now it will be obvious that I'm a sucker for the shield shape. Here is my third contribution in that shape: a CD inlay/cover for Relax, a Dutch hiphop(hippop?)-outfit. Done with coloured paper-cut-outs, a favourite technique of mine. You might call it 'Flintstone-photoshopping' with glue and scissors.
Another shield-shaped drawing, made for a CD with music by the Bugs, an Amsterdam punkband that played a lot of support-acts in rock-venue Paradiso around the year 1980. I was sent two photo's of the band to portray, both equally unfit for use. Knowing they had a girl on bass , a drummer with a tie and a singer with peroxide hair I came up with actual bugs sporting these features.
This weekend I was invited to the CD-presentation and a comeback-gig, in the Paradiso-basement. I went. I shook my head some. Shook some hands from the past, too.
My drawing was nowhere to be found in the inlay. Due to a misunderstanding about me (or their friend, the one that commissioned me to make the thing ) wanting the front-cover or nothing?!
What can I say? Fuck the buggers.
So: here for your eyes exclusively: my CD-coverdrawing ...
Drawing for a new magazine about 'Crime & Safety' , illustrating a story by radio-man Martijn 'Stomping' Stoffer about Merle Haggard's song lamenting the impossibility to shake off a past in the pen.
(The penitentiary that is.)
Seeing a new Ninja Turtle-movie advertised brings back unwanted memories .
In the early nineties I was asked by some ad-guy to make 4 wraparound-designs to be put on plastic milk-mugs, depicting the then popular Ninja Turtles. All major supermarkets in Holland would be selling them. Having small, hungry children I consented.
Each mug was to have a screw-on lid with a turtle-head on top. While I started studying turtology and looking for ways to play with the fact that each drawing would 'bite' it's own tail, my wife and a friend painted hundreds of turtle-head-dummies green , with 4 differently coloured masks. When I was done drawing I spray-glued my color-xeroxes on hundreds of mug-dummies (finding out how hard it is to perfectly glue a rectangle around a cilinder) . Our life was turtle-green from dusk till dawn.
It was to be the only green we got to see. The ad-guy turned out to be a fraud.
A poster I made for a 2-day Rhythm&Blues-festival in Rotterdam. (With digital assistance of the very real Fake Booij).
It is a gas to illustrate a favorite kind of music , for the second year already. I hope all of you will attend so next year again there will be a festival , and a poster, if they let me. As Chuck 'Duckwalk' Berry once said: 'Roll over Beethoven, dig these Rhythm'n'Blues!'
(Originally I wanted 'Ain't' to precede the title and because to Dutch ears 'ain't' sounds like 'duck' I considered it funny to depict one. Fortunately the promoter disagreed.)
A drawing I was commissioned to do by a lawyer with a thriving libido, a kick-ass musical taste and a fat wallet. (Those that fear depictions of the gate to life are advised to just enjoy the warm colours of this work).