Marion's blog, ipad karikaturist, karikatuur, cartoon, workshop, tekenaar

commission

2011-12-22T09:53:00.003+01:00

This is my last commission of this year. I used Photoshop and for the hands I studied Tom Richmond's blog. Hands and feet have always been a weak part of my cartoons, and his work has been a great help for me.

I started by making a sketch on paper, 30 x 40 cm. I scanned the sketch in two parts and made onw image of it.

Line drawing, using Painter Classic.

Adding colours in Photoshop. Hope he likes it!

caricature on chocolate

2011-10-20T08:12:00.003+02:00

I made this caricature 7 years ago and they used it for their 50th wedding anniversary. Isn't that cute!

iPad caricatures for Osram Benelux BV

2011-10-05T22:30:00.003+02:00

Last week was the first time I did an iPad gig, and this week I'm having 4! It's pretty exciting,it's not very easy because of the size of the screen and the lack of pressure sensitivity of the pen. But it sure is challenging! Right now I'm using Sketchbook Pro which is the easiest and fastest app for live gigs IMHO. But who knows what the future might bring...

I'm using a simple music stand which suits me just fine.

Montmartre in Eindhoven

2011-09-05T13:31:00.003+02:00

Yesterday we celebrated the 20th anniversary of "En Profil", a dutch society of live portrait artists. We worked in the surroundings of "De Kleine Berg" in Eindhoven and thus created a small Montmartre in Holland. It was fun! Besides drawing we watched each other work, and in the evening we enjoyed a free diner at het "Javaans Eetcafé". It created a lot of (free) publicity, and we hope it will be an event that takes place every year!

Live music!

french mentor

2011-07-07T11:49:00.003+02:00

Today we said goodbye to my son's mentor. She was the best mentor a 13 year old boy could have: very friendly and always very compassionate with her class. And with a lovely french accent! Joris will miss her!

Flower parade

2011-06-26T22:17:00.004+02:00

Holland is known for its tulips and other colourful flowers. And we're doing lots of funny things with them, besides growing and selling them. In a small village called Anna Palowna, there's an annual flower parade. In 2010 they used my cartoon of the 'Gooische Vrouwen' as an inspiration to make this beautiful flower arrangement!

Long live the bride and groom!

2011-05-25T10:24:00.003+02:00

It's been a while since my last cartoon for a bride and groom. I had fun making this one.

Funny greeting cards

2011-05-16T17:02:00.006+02:00

I thought I'd share some illustration stuff with you! These are some greeting cards I've been designing. They are for sale at my webshop: jakima.sendasmile.com but I don't actually know if they deliver in countries outside The Netherlands. Some are in dutch, some are in english and some are without any text. Any comments are welcome!

cartoons for CHE

2011-04-26T00:44:00.004+02:00

Hi everybody! It is a shame that my last post was more than two months ago. This is entirely due to the fact that I'm very occupied with..... birth announcement cards. Yes, I know, some of you might even think that I am wasting my talents by drawing illustrations of cute little baby's. But hey, I love baby's!
Anyway, I'll try to upload cartoons and caricatures on a more regular basis, starting right now. This is a series of cartoons I did a few days ago for CHE. Not Guevara, but the Christelijke Hogeschool Ede.

Digitale karikaturist Marion van de Wiel

2011-02-16T16:52:00.000+01:00

At work as a digital caricaturist

2011-02-16T10:36:00.000+01:00

I posted this video a few weeks ago , and then I changed the name and tried to re-upload it, and then it all became a mess. So now I deleted the older post and here's this video again.

Have fun!

working in London for Nimsoft

2011-02-14T10:31:00.004+01:00

Two weeks I had the chance to work in London, for California based company Nimsoft. It wasn't the first time, in october I was working for them in Copenhagen.

They had this booth made for me. Boy, was I feeling proud!

Me at work.

a doctor into retirement

2011-02-09T14:24:00.004+01:00

Their children are planning a retirement party, and I was asked to come and draw, and make a cartoon in advance.

Cartoons voor de Gemeente Nijmegen

2011-01-25T12:39:00.003+01:00

Last Friday Hugo and I were asked, along with 5 other cartoonists, to attend a meeting organised by the council of Nijmegen. It was a brainstorm session and its goal was to find energy-saving alternatives for 50.000 existing houses.
Now these are serious problems!
Luckily, as a cartoonist, you don't have to come up with instant solutions, but just offer a different perspective to the matter. And that's what I did. Most of you don't read dutch, so I'll try to describe it a little bit: spectacles with double glazing, the islamic way of insulating your house, all the forms you have to fill in to get subsidy for energy-saving measures doesn't save paper.

I'm on the air!

2011-01-18T16:48:00.002+01:00

Here's a sequence of a dutch programme, which is called Mediazine. They came by a few weeks ago and filmed me in my house working on my cintiq. The programme is all about hardware, smartphones, stuff like that. This item is about mouses, RSI and different ways of working on your computer. You have to wait 2 minutes before you can see me at work. Enjoy!

Mediazine S01E09 Muizen en tablets

2011-01-18T16:47:00.000+01:00

aeb 2011

2011-01-14T16:16:00.007+01:00

The video down below shows the presentation of the dutch organisation of portrait artists "En Profil" at the Artists & Events Show, which took place in Eindhoven from 9 till 11 January 2011.

En Profil is a small community of 30 artists, who all have different skills and techniques. There are silhouet cutters, (digital) carticaturists and also realistic painters/drawers.

Because it is such a small community, many of us know each other and it is always fun to be together and share ideas, techniques and stories.

it is also my first attempt to make a video using iMovie on my Macbook, which is fun and quite easy. I will definitely post more videos in 2011!

aeb 2011

2011-01-14T16:16:00.000+01:00

Merry Christmas everybody!

2010-12-23T17:59:00.001+01:00

..And a happy, prosperous and healthy 2011!

a few more photos

2010-12-20T23:58:00.002+01:00

..to show you how beautiful Arnhem is right now. Actually, it's park Zypendaal, my own 'back yard'.

winter in Holland

2010-12-19T23:09:00.003+01:00

It's amazing. I believe it's the third year in a row that we are experiencing a real winter with lots of snow.
Winters in Holland used to be grey and wet, like a scene from a Charlotte Bronte novel.
But it's only one week before christmas and we're all having fun sleigh riding and throwing balls at each other.

scenes from a party

2010-12-15T15:11:00.004+01:00

Apologies everybody for not posting so much. I'm more into birth announcement cards right now. But that doesn't mean I don't do gigs anymore... Here is a small selection of what I have been up to the last few months. Hope you like it!

Alone in the field

2010-11-29T14:33:00.002+01:00

She was playing a football game on a cold saturday morning, and it was her turn to be the goalkeeper. Her team was winning, so she had nothing to do. Made with my iPhone, using Hipstamatic. That app makes making beautiful pictures so easy!

stand-up cartoons for Kobalt

2010-11-04T10:20:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I once again had the opportunity to be stand-up cartoonist, and this time my client was Kobalt, a big media office.

Live cartooning is a great thing to do. You get all the feedback on the spot, and people can tell you exactly what they're problems/goals/solutions are. And when you visualize that, the response is super!

The cartoons you see here were made live and I gave them some gradients/shades with Photoshop.

working in Denmark

2010-10-22T11:09:00.005+02:00

I received an e-mail two weeks ago from colleague and friend Doug Shannon, and in it he asked me if I was interested in working for a San Francisco based company called Nimsoft. They were having a booth at a big show in Copenhagen, Denmark: VM world. Something with ICT, software and lots of computers.
Sure, exciting!
So I flew to Copenhagen with my digital devices and had a great time, working hard and drawing all the attendees. Very good for my english!

caricatures at Coenders Installatiebedrijf

2010-09-26T19:22:00.005+02:00

Yesterday I was working for Coenders Installatiebedrijf in Zutphen, and I took my time and drew every person with their hobby/sport/passion. It was a long time ago since I took effort in drawing bodies in cars/with pets/playing tennis or football. It takes more time, and when there's a line of people waiting to be drawn I often skip the body and just draw the face. But a body/hobby/passion gives the caricature so much extra, and it was fun working this way yesterday.

digitale caricatures for NOS

2010-09-02T13:15:00.005+02:00

I had a great time working for the NOS, the national broadcasting company.
I kept looking for celebrities, but they were all on the air I guess.
But these people were worth drawing too!

Sail Amsterdam

2010-08-23T00:01:00.005+02:00

Sail Amsterdam is a big nautic event which takes place every 5 years in the harbour of Amsterdam, and I was lucky to be part of it. I had to draw digital caricatures for Econosto, and it was fun! Sun, water, and many, many boats!

My working area that day: The Thalassa!

Look at those sailors!

...and some more sailors.

It was crowded with boats on Het IJ.
It's a game of seeing and being seen as you can see.

Thijs van Leer (famous dutch flutist) bumped into our ship and started playing a 'happy birthday' tune because we had a birthday girl on board.

Le Tour de France!

2010-07-06T12:59:00.009+02:00

Bonjour mes amis!

The entire population of Holland is excited about the fact that we're in the semi-finals of the world's largest soccer tournament, the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but this weekend another sports event took place over here that also shook our small and secure world: the start of the "Tour de France", a Walhalla for people who love to bike. And I do!

Hugo and I were invited to make caricatures for Heijmans, who had set up a place for their business relatives to watch the Tour go by. All in a french style, with french music and ofcourse french caricaturists: Hugo and moi!

Everybody is waiting in anticipation for the runners to arrive.

And here's the "tête de la course": three runners managed to escape and are now in lead: Perez, Boom and Wijnands.

Here they finally are: the main pack. They all passed in about 15 seconds.

He came all the way from Scotland to make pictures of his favourite runners.

Oh well, back to work then. Hugo is sweating in the back.

Some new live stuff

2010-06-20T00:28:00.007+02:00

Yes, it's been too long since my last "live" post. There's been a change of interest, Jakima is taking a lot of my time, almost all of my time. It's not only the drawing, but the filing, naming and renaming of all the images that makes it such a time-absorbing job. Just a warning for some of you who might consider starting a webshop too...
But now the dutch version is almost online too and things are turning real.
Meanwhile, have a look at these gorgeous men and women!

Jacqueline

2010-06-10T22:50:00.006+02:00

This is Jacqueline, the mother of Marieke. She is having her birthday party this weekend and all she wants as a gift is money for a balloon flight...

cartoon for GGD Rivierenland

2010-06-04T14:55:00.002+02:00

Jakima is online!

2010-05-13T12:58:00.007+02:00

Hello everybody,
Some of you may have noticed that I haven't been blogging much the last few months. The reason is that I have been very busy with something that has finally reached its completion, and that is my own webshop in personalised invitation and announcement cards.
This is the story: I was contacted a year ago by an old friend, who moved to Great Britain about 8 years ago to live with her boyfriend. When she got children and was looking for an announcement card to send to all her relatives, she discovered it wasn't so easy to find a card that matched her standard of a cute and fresh design. She realised this could be an interesting gap to fill in the UK market of greeting cards and she thought of me to work with.
You may all know me as a live caricaturist, but I love doing illustrations also. I have been designing greeting cards for various companies for the last 9 years, and for me this request came at the exact right time.
So we started mailing and skyping and the result is this webshop!!!!
The collection isn't complete yet, many other designs will follow, such as photocards, christmas cards etc.
I'm also working on a dutch version will be online within a few months, but in the meantime I would very much appreciate it if you'd take a look at it and give me your thoughts about it!

preview

2010-05-10T15:35:00.004+02:00

a few more more days....

digital caricatures for Capgemini

2010-04-09T09:18:00.005+02:00

A few of the many caricatures I made yesterday at a SAP congress at the Mecc in Maastricht for Capgemini.

Caricatures for IKEA & Agis Zorgverzekeringen

2010-03-26T09:36:00.005+01:00

Here are some caricatures I did in the last few months.

cartoon for Westlandtheater de Naald

2010-03-23T10:54:00.003+01:00

A commission for my brother-in-law who is a manager at "Westlandtheater de Naald" in Naaldwijk.
I'm happy with the shoes, and again, I tried to avoid drawing the hands. They're so difficult!

digital caricatures for WAA Groep

2010-03-03T10:32:00.004+01:00

Yesterday I made and today I'm making digital caricatures for the WAA Groep during the Bedrijven en Kontakt Dagen in Venlo. Nice atmosphere, friendly people. If you're in the neighboorhood, pay me a visit!

retirement cartoon

2010-02-10T17:37:00.004+01:00

Hi everybody!
So sorry I didn't post earlier, it's a bit the winter blues up here in Arnhem I guess.
Also I'm working on something that has to be held a secret. Or perhaps I could post a sneak preview within a few weeks.... Until then, here's a cartoon I finished today. The trees in the background really gave me Bob Ross feeling...

Artiesten en Evenementen Beurs 2010

2010-01-26T14:26:00.004+01:00

Two weeks ago Hugo and I were (again) present at the AEB in Eindhoven to show everybody what fun it can be to have a (digital) caricaturist at your party or corporate event. Hugo made some pictures, without flashlight because I look like a ghost with flash light. So the pictures are a bit blurry, apologies for that. We have plans of buying a camcorder for making films when we're working, so stay tuned!

Fun card!

2010-01-07T10:05:00.005+01:00

A few months ago I was busy making a new years Card for Fun Industries.
They're a company specialised in adding all kinds of technology to a greeting card, like sound, light and movement. Their new years card had to be a perfect showcase of everything they are capable of doing.
I couldn't post the results, because the card still had to be made, and everything ofcourse had be held secret. I posted some parts of the illustration though, and now it's a new year and I'm proud to show you the result!

Snow has gone

2009-12-27T11:32:00.005+01:00

It's hard to believe that only a week ago Arnhem looked like this.
Ten inches of snow had fallen, something very rare up here, because Holland 'suffers' from a seaclimate.
We went into the woods and had a lot of fun sleigh-riding and throwing snowballs. And the day after we made a path before our house so other people could walk easily through our street.
Isn't this a romantic scenery!
But now all snow has gone, and it's cloudy and dull again.

A merry christmas....

2009-12-24T10:34:00.003+01:00

...and a happy and healthy 2010 to everybody!

christmas caricatures

2009-12-19T23:17:00.005+01:00

Yes, it's that time of the year again! Christmas parties, singing Santas, and, ofcourse, a christmas caricaturist. Here is a small selection of what I produced last week. One on paper, at a party of the Nederlandse Mededingings Autoriteit (NMA) in Madurodam, and the digital ones are made at a party of the Nationale Hypotheek Garantie (NHG) in Zoetermeer.

Boer zoekt vrouw

2009-12-14T22:33:00.006+01:00

Anybody knows this show? I believe it's going over the entire world right now, in England and Australia it's called "farmer wants wife", in Germany "Bauer sucht Frau, in France 'L'amour est dans le pré" and here in Holland (and in Belgium too) "Boer zoekt vrouw". For many years it's the tv hit of the season and though nothing really spectacular ever happens and the tempo is quite slow, my whole family is addicted to it. This year we got a 5 out of 5 score: all farmers got in love.
Here you see the dutch tv host Yvon jaspers with one of the farmers. Cute, isn't it.

my cartoon in the newspaper!

2009-12-08T13:26:00.006+01:00

I've had work printed on clothes and greeting cards, but this is the first time a caricature of mine is published in a newspaper! The article is about people drinking alcohol on television and the effects that showing all this drinking can have on the average consumption of alcohol, and was published in de Gelderlander, De Stentor and perhaps even more newspapers.
The illustration shows 4 characters of the well-known dutch series "Gooische Vrouwen", which deals with the day to day life of 4 rich and spoilt women in Het Gooi. I think that neighbourhood can best be compared with Beverly Hills in the States, Brasschaat in België and the french Cote d'Azur.

Sportgala Schiedam

2009-12-01T22:46:00.004+01:00

This one was quite tricky, because
1. the girls were all young, blond and beautiful.
2. caricatures from a photo is very difficult (that ofcourse is my personal opinion, you may disagree with me).
But I'm not too unhappy with the result. The job came together with a gig. The girls were awarded a prize at a sportsgala and were offered this caricature in a frame. I was the lucky one to hand it to them.

This girl was the winner in her category. I forgot which category it was, something with a ball I guess.

Digital caricatures for Monuta

2009-11-20T17:29:00.004+01:00

Here are some digital caricatures I did yesterday for Monuta. They are into funeral services. I guess they need a laugh too sometimes.
I realise it is fun to see the model and check if there is any resemblance. I should make pictures more often. But I am so focussed and concentrated when I work digitally that I often forget to do so.

Very secret

2009-11-16T10:09:00.004+01:00

Here are some small parts of a big assignment I just finished. Pfeww! I'm not yet allowed to show you all, but I will when it's published...

René Gruau & Al Hirschfeld

2009-11-08T00:01:00.008+01:00

Here are some pictures of two illustrators whom I greatly admire and who both had their creative peak in or around the fifties of the 20th century.
I discovered René Gruau about 20 years ago, when I studied fashion at the Arnhem Fashion Institute. I fell for his highly fashionable illustrations and his bold lines and graphic colours. He seemed almost directly influenced by french artists such as Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Although in a very fifities and sixties style his best work can be described as timeless.
Al Hirschfeld is another artist who never bores me. One year ago I bought some of his books and one was filled with drawings he made of the people who lived in Harlem during the fourties of the twentieth century. The images have the same speed and vivacity as those of Gruau. Unlike his other work, Hirschfeld used colours in this book.

digital caricatures for Besam

2009-11-05T12:04:00.006+01:00

Here are some digital caricatures I made on a garden fair for Besam.
For me the difficult part of working digitally is the slick glass surface of the cintiq. You can compare it with drawing on a window. It makes you feel that you're not in control, that the pen is slipping away.
When I draw the faces, I can handle that feeling. But I'm not so sure of myself when it comes to bodies, themes, hobbies etc.
Here are some drawings where I tried to draw backgrounds, situations etc. I think it makes the caricature more lively, funnier too. And it's fun for me to keep trying new things!

Zeeland Business Media

2009-10-19T13:37:00.003+02:00

Here's a selection of the digital caricatures I made for Zeeland Business Media during the 'Contacta 2009' in Goes, Zeeland.

kijkdoos

2009-10-16T14:14:00.003+02:00

Isn't this cute! I had to make a colouring picture for Theater 'De Naald' back in July (see this post) and together with that came a contest. Children had to colour the picture, cut the pieces out and make some kind of diorama of it and then send it to De Naald. These two photos show the winners. One is 3 year old (I guess he or she did it with a little help from his mom or dad) and the other 8 years.

fresh ones!

2009-10-12T11:21:00.003+02:00

cartoons for RIBW

2009-10-08T21:31:00.006+02:00

Here's a selection of some cartoons I made last tuesday during a brainstorm session of RIBW, an organisation that supports people with a psychiatric background. The fonts were implemented later, at home, on my computer. I choose the images that might be recognisable even without words. It's all about (mis)communication, guidance, who's on the steering wheel etc.

Cartoon for GGD Rivierenland

2009-09-28T11:23:00.003+02:00

zorgwerk en HEMA

2009-09-21T12:31:00.008+02:00

Had a busy weekend. On friday it was the first time since our vacation that I had to do a digital gig. Not always very easy, but I had a great time with the girls of Zorgwerk, an employment agency for nurses if I understood correctly. They were all very young and pretty, and the theme of the evening was: Holland (what else)... I couldn't make many photos because my camera was low on batteries. Sorry.

And the next day I could almost stay at home, because I had to work at Burgers Zoo, which is a five minutes walk from my house. They were all pastrycooks from the HEMA, a very famous shop in the Netherlands.

My daughter Meike was with me for support and while we were waiting for our first 'customers' she made a caricature of me. Isn't this a great portrait! And so flattering!

Feestweek in Naaldwijk

2009-09-04T11:49:00.006+02:00

Apologies everybody for not posting a bit sooner. My head was still in a holiday modus. We spent 3 lovely weeks in southern France, but now it's back to normal (sigh).
Here are some photos of a gig I did in Naaldwijk, for Westland Theater "De Naald".
They had me positioned on some kind of stage, which was quite appropriate I thought.
I had to make a colouring picture in advance as a take-away for children, and it was a big succes!

caricatures at the Kellebeek college

2009-07-18T00:05:00.006+02:00

I have been busy with the usual stuff lately: the housekeeping, work, having a new toilet built.
Except for something new I'm working on right now which is so much fun to do and completely different from caricatures.
I don't want to go too much into details but I'll tell you more about it within time.
Anyway, here are some new caricatures, most of them were made yesterday at the Kellebeek college in Roosendaal.
Enjoy!

I'm very happy with this one. The ladies told me they ran together and I felt confident enough to draw them as a running team. It took some time to make the composition but the result was well appreciated!

visualisaties voor ProRail

2009-06-30T13:53:00.006+02:00

Besides making caricatures, I occasionally work as a visualizer for companies. Very different kind of work, but also very exciting, because it's so new to me.
You have to be able to analyse rather complex discussions and turn them into something very simple and understandable.
Today I attended a meeting of a management team of ProRail, a dutch company that takes care of the infrastructure of dutch railroads. I had to make cartoons about the strong and weak parts of their organisation and their future goal as a whole. The cartoons aren't very 'spectacular' but what counts is that they are very recognizable for the people involved.

account managers groepskarikatuur

2009-06-20T17:02:00.008+02:00

And another digital group caricature.
They were all account managers, and I thought it was important to draw their suits as well, just to emphasize their position.

Here are some individual caricatures. I made them in Painter Classic and copied/pasted them together in Photoshop. I had to work from photos, which has its advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that you have more time, the disadvantage is that a photo is more one-dimensional than a live model in my opinion.

I had to print it out 13 times, one caricature for each person, and while I was busy doing so I grabbed a book to pass the time. It was a book of dutch painter Frans Hals, who made a lot of group portraits. They are one of my favourite 'golden age' paintings. Group portraits are so difficult. There is the likeness that counts ofcourse, and everybody has to be in sight too.
And then you have to think about the composition as well, which has to be lively and natural.
I think he is master in both likeness and in composition. The paintings are very big, about 2,5 high x 4 metres wide, and they are hanging in the Frans Hals museum in Haarlem, which isn't very far from Amsterdam.
If you should be in the neighbourhood, you must definitely go there and see them for yourself!

groepskarikatuur Roosroos uitgevers

2009-06-08T12:52:00.003+02:00

Roosroos uitgevers

2009-06-05T10:22:00.005+02:00

Last tuesday I was asked to make digital caricatures of the employees of Roosroos publishers, at a place that was kind of strange at first but turned out to be very cosy in the end.
They were having a new office built and it was a ceremonial day, the last pile was driven into the ground. This is very normal over here. Holland (the western part, near the sea) is in fact nothing more than a big swamp. The only way you can prevent buildings to sink in the ground is to drive hundreds of piles, all 20, 30 metres high into the ground, and on these piles it's possible to built something. And in the midst of this ceremony I had to do my job. Wow. But it was fun and everybody had a great time. And that's what matters.

karikaturen for Drechtwerk

2009-05-31T11:07:00.007+02:00

En profil

2009-05-25T14:59:00.004+02:00

I am very proud to announce the launch of the new website of En Profil. En profil is a dutch community of portrait artists. We exist since 1992 and we are a group of artists who are specialised in performing live. There are caricaturists but also silhouette cutters and people who draw realistic portraits.
Our main goal is to promote our art form to as many people as possible and we think that by uniting ourselves achieving that goal is easier.

Digitale karikaturen voor Oranje Holding, Spijkenisse

2009-05-22T23:24:00.004+02:00

Done about a week ago. I was standing next to a "kop van Jut". If you want to know what that is, google it.

Joop van den Ende

2009-05-20T10:34:00.005+02:00

Famous Dutch musical producer. I lately watched the dvd: "Hirschfeld, the Line King" and there was this scene where his 90th birthday was celebrated in a huge theatre. All the guests were american showbiz-celebrities. And who was sitting right behind him? Right, good old Joop. I don't know how he does it but I was quite amazed.

Caricatures at the shopping mall

2009-05-18T21:57:00.004+02:00

It had been raining all morning and the place was so depressing when I arrived in my car. But then all of a sudden the rain stopped and I had quite a pleasant afternoon drawing people with their dreams or hobbies.

Patsy Stone

2009-05-11T14:57:00.005+02:00

For everybody who was as big a fan of Absolutely Fabulous as I was, it is (I hope) fun to see a caricature of Patsy Stone, the anorectic and alcoholic best friend of Edie.

Paul de Leeuw & Karen Carpenter

2009-05-07T16:56:00.006+02:00

Here are two caricatures that were lying in my studio for such a long time and today was the perfect day to finish them. The one I did of Karen is perhaps slightly over-exagerated. Still I like it. Especially the dress;-) Paul de Leeuw is a dutch tv host, a very cuddly kinda person who is always struggling with his weight.

Bette Davis & Daniel Day Lewis

2009-05-05T17:46:00.002+02:00

Here's a digital caricature I did a few weeks ago of Bette Davis and a pencil-on paper one of Daniel day Lewis I just finished.
I am very often trying to find a style that's as clean and crisp as possible, and it may seem 'easy' and 'quick' to many people, I don't have that conviction. There are just other choices to make, and they can take a lot of your time. I'm showing these two, the b&w and the greytone because I just couldn't figure out which one was the stronger one.

And when i've done too much digital work I'm attracted to doing the the old-fashioned pencil on paper once again, like the one below. Both options will always remain open to me.

Susan Boyle

2009-04-23T10:57:00.004+02:00

Once upon a time there was this not so pretty middle aged woman from a small village somewhere in England who participated "Britains got talent".
When she came on stage she was the laugh of the evening because of her looks... until she started to sing.....

It was a long time ago that apersons voice gave me the shivers, but she gave them to me.
I got tears in my eyes and had to hear it over and over again. Yes, I'm a sentimental fool, I know.
But here's a caricature I made of her, hope you like it.

La Kaandorp

2009-04-22T14:08:00.008+02:00

The photo is a bit blurry and dark perhaps, but this is Hugo and me posing with Brigitte Kaandorp, dutch comedienne and, in my honest opinion, hollands funniest female. Two years ago I drew her caricature and sent it to her. She rang me a few weeks later and thanked me for it. She said the caricature was hanging in one of her kids room, and told me I should visit her when she was playing in the neighborhood. And so we did yesterday evening.

Drinking girl

2009-04-21T14:07:00.002+02:00

I found this one on my computer, just a doodle I made five years ago. And since I have nothing interesting to post right now I might as well post her.

Live gig and studio piece

2009-04-13T12:43:00.006+02:00

Had a nice saturday morning drawing people with "gluten allergy". What struck me was that it is children who suffer this allergy most of the time, and not the parents. How do I know? I asked them. So it's not genetical but environmental you should say.
Luckily it didn't affect their sense of humor...
After the gig we went to a good friend whose wife had organised a surprise part for his fiftieth birthday. He is living in a far away region in Holland near the sea, and we seldom go there, so it was fun seeing them again. I made him a caricature and he seemed to like it a lot.
He is a doctor in the medicinal use of cabbabis (clever fellow) and has his own 2 acres of land with a flock of sheep, chicken and other domestic animals, and a vineyard and vegetable garden. It's always very impressive to be there, and after we returned home I got inspired and decided to trim some plants in my backyard which I had been neglecting for 10 years....

wedding and birthday commission

2009-03-31T11:38:00.003+02:00

Live caricatures

2009-03-27T12:35:00.003+01:00

Here are some new caricatures, done with speed, pleasure and little light.

David Byrne

2009-03-25T12:01:00.004+01:00

I went to his concert yesterday evening. It was FUN! He still looks great. Boy, is his hair white. His voice hasn't changed a bit and he still has a bit of madness in his eyes.

De Frogertjes

2009-03-20T12:39:00.005+01:00

This caricature is for dutch folks only.
He is a crooner, she is his wife, and together with their two kids they had a series on television last december, in which they tried to live on welfare for a month: "Effe geen cent te makke", which is slang for: not having any money to spend for the moment.

Vera Lynn

2009-03-19T17:32:00.004+01:00

Duffy

2009-03-18T10:08:00.005+01:00

Björk

2009-03-17T14:49:00.004+01:00

Merwebolder

2009-03-16T09:50:00.004+01:00

I had a digital gig last friday at Health care centre 'De Merwebolder' in Sliedrecht. I hope you like them, these are a few of my favourites.

Love & Marriage fair

2009-03-11T11:01:00.009+01:00

Last weekend Hugo and I participated the Love & Marriage fair in de Jaarbeurs in Utrecht, where we tried to make future brides and grooms aware of the fact that their wedding party would be so much more fun with a caricaturist...

These fairs can be very busy and besides drawing you have talk a lot, give people loads of infomation etc. So on saturday, because Hugo had a gig and couldn't be there, I had the help of a real fake mayor. His name is Michiel, during the week he is an insurance man and actually he is as bald as a billiard ball. But it was all part of the show. He is a born entertainer and was a great help.

This lady was a "wedding nanny", she took care of the children when their parents were having a good time during the wedding day.

Our kids attended one day and luckily they had their Nintendo DS with them, because the fair was a bit boring for them. I hope the fact that they could sit inside a big stretched limo eased the pain a bit.

This is Joris' moment of glory: sitting behind the steering wheel of a Ferrari F355 Spider!

Carnival caricatures

2009-02-21T18:18:00.005+01:00

Just like last year I was asked to draw some caricature at my childrens school during carnival. Always a fun thing to do!

Valentines Day

2009-02-18T13:44:00.003+01:00

I totally forgot to post something that concerns Valentines Day, and I even had a Valentines commission and a Valentines wedding!
The commission was an illustration for Indipenda who is celebrating her first aniversary.
Congratulations girl!
At home we didn't do much about it. My kids sent the cat a card, I think that's veeeeeeery sweet.
Hope you (who is reading this) had a very romantic Valentine!

Denny Dent

2009-02-12T11:26:00.005+01:00

I have never seen anything like this before, but I tink it's great!
It was on the NCN forum,and together with it were some videos from other performers, Lisa Wong and Dan Dunn. But this Denny guy was by far the best.
I believe he is called an 'artist performer, and it makes me think of Jackson Pollock, the famous action painter of the fifties.
I think this video shows that art and music can go together very well.
In my case it's very obvious: when I work live, I normally get a 'flow' when the music or dj is great, whereas when the music is bad my caricatures are often too.

Karl Lagerfeld

2009-01-27T15:36:00.004+01:00

A caricature of Mister Chanel himself. It was fun drawing him, I'm not 100% satisfied with his face but I like the clothes a lot.
Not using colours makes it a bit more difficult perhaps, but I think it's also a challenge.
I had Lucky Luke lying next to me when I was making this one and I couldn't help seeing a resemblance between the characters in this comic and Karl. The older he gets the more he looks like a Wild West heroe.

digital profiles

2009-01-21T14:25:00.004+01:00

In all the years that I have been drawing live caricatures, I have always been hesitant about drawing peoples profile. I thought it was more fun for the people when they got a drawing where they were looking in the 'camera'. It makes the drawing more pleasant, less distant.
I once had a colleague who was a brilliant caricaturist. His name is Laszlo Göbl and he was from Hungary. He always only drew peoples profiles because he didn't want to look into their faces, haha. He just didn't like the parties, the noise, the people waiting in lines for a drawing. He quit being a caricaturist and moved abroad, I believe to Brasil. I haven't heard from him since. Pity because he was really very good.
Anyway, I always think of him when I draw profiles. And of Stephen Silver ofcourse, who is an excellent profilist as well. (Is that a word?)
BTW these were done from photos, not live.

wedding caricatures

2009-01-19T13:32:00.002+01:00

Last weekend I was working at the love & marriage fair in Amsterdam. Now I'm not the marrying kind myself, but I sure had a lot of fun! I guess engaged people are the best customers. They're not drunk or cynical but very in love and determined to have a wonderful party that no one will ever forget. Hope they let me join!

Artiesten- en Evenementenbeurs 2009

2009-01-15T13:16:00.007+01:00

On january 11th, 12th and 13th Hugo and I were showing our digital and paper skills on the 21th 'Artiesten- en Evenementenbeurs' in Eindhoven, Holland. We were trying to make people interested in booking us as caricature artists at their parties, weddings, exhibitions etc.
I believe that in these hard times of recession it's extra important to make yourself known to the public. We had become a little lazy the last few years in doing so. Things were going great every year, people knew us, didn't they? Well, not necessarily we found out. Slowly we were getting older and people from the booking agencies were getting younger and younger.
SO HERE WE ARE AGAIN!

Daddy drawing a line.

Mommy drawing a line.

And the kids are impatiently waiting till it's time to go to McDonalds.
No, that's not fair, they were very helpful and cooperative.
We were very proud of them!

A happy and healthy 2009!

2009-01-03T18:16:00.005+01:00

..to everybody I know! May we all be able to keep our jobs, may world peace come a little nearer and may "de Friesche Elfstedentocht" finally take place this year.....
Nice things happened the last few weeks and not so nice things.
Not so nice: We all got sick this holiday.
Nice:
1. It's finally freezing in Holland, which means we can go skating.
2. CU 2009 took place in Oosterbeek, which is a smaller version of the annual NCN meeting. A great time for meeting old friends and getting to know new ones. Unfortunately, I only attended for one day. But it still was fun.

Meike and I skating on 'De Lamme IJssel' near Doesburg.

A caricature I made of Liesbeth Beckers during the CU2009. I was quite happy with this one, because I think Liesbeth isn't so easy to capture. She is so..... round! This roundness sometimes can be a handicap. What to emphasize and what not.... you know what I mean?
Luckily for both of us she was very pleased with the result.

Dutch colleague Martin van Gelder.

Visitor Colin Wilson.

christmas caricatures?

2008-12-20T15:18:00.006+01:00

This was a Christmas party, but these boys and girls were not really into christmas..
They were all pretty young and I liked their attitude, their enthusiasm, the way they were dressed, and sometimes it's just enough to visualize that.
Tip for everybody who is also a live caricaturist: Always take a break AFTER the noisiest person, never before...

Greeting cards

2008-12-18T12:30:00.006+01:00

Here are some designs for greeting cards I recently did, and, though I have fun doing them, I'm DYING to do some studio caricatures again. I have lots of sketches lying in my studio that are desperately waiting to be finished, of dutch ànd international celebrities. Just trying out some techniques, ways of colouring, you know what I mean. I just can't wait to get a hand on them...

Friday saturday sunday

2008-12-15T09:05:00.005+01:00

Friday.
Digital gig at a digital printing office. Very appropriate. I had to work very fast, I did 56 caricatures in 4,5 hours. The light was dim, the atmosphere OK. The manager was printed supersize. I don't think this was the best one I made that afternoon, but I liked the print so much I wanted to show it anyway.

Saturday.
This is Marieke with the finished painting I made of her. She and her father were very pleased with the result, and so was I.

Sunday.
Nothing better for relaxation than a bike ride through "Nationaal Park de Hoge Veluwe." We're still waiting for some serious frost, so we can go skating. When will that happen again, it's been such a long time:-(

fancy illustrations

2008-12-08T13:37:00.006+01:00

I made these for a dutch stock agency which isn't online anymore. Pity. So now I'm posting them on my blog, in case somebody might fancy the style/technique. If you do, call or mail me!

Kijkdoos

2008-12-07T11:35:00.004+01:00

Last friday we were celebrating 'Sinterklaas", a festivity that only takes place in Holland and Belgium and that can be slightly compared with Christmas. we give each other presents and try to make some presents ourselves, which are called 'surprises' (you have to pronounce it the way the french do).
I made Hugo this 'kijkdoos'. I looked in my english dictionary for the english word and it said peepshow. Now actually, that word has a slightly voyeuristic and sexual meaning to me.
I only took a shoe box and turned it into a studio where Hugo was standing between all his favourite artworks.
Cute, don't you think?

Bedrijvenbeurs Oss

2008-11-28T10:42:00.008+01:00

In Oss Hugo and I have been promoting our 'digitable".
It's always good to excercise. Making digital caricatures isn't very easy, you don't have the same feel, touch with your equipment as non-digital. A cintiq sometimes feels like glass.
But it becomes more and more fun when you feel you're getting in control.
One problem is: the light from your cintiq can sometimes blind you, so you don't see your model very clearly. Another one is the huge amount of buttons, toolbars and other device that makes you slow down.
You might say: then why even try?
Well, I like the challenge. And I believe it's a very funny mix between technique and creativity.

Afrika Museum

2008-11-20T09:48:00.005+01:00

Yesterday I had another digital gig. Afrika Museum, Berg en Dal. Beautiful place, nice people. No digitable, just a basic set-up, with a laptop, cintiq and photo printer.

Update Marieke

2008-11-19T11:12:00.002+01:00

I'm slowly finishing this piece. It's very difficult to find a balance between beautiful rendering and keeping it alive, spontanuous.

Personally I'm a big fan Of Frans Hals, a dutch master from the seventeenth century.
I went to the Frans Hals Museum in Haarlem a couple of years ago and it struck me that all his models were looking so intense but also very relaxed in the 'camera'. It was as if they had been posing for just a few minutes, and the master had painted them in just a second.