When I was in San Diego, I was quite succesful at making contacts to sell some of my own Dutch strip series to American publishers. So succecful even, that I didn't have time to get out another Dutch strip, i had prepared earlier. Elliot Mess is my own translation of an older Dutch strip by Hanco Kolk. Orginally started with Peter de Wit for the Dutch weekly Eppo, he continued the strip on his own for many years and for various magazines. It is a spoof on the old 'whodunnit' concept, although many of the detective puzzles actually make sense (as well as being quite satirical). I think the strip (which has many samples availabe) would be perfect for any magazine or anthology. Hanco's modern Hirschfeld-influenced style works a treat and the whole thing holds up really well.
Showing posts with label Hanco Kolk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hanco Kolk. Show all posts
Saturday, August 19, 2017
Another Mess
Saturday Leftover Day.
When I was in San Diego, I was quite succesful at making contacts to sell some of my own Dutch strip series to American publishers. So succecful even, that I didn't have time to get out another Dutch strip, i had prepared earlier. Elliot Mess is my own translation of an older Dutch strip by Hanco Kolk. Orginally started with Peter de Wit for the Dutch weekly Eppo, he continued the strip on his own for many years and for various magazines. It is a spoof on the old 'whodunnit' concept, although many of the detective puzzles actually make sense (as well as being quite satirical). I think the strip (which has many samples availabe) would be perfect for any magazine or anthology. Hanco's modern Hirschfeld-influenced style works a treat and the whole thing holds up really well.
When I was in San Diego, I was quite succesful at making contacts to sell some of my own Dutch strip series to American publishers. So succecful even, that I didn't have time to get out another Dutch strip, i had prepared earlier. Elliot Mess is my own translation of an older Dutch strip by Hanco Kolk. Orginally started with Peter de Wit for the Dutch weekly Eppo, he continued the strip on his own for many years and for various magazines. It is a spoof on the old 'whodunnit' concept, although many of the detective puzzles actually make sense (as well as being quite satirical). I think the strip (which has many samples availabe) would be perfect for any magazine or anthology. Hanco's modern Hirschfeld-influenced style works a treat and the whole thing holds up really well.
Friday, June 23, 2017
Whowannit
Friday Comic Book Day.
My friend Hanco Kolk, one of the few international starts among Dutch artists, used to do a great satirical detective strip. Well, he used to do a lot of strips, but thos one was special, because it took the idea of a 'you guess who the murderer is' in comic strip form to create a very funny and often satirical strip. The first of them were created with Peter de Wit, who also drew them. Here is one of Hanco's later solo ones, which I translated a couple of years ago. I think it would be great for an American magazine and will bring it along to San Diego. I will do the lettering again, because I have gotten better fonts since then, so don't show anyone this.
My friend Hanco Kolk, one of the few international starts among Dutch artists, used to do a great satirical detective strip. Well, he used to do a lot of strips, but thos one was special, because it took the idea of a 'you guess who the murderer is' in comic strip form to create a very funny and often satirical strip. The first of them were created with Peter de Wit, who also drew them. Here is one of Hanco's later solo ones, which I translated a couple of years ago. I think it would be great for an American magazine and will bring it along to San Diego. I will do the lettering again, because I have gotten better fonts since then, so don't show anyone this.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Two Single Images
Monday Cartoon Day.
Last week the third season of 'my' comedy series S1ngle started on the Dutch Net 5 network. I put the possessive pronoun between quotes, because these things ar always done together with other people and in this case, this is particulary true. S1ngle was already a succesful newspaper strip when my writing partner Wim Bax suggested that I should use my 25 year old relationship with it's authors Hanco Kolk and Peter de Wit to turn it into a television series. Wim and I devised a concept and took it to the producer, FourOne Media, who suggested we team up with producer/director and former casting mogul Job Gosschalk. Job took on the project as a showrunner, delivered a great cast and in the end directed 28 of the 32 episodes. He also lead us in plotting the series, after which Wim wrote the episodes and I suggested rewrites. When I got ill last year Job and Wim took over completely and finished off the series while I was living it up in hospital. So to say that I am now watching the episodes with mixed feelings is an understatement. I am feeling pride for the accomplishments of everyone involved, humbleness (if there is such a word), joy at the success of it all and an intense desire not to talk about it too much.
This week, it was also announced that the series will be running on the new Sixx network in Germany and that negotiations are underway to bring the serie to America. Like Net 5, Sixx is a network aimed at females and it wouldn't surprise me if S1ngle wound up on Lifetime on of these days.
To celebrate, I have here the first two pages of a six page article Hanco Kolk did for a Dutch weekly. It shows off the series and the three actrices playing the main characters as well as Hanco's wonderful style. The other pages told the story of how the series was sold, but they were a bit more difficult to translate without ruining the art (which is also why I let the Dutch head of the article intact). I still might do so at a later date, if only to show Hanco's sympathetic caricatures of me, Job and Wim.
Monday Cartoon Day.
Last week the third season of 'my' comedy series S1ngle started on the Dutch Net 5 network. I put the possessive pronoun between quotes, because these things ar always done together with other people and in this case, this is particulary true. S1ngle was already a succesful newspaper strip when my writing partner Wim Bax suggested that I should use my 25 year old relationship with it's authors Hanco Kolk and Peter de Wit to turn it into a television series. Wim and I devised a concept and took it to the producer, FourOne Media, who suggested we team up with producer/director and former casting mogul Job Gosschalk. Job took on the project as a showrunner, delivered a great cast and in the end directed 28 of the 32 episodes. He also lead us in plotting the series, after which Wim wrote the episodes and I suggested rewrites. When I got ill last year Job and Wim took over completely and finished off the series while I was living it up in hospital. So to say that I am now watching the episodes with mixed feelings is an understatement. I am feeling pride for the accomplishments of everyone involved, humbleness (if there is such a word), joy at the success of it all and an intense desire not to talk about it too much.
This week, it was also announced that the series will be running on the new Sixx network in Germany and that negotiations are underway to bring the serie to America. Like Net 5, Sixx is a network aimed at females and it wouldn't surprise me if S1ngle wound up on Lifetime on of these days.
To celebrate, I have here the first two pages of a six page article Hanco Kolk did for a Dutch weekly. It shows off the series and the three actrices playing the main characters as well as Hanco's wonderful style. The other pages told the story of how the series was sold, but they were a bit more difficult to translate without ruining the art (which is also why I let the Dutch head of the article intact). I still might do so at a later date, if only to show Hanco's sympathetic caricatures of me, Job and Wim.
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Dutch treat
I have known the Dutch newspaper strip artist Peter de Wit for the better part of my life. We actually attended the same high school only one year apart, but we didn't meet there. He was one year above me (which makes him fifty this year) and although I was quite visible in several school activities we managed to escape each other's attention.
I met Peter when I found an early issue of the fanzine Striprofiel in the local library. Peter had set up this cheaply printed fanzine with his friend Gerard Aertsen as an extension of their hobby. According to his biography, Peter knew he wanted to be a comic strip artist when he was fourteen, so this probably was a fun way to learn more about it and meet professionals. I had always loved comic books and periodicals and had decided when I was twelve that I was going to be a writer. Finding a new fanzine, which looked unprofessional enough for me to try and join was a great find. I contacted Gerard and was invited along to one of their interviews with dutch artist Martin Lodewijk. Meeting Martin Lodewijk was a huge moment in my life... he had walls full of comic books and collections, which impressed me so much that my private room now pretty much looks like his did back then. He also introduced me to Pogo and lend me part of his collection of early sixties Mad magazines. Three years later I was writing the rough version of the American Comics chapter of the first Dutch Comic Book Encyclopedia.
I joined the monthly meetings of the Striprofiel editors and became one of their core group of writers over the next ten years, interviewing such greats such as Will Eisner, Jeff Jones and Jean Giraud when they visited Holland. Peter de Wit left Striprofiel when I joined it, to concentrate more on his career as a comic artist. For a year or so, I did meet privately with Peter at his parents farm half an hours bike ride from my house. I don't know why we struck up a friendship or why it ended after that year, but I guess we felt a connection, which we still did when we met up again a couple of years ago. Maybe it is true that you share more than a common language with those who are born close to you. We do seem to have a similar outlook on life.
Peter introduced me to B.C. and the Wizard of Id and together we tried to do something similar. He had already tried to set up a gag strip set in ancient Egypt, possibly about Cleopatra. At one point I had a whole sheet of sketches he did for that, but seems to have been lost in time. I suggested a series in ancient Greece with Odysseus as the main character. I don't know if he ever did any actual drawing for it or if it was just something I liked myself. Strange thing about my memory is that I have a better recollection of places than of the things that happened. I can still tell you how to bike from my parent's home to his... or how the inside of their farm looked. But I am fuzzy about how many times we met or what we did.
Anyway, Peter went on to immediate success while I struggled on to find my path in life ten years later. He joined the staff of the Dutch comic weekly Eppo and did a great number of successful strips for them, as well as a lot of specialty drawings. He developed a quick cartoony style, varying between his own version of the Hart/Parker school and a rounder Mort Walker inspired style. At one point he had a successful short story strip which was drawn in a variation of Don Martin's style. All 'modern' cartoon styles I like to cover in this blog.
Finally, he started a newspaper strip of his own called Sigmund, about a diminutive cantankerous psychiatric. He has been doing that the last fifteen years with enough success for him to not have to do anything else. Which is quite an achievement in a small country such as ours. When I decided that I wanted to show the work of a couple of Dutch artists on this blog, I knew he had to be the first one. I have translated and badly lettered a couple of Sigmund gags. Sigmund has his own website, where you can even see some more strips translated into English... but I like my own selection and translation better.
The last year Peter has had a lot of succes with a series of strips about his Burka Babes. A book of gags about burka wearing women sold out several printings. Religion is the last remaining taboo and hot button subject in comedy (as John Stewart and cartoonists all over the world will confirm). Those who believe are always good for a laugh.
I have known the Dutch newspaper strip artist Peter de Wit for the better part of my life. We actually attended the same high school only one year apart, but we didn't meet there. He was one year above me (which makes him fifty this year) and although I was quite visible in several school activities we managed to escape each other's attention.
I met Peter when I found an early issue of the fanzine Striprofiel in the local library. Peter had set up this cheaply printed fanzine with his friend Gerard Aertsen as an extension of their hobby. According to his biography, Peter knew he wanted to be a comic strip artist when he was fourteen, so this probably was a fun way to learn more about it and meet professionals. I had always loved comic books and periodicals and had decided when I was twelve that I was going to be a writer. Finding a new fanzine, which looked unprofessional enough for me to try and join was a great find. I contacted Gerard and was invited along to one of their interviews with dutch artist Martin Lodewijk. Meeting Martin Lodewijk was a huge moment in my life... he had walls full of comic books and collections, which impressed me so much that my private room now pretty much looks like his did back then. He also introduced me to Pogo and lend me part of his collection of early sixties Mad magazines. Three years later I was writing the rough version of the American Comics chapter of the first Dutch Comic Book Encyclopedia.
I joined the monthly meetings of the Striprofiel editors and became one of their core group of writers over the next ten years, interviewing such greats such as Will Eisner, Jeff Jones and Jean Giraud when they visited Holland. Peter de Wit left Striprofiel when I joined it, to concentrate more on his career as a comic artist. For a year or so, I did meet privately with Peter at his parents farm half an hours bike ride from my house. I don't know why we struck up a friendship or why it ended after that year, but I guess we felt a connection, which we still did when we met up again a couple of years ago. Maybe it is true that you share more than a common language with those who are born close to you. We do seem to have a similar outlook on life.
Peter introduced me to B.C. and the Wizard of Id and together we tried to do something similar. He had already tried to set up a gag strip set in ancient Egypt, possibly about Cleopatra. At one point I had a whole sheet of sketches he did for that, but seems to have been lost in time. I suggested a series in ancient Greece with Odysseus as the main character. I don't know if he ever did any actual drawing for it or if it was just something I liked myself. Strange thing about my memory is that I have a better recollection of places than of the things that happened. I can still tell you how to bike from my parent's home to his... or how the inside of their farm looked. But I am fuzzy about how many times we met or what we did.
Anyway, Peter went on to immediate success while I struggled on to find my path in life ten years later. He joined the staff of the Dutch comic weekly Eppo and did a great number of successful strips for them, as well as a lot of specialty drawings. He developed a quick cartoony style, varying between his own version of the Hart/Parker school and a rounder Mort Walker inspired style. At one point he had a successful short story strip which was drawn in a variation of Don Martin's style. All 'modern' cartoon styles I like to cover in this blog.
Finally, he started a newspaper strip of his own called Sigmund, about a diminutive cantankerous psychiatric. He has been doing that the last fifteen years with enough success for him to not have to do anything else. Which is quite an achievement in a small country such as ours. When I decided that I wanted to show the work of a couple of Dutch artists on this blog, I knew he had to be the first one. I have translated and badly lettered a couple of Sigmund gags. Sigmund has his own website, where you can even see some more strips translated into English... but I like my own selection and translation better.
The last year Peter has had a lot of succes with a series of strips about his Burka Babes. A book of gags about burka wearing women sold out several printings. Religion is the last remaining taboo and hot button subject in comedy (as John Stewart and cartoonists all over the world will confirm). Those who believe are always good for a laugh.
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