This is the pencil for an art-print in the Vixens-series published by Valkyrie. Several artists will do different Vixens. This one by me is going to be the "Breathtaking- Vixen". Soon I will do the inks and early 2009 she will be in print.
Click the image for a larger version.
24.11.08 | Old stuff: Lobster Johnson tribute
At the moment I'm working intensely on the art for "Don Lawrence's Storm" and the new comic which will be published in the rebirth of Holland's classic comic-magazine "Eppo". But for the moment I can't show anything of these two comics. In between I rearranged my artwork-closet and found some old stuff I forgot I once did. This is one of them...
I drew this after I had read the Hellboy-story "conqueror worm", just because I loved the Lobster Johnson figure in the story. Won't be able to use it but it doesn't happen often I can find the time just to draw something for myself. So her it is, my Lobster Johnson tribute.
20.11.08 | TBP
Came out a week ago: The Zombie Tales trade paperback volume 2, "Oblivion", collecting the first four issues of Zombie Tales. One of the stories is "Zaambi", the one partly drawn by me (see former news-items).
22.10.08 | Storm
Some time ago the "Don Lawrence Collection" announced I would, as penciller, team up with writer Willem Ritstier as second team working on Don Lawrences success-comic "Storm". In the first team, painter Jorg the Vos works out Romano Molenaar's pencils the classic way, by hand. That's all the work he can handle. The search for a talent with the same qualities as Jorg turned out to be to difficult. Luckily, several experiments where done with digital color-studios all over the world and one of them, in China, seemed to be able to get a reasonable result on one of my test-pages. Click the images for a larger version.
Of course they had to work on one of my try-outs and of course it needed smoothing and refinement but when they started working on the pencil I had done for an announcement-poster of the first book things started to roll. At first, the work they showed us for the poster was a disappointment but soon we understood what we had seen was only a first framework to know if they where on the right track. Small images of this framework can be seen in the news message about the second team at the website of the Don Lawrence Collection. When we did get the final version we started to get some enthusiasm as well. Shown here is a detail of Ember where you can see they realy tried to get near the touch of Don Lawrence. Click the image.
This touch is difficult to be seen on the computer-screen if we show the entire poster, but here it is in full glory. For those who can read Dutch: Announcements and texts on the poster are just fictitious and not final. Don't take them serious. You can also compare the final version with the pencil we showed earlier (news message 14.6.08). Click the image.
Meanwhile, the new story in pencil is well under way.
Of course they had to work on one of my try-outs and of course it needed smoothing and refinement but when they started working on the pencil I had done for an announcement-poster of the first book things started to roll. At first, the work they showed us for the poster was a disappointment but soon we understood what we had seen was only a first framework to know if they where on the right track. Small images of this framework can be seen in the news message about the second team at the website of the Don Lawrence Collection. When we did get the final version we started to get some enthusiasm as well. Shown here is a detail of Ember where you can see they realy tried to get near the touch of Don Lawrence. Click the image.
This touch is difficult to be seen on the computer-screen if we show the entire poster, but here it is in full glory. For those who can read Dutch: Announcements and texts on the poster are just fictitious and not final. Don't take them serious. You can also compare the final version with the pencil we showed earlier (news message 14.6.08). Click the image.
Meanwhile, the new story in pencil is well under way.
04.06.08 | ZombieTales
Finished the pages for my US-comics debut. This young Samurai will play a role in the story. Can't show you more for the moment. But keep in mind: ZombieTales #4 (July) published by BOOM!-comics.
05.10.08 | Nicky Saxx DeLuxe
Last weekend the Nicky Saxx luxury-editions of the first and second Nicky Saxx-trade (published by our present publisher Bee Dee, stories 13 up to 16, in Dutch.) came out in limited circulation of 150 copies each (numbered and signed). Production has been done by Rob den Houter and have a more luxury and better edited appearance compared to the six former luxury-trades of the stories 1 to 12 published by Boumaar. Soon, the the third and forth luxury editions of the Bee Dee-trades (containing stories 17 up to 20) will be published.
20.09.08 | Zombie Tales #4 'Zaambi' reviews
Next to the great review on "Newsarama" en the interview with writers Chris and Terry Morgan on "Comic Book Resources" my US-comic-debut attracted quite some attention in the US. Here are some briefs from the other reviews so far:
-Along with the great storytelling aspect, the dialogue, and descriptions of the scenes, everything flows perfectly with this style of story. On top of all of that we also have a great team of artists that deliver us an old school look that goes along with this issue perfectly. So once again another great anthology piece put out there by Boom Studios.
(projectfanboy)
-The three artists, Hardman, Oosterveer, and Ho, bring distinct styles which, nevertheless, mesh so flawlessly that there are no obvious interruptions between chapters. Chris Peter's subtle and consistent colors contribute heavily to this sense of visual integrity. The combined effect is reminiscent of Tommy Lee Edwards' current work on Marvel 1985, which is a fair compliment.
(comicsbulletin)
-One of the marks of a great writer is brevity. The Morgan brothers certainly have that. There are a bundle of great, blood soaked ideas in this stand-alone issue, but the story never comes across as overwhelming or convoluted. It’s tight scripting with descriptive narration, and an ending that I didn’t see coming, but one that works beautifully. The artists, namely Gabriel Hardman, Minck Oosterveer and Jason Ho have very similar styles. Having three artists in less than thirty pages is usually jarring, but BOOM! have chosen these three well. They all sketch in a rough fashion reminiscent of Joe Kubert or Lee Weeks, perfectly complimented by Cris Peter’s muted colours and Marshall Dillon’s subtle calligraphic lettering. I was gladly surprised by the effective crafting of this adventure. Zombies in an ancient eastern setting is a concept I haven’t seen before, and with its “I Am Legend” one man’s POV against the world vibe it’s a perfect fit.(Comicbookjesus)
-What was my impression of this? Well, there were times when I went "Wait, that doesn't make sense." and later get it slapped back in my face and I go "Oooooohhhhh..... well that explains it... touchè Mr. Chris (Wanted) Morgan". So my attempts to find any flaws in this comic failed, and I did find that I liked this story. In an age where Zombie tales, pun intended, are getting more numerous you can go through a bunch and not find one that brings something original to the table without resorting to gimmicks like 'Zombies Versus Martians Versus The Kremlin Ballet Theatre Ensemble' this one did indeed do that. This is a very serious zombie comic, that treats both the threat of re-animated dead and the whole concept of zombies with respect.
(The indpendent comics site)
Indeed, every Part of this story presents surprising plot twists, scenes of bloody violence, and moments of heart-warming, human tenderness. The many unexpected and well-developed depths in this book make it one I’d like to see reprinted in a hardbacked edition and placed on the shelves of libraries. This is one comic book that truly deserves to be treated as a serious piece of literature.
(Roscoe's public notes)
-Along with the great storytelling aspect, the dialogue, and descriptions of the scenes, everything flows perfectly with this style of story. On top of all of that we also have a great team of artists that deliver us an old school look that goes along with this issue perfectly. So once again another great anthology piece put out there by Boom Studios.
(projectfanboy)
-The three artists, Hardman, Oosterveer, and Ho, bring distinct styles which, nevertheless, mesh so flawlessly that there are no obvious interruptions between chapters. Chris Peter's subtle and consistent colors contribute heavily to this sense of visual integrity. The combined effect is reminiscent of Tommy Lee Edwards' current work on Marvel 1985, which is a fair compliment.
(comicsbulletin)
-One of the marks of a great writer is brevity. The Morgan brothers certainly have that. There are a bundle of great, blood soaked ideas in this stand-alone issue, but the story never comes across as overwhelming or convoluted. It’s tight scripting with descriptive narration, and an ending that I didn’t see coming, but one that works beautifully. The artists, namely Gabriel Hardman, Minck Oosterveer and Jason Ho have very similar styles. Having three artists in less than thirty pages is usually jarring, but BOOM! have chosen these three well. They all sketch in a rough fashion reminiscent of Joe Kubert or Lee Weeks, perfectly complimented by Cris Peter’s muted colours and Marshall Dillon’s subtle calligraphic lettering. I was gladly surprised by the effective crafting of this adventure. Zombies in an ancient eastern setting is a concept I haven’t seen before, and with its “I Am Legend” one man’s POV against the world vibe it’s a perfect fit.(Comicbookjesus)
-What was my impression of this? Well, there were times when I went "Wait, that doesn't make sense." and later get it slapped back in my face and I go "Oooooohhhhh..... well that explains it... touchè Mr. Chris (Wanted) Morgan". So my attempts to find any flaws in this comic failed, and I did find that I liked this story. In an age where Zombie tales, pun intended, are getting more numerous you can go through a bunch and not find one that brings something original to the table without resorting to gimmicks like 'Zombies Versus Martians Versus The Kremlin Ballet Theatre Ensemble' this one did indeed do that. This is a very serious zombie comic, that treats both the threat of re-animated dead and the whole concept of zombies with respect.
(The indpendent comics site)
Indeed, every Part of this story presents surprising plot twists, scenes of bloody violence, and moments of heart-warming, human tenderness. The many unexpected and well-developed depths in this book make it one I’d like to see reprinted in a hardbacked edition and placed on the shelves of libraries. This is one comic book that truly deserves to be treated as a serious piece of literature.
(Roscoe's public notes)
01.09.08 | Review on ZombieTales #4 at Newsarama.com
Zombie Tales #4
Writers: Christopher and Terry Morgan
Cover Art: Marco Rudy, Mink Oosterveer, and Andrew Dalhouse
Interior Art: Gabriel Hardman, Mink Oosterveer, and Jason Ho
Colors by Cris Peter
Letters by Marshall Dillon
From: BOOM! Studios
Review by Lan Pitts
Previously contributed to by creative forces such as Mark Waid and Steve Niles, the next installment of the Zombie Tales series comes to your stores soon. Zombie Tales #4 is penned by Christopher Morgan, co-writer of Salem: Queen of Thorns and screenwriter of Wanted as well as his brother Terry Morgan. Zombie Tales publisher BOOM! Studios is known for having a strong hold on the horror comic genre, especially with its Cthuhu titles.
This edition covers a span of 261 years, as we experience the story of Toshiro Hiraoka, a soldier defending his family and community from millions of zombies taking over the world, beginning with Japan and moving westward, leaving death and destruction in their wake. And of course, creating more and more zombies. Or "the zaambi," as they are referred to through out the chapters.
We first meet Toshiro as a young boy, as he trains and tests to join the guild of men defending their people. The first chapter introduces us to his father and the characterization of their relationship is a strong story element through the rest of the chapters. As the chapters progress, the full effects of the zaambi, as well as the dangers of other mortals with less than beneficent intent are clear as the soldiers continue to lose loved ones and members of their own group.
Peter's coloring and Dillon's lettering tie together the chapters of this book seamlessly. While each chapter does have its own art style-- all of the chapters heavily reflect a traditional Japanese style. Hardman's drawings invoke a wood cut block style, Oosterveer's chapter opening landscape is reminiscent of one of Katsushika Hokusai's classic works, and Ho's lines look as if they could have been produced with a calligraphy brush. The story flows well, through panels that sometimes mimic the pattern of shoji screens, rich colors, and well balanced segments of dialogue followed by action scenes.
For those that are a fan of the genre, or want to learn more about the series, earlier this summer BOOM! Studios launched a web comic feature on their website releasing many of their popular titles at a rate of one page per day, including the first installment of the Zombie Tales series.
This fourth segment of the continuing series is well worth a look. It's a fresh look at a popular genre. The unique art style, combined with the well developed story continuing through the chapters makes this a book you'll read in one sitting, but likely go back to savor in time.
28.08.08 | ZombieTales #4 is out!
My debut in US-comics is final! Okay, I did just one chapter of six pages and a cover but nevertheless... ZombieTales #4 'Zaambi' is out... is in store... with those pages and with that cover. Doing the job felt awesome. I loved it, and working with my editor Matt Cagnon was great.
The B-cover is mine... the japanese zombie with the samurai-hairdo:
And this is the A-cover:
ZombieTales #4 'Zaambi' published by BOOM!-studios. And yes, I got a taste for more... if I get the chance.
Comic Book Resources did in interview with the writer of the 'Zaambi'-story, Chris Morgan (scriptwriter of the 'Wanted'-movie ) and his brother Terry Morgan. They say som nice things about the artists. You'll find it here: here.
The B-cover is mine... the japanese zombie with the samurai-hairdo:
And this is the A-cover:
ZombieTales #4 'Zaambi' published by BOOM!-studios. And yes, I got a taste for more... if I get the chance.
Comic Book Resources did in interview with the writer of the 'Zaambi'-story, Chris Morgan (scriptwriter of the 'Wanted'-movie ) and his brother Terry Morgan. They say som nice things about the artists. You'll find it here: here.
31.07.08 | ZombieTales #4 in color
Here's a sample of the way my pages for ZombieTales #4 have been coloured. Can't show much yet but they look great. Really the flowing light watercolor approach the swift brushy black&white style I used, needed and immediately gives you the feeling of looking at old Chinese and Japanese pictures. The colors have been done by Cris Peter from Brazil and I'm sure we will see more of her color-work in the future.
07.07.08 | Nicky Saxx
Starting July 5th Nicky Saxx will be the opening-image of 'De Stripspeciaalzaak', the website of the Flemish masterorganisation of 49 comicshops in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium (this variant of Dutch is also called Flemish) and in The Netherlands (where they speak Dutch, exept for a very small part in the north where they speak Frisian next to Dutch). The story behind the image: The last Nicky Saxx adventure ended with the explosion of a secret rocket-base at the bottom of the ocean. Nicky Saxx didn't return to the surface. In my vision this wasn't the end of Nicky. She is washed ashore some desert island and is waiting there until somebody finds her.
30.06.08 | Cover ZombieTales
This is the cover I did for ZombieTales #4 published by BOOM!-studios. The colors are done by Andrew Dalhouse. I also did the art for chapter 2 of the story. More information you'll find here. The site of BOOM!-studios (and mine) will also tell you when the comic is in stores.
18.06.08 | Hardcover luxery trade Nicky Saxx
At the end of August the hardcover luxury trade of 'The adventures of Nicky Saxx' (the later stories published by Bee Dee-publishers) will be out. This image will be on the cover.
14.06.08 | Storm!
Willem Ritstier and I started a second team for Don Lawrence's Storm-comic, next to the first team formed by Romano Molenaar, Jorg de Vos and Martin Lodewijk. I will do the pencils. Publisher DLC is still looking for a colorist/painter.
27.05.08 | Cover-final Nicky Saxx
The cover-final for the new Nicky Saxx-collection. The book will be out at the Haarlem-comicconvention (7 ;& 8 June). Click the cover for a larger version.
14.05.08 | BOOM!-studios here
No, this isn't Nicky Saxx with glasses and a haircut. I didn't draw this image. The artist is Gabriel Hardman. It's a panel belonging to one of his comics, the story "Heathentown", a horror-story written by Corinna Bechko. I just found out about Gabriel's existence. He's really a great artist. Next to comics he does storyboards for movies in the US. How and why did I found out about Gabriel? Together with him and another artist I don't know yet I'm doing a Zombie-tale for BOOM!-studios. A chapter each, Gabriel is doing chapter one and I'm doing chapter two. And, although Trunk (by Bee Dee publishers) and Nicky saxx (by Safcomics) have been translated in English to be able to sell foreign rights, and Dark Horse asked me if I would be interested in doing Star Wars in the future...maybe, sometime..., this story for BOOM! will be my début in the English language. At the moment I'm working on the art.
If you want to find out more about Gabriel Hardman: click here en here.
09.05.08 | Trunk
Friday next week, May 16th, the comic "Trunk #1, the unkown soldier" will be published on this website. Three pages a week, one page in colour, next page in black & white etc. At the moment writer Willem ritstier and I are working on the second part called "the Preacher".
01.05.08 | Continuon
December the 12th 2007 an Apache-helicopter of the Royal Dutch Airforce ruined the high voltage power-cables spanning the wide river "de Waal" in the Netherlands. 30.000 Houses in the countryside, the part of the Netherlands called the "Bommeler- and Tielerwaard, where without electricity and heating in the freezing cold of winter. One of the pylons was standing in the middle of river with the cables hanging down into the water. Continuon, the company which has the responsibility for this power-instalation, had to repair them as soon as possible under very difficult circumstances. For their year-report they wanted me to do a comic about the operation. Because there wasn't a lot of time to finish the art Michiel de Jong inked my pencils. Script was done by Frank Jonker and the colours ( only in white and purple, the companycolours of Continuon) by Wilma Leenders.
The Continuon year-report and the comic (sorry, only in Dutch) can be read on-line in PDF-format. Just click:
http://www.continuon.nl/binaries/Jaarverslag%20Continuon%202007_tcm86-83411.pdf
27.04.08 | Nicky Saxx what and why #4. Nicky's conveyance/ boat
Nicky Saxx lives in a lighthouse on an island near the coast of New England. To get ashore she uses a classic wooden Italian made Riva-powerboat. These legendary boats are most often seen in places like the North-Italian lake district, Venice or Monte Carlo.
Her final means of conveyance is one leading to many adventures: her sailing-yacht. The first one is sinked by the bullets of some slavekeeping cocaine-growers. The second one brings her on a misty sea where a bunch of Vikings roam on an old longboat for a thousand years, killing each other in vain because they are always brought back to life by a curse. On this boat she meets the love of her life, only to find out he is in fact a dangerous international terrorist who's just into terrorism for the money. And her last adventure starts like a sailing and diving holiday but ends at the bottom of the sea in the secret rocket-base of a crazy media-tycoon.
Her final means of conveyance is one leading to many adventures: her sailing-yacht. The first one is sinked by the bullets of some slavekeeping cocaine-growers. The second one brings her on a misty sea where a bunch of Vikings roam on an old longboat for a thousand years, killing each other in vain because they are always brought back to life by a curse. On this boat she meets the love of her life, only to find out he is in fact a dangerous international terrorist who's just into terrorism for the money. And her last adventure starts like a sailing and diving holiday but ends at the bottom of the sea in the secret rocket-base of a crazy media-tycoon.
16.04.08 | Nicky Saxx what and why #3. Nicky's conveyance/car
To me, a modern car is a means of transport. Nothing more, nothing less. Just to drive me and my family safe and dry from a to b. But I like classic cars. When I started drawing Nicky I didn't really think about any car for her to drive. Writer Willem Ritstier and I, by coincidence, both drove a Citroën, so I used several Citröen models in the comic. Easy to use a car you know all about.
When Nicky slowly became the dark longheared ravengirl I decided there was a need for a classic car fitting her style and appearance. Of course Citroën once had one of the nicest and most advanced classics ever made, the DS, but I didn't think the DS was suitable for Nicky Saxx. It became the one which has been driven by the two 'Rogers'. The first Roger is the leadsinger of my favourite band, the Who: Roger Daltrey. He bought it using the advance he got for the band's first album.
The second one is Roger Moore. He drove the car in the TV-series 'The Saint'. The car is a Volvo.. A VOLVO!!?? Those safe, solid and ugly square cars from Sweden? Yes! Volvo once produced one of the finest good looking sportscars: The P1800. There is a difference between those used by the two Rogers and the one Nicky drives. The Rogers had a coupé. Nicky has an ES, a hatchback with a huge all-glass tailgate.
14.04.08 | Trunk
What kind of dark secret does Trunk stumble upon this time in his new adventure. Soon you can read all about it in Myx-magazine.
11.04.08 | Jack Pott delayed
The publisher just told me there will be a small delay in the appearance of the third Jack Pott-collection. Mister Pott seems to be a bit busy right now.
08.04.08 | Final cover Jack Pott
This is the final cover for the third Jack Pott-collection. If all goes well it will be in print in within two weeks.
07.04.08 | Nicky Saxx what and why #2. Nicky's conveyance/ motorbike
Everybody visiting this website sees her at the openingpage: Nicky Saxx leaning against a motorbike, dressed in bikerssuite and matching bra. The bike is a Triumph Thruxton. The stripe with paddockpatern used to be over the full length of the first Thruxtonmodels. The drawing has been done for an artprint published by comicshop Alex in Antwerp but became that populair it was used as THE Nicky Saxx-look, among aothers by Safcomics(click 'news'), the foreign rights agent for Nicky Saxx. Question is: Why a motorbike and does she actualy drive one in the comic. Answer to the first question: The red thing next to the Nicky saxx-drawing is mine.
It's the last of a whole bunch of them I had over the years, most of them Japanese-made. I like English caferacers and Italian streetfighters but, unfortunatly, for me japanese bikes are more practical and more payable. Yes, I ride motorbikes. For quite some time now, ever since I was allowed to get a license, at the age of 18. Never stopped. The first seven years I didn't even want to have a car, despite the Dutch weather. It's an adiction, a way of life to me. So it wood be logical for Nicky Saxx to ride a motorbike but does she realy rides one in the comic...?
Yes, sometimes she does. In the seventh story she enters Ella's apartment dressed in the Triumph-bikerssuit and holding a helmet. You won't se the bike in the rest of the story but it's a assumable she came over to Ella riding her Triuph Thruxton. Two stories back she tells she owns a license to ride a motorbike and you see she's actualy riding one. She rides a borrowed Aprilia Tuono, an Italian streetfighter.
Once I nearly owned an Aprilia Tuono. I entered a competition in which you could win the Tuono by riding the bike and do a testreport as original as possible and of course I did it my way: I made a comic about it.
Aprilia-Netherlands chose twenty of the best test-reports and put them on the internet and left it to the visiters of their website to deside which one of them wood be the owner of the brand new Tuono. Some of my fans heard about it an mobilised the entire Dutch and Belgian comicscene to vote on my behalf. Result: I won... nearly. Ain't bad loosing but to win nearly... Still, its great what the fans and the scene did, a very nice and dear memory to me. One thing became clear to me: The Aprilia Tuono is the best bike to outrun an attacking battlehelicopter while riding a winding road in the mountains.
Click to enlarge.
It's the last of a whole bunch of them I had over the years, most of them Japanese-made. I like English caferacers and Italian streetfighters but, unfortunatly, for me japanese bikes are more practical and more payable. Yes, I ride motorbikes. For quite some time now, ever since I was allowed to get a license, at the age of 18. Never stopped. The first seven years I didn't even want to have a car, despite the Dutch weather. It's an adiction, a way of life to me. So it wood be logical for Nicky Saxx to ride a motorbike but does she realy rides one in the comic...?
Yes, sometimes she does. In the seventh story she enters Ella's apartment dressed in the Triumph-bikerssuit and holding a helmet. You won't se the bike in the rest of the story but it's a assumable she came over to Ella riding her Triuph Thruxton. Two stories back she tells she owns a license to ride a motorbike and you see she's actualy riding one. She rides a borrowed Aprilia Tuono, an Italian streetfighter.
Once I nearly owned an Aprilia Tuono. I entered a competition in which you could win the Tuono by riding the bike and do a testreport as original as possible and of course I did it my way: I made a comic about it.
Aprilia-Netherlands chose twenty of the best test-reports and put them on the internet and left it to the visiters of their website to deside which one of them wood be the owner of the brand new Tuono. Some of my fans heard about it an mobilised the entire Dutch and Belgian comicscene to vote on my behalf. Result: I won... nearly. Ain't bad loosing but to win nearly... Still, its great what the fans and the scene did, a very nice and dear memory to me. One thing became clear to me: The Aprilia Tuono is the best bike to outrun an attacking battlehelicopter while riding a winding road in the mountains.
Click to enlarge.
01.04.08 | Cover Nicky Saxx in ink
The cover of the new Nicky Saxx-collection in ink.
28.03.08 | Nicky Saxx What & Why #1: Nicky's hair-do.
Starting the Nicky Saxx-comic felt to me like a disaster. Willem and I where doing the populair fantasy-comic Zodiak for the newspaper 'De Telegraaf'. I have never been satisfied with the quality of my artwork but at the time we worked out the tenth Zodiak-story I did get the feeling it started to reach my standards. Halfway the eleventh Zodiak story the newspaper decided it was time for a more down to earth comic instead of a fantasy and asked us to create one with a female-adventurer being the main character. I hated the idea, felt happy doing Zodiak, just didn't want to do a different comic. I had to, The new comic would start the day after the last appearance of the Zodiak-daily.
Willem started writing a plot. The main character would be a slender , dawn to earth and fearless powergirl with a past which is somewhat of a mystery. She has a friend, Ella Steiner, very feminine, who practices parapsychology. I had to visualize them while still working on Zodiak, quite against my will.
Ella wasn't a problem. She had to be attractive, with dark curly hair and a more faminine, voluptuous figure, not the sporty type like Nicky Saxx. Something like the Italian showgirl Fanny Cadeo. And there she was...
But Nicky was a huge problem. No idea what she had to look like, no single inspiration, not a clue... She had to be introduced at the final Zodiak-daily and not knowing what to do I chose a dark version of a blond female character from Zodiak: Bob Karn. (yes, her name was Bob).
Nicky Saxx premiered June 15, 2002. I still didn't like her.
She was to meaningless to me, she didn't have the looks. Particualarly her hair-do. It looked like the hair-do of any average female actionfigure in those days. Just boring. I couldn't get a feeling with the comic and because of that I couldn't reach the quality of the artwork I did for Zodiak. A still shorter hairstyle in the second story didn't work either. But suddenly I stumbld upon a photo the Norwegian photographer Hegre had made of one of his models: Tatiana, the female raven. Just dressed in her very long hair. That's the way Nicky should have been, had to become. A ravengirl with long straight hair, dressed in baggy-trousers. That's what she became.
Willem didn't like it, he wanted her to have the short hairstyle. The opening of the seventh story clearly shows it. Nicky enters the shop of her hairdresser. Her hairstyle is an abomination to him.
She keeps her looks untill the sixteenth stor in which her hair gets stuck in the branches of a Southamerican jungletree. Someone had to cut her loose. But in the seventeenth story it has all grown back.
When Nicky did get her final looks I started to like working on the comic but I never wood reach the quality of the art for Zodiak accept in the shortstory I did for a homage-collection to the Dutch godfather of newspapercomics: Marten Toonder in which Nicky meets Marten's ghost, Nicky's encounter with V which I did for my friend David Lloyd when the movie adaptation of his 'V for vendetta' was released in Europe, and some Nicky Saxx-illustrations.
Willem started writing a plot. The main character would be a slender , dawn to earth and fearless powergirl with a past which is somewhat of a mystery. She has a friend, Ella Steiner, very feminine, who practices parapsychology. I had to visualize them while still working on Zodiak, quite against my will.
Ella wasn't a problem. She had to be attractive, with dark curly hair and a more faminine, voluptuous figure, not the sporty type like Nicky Saxx. Something like the Italian showgirl Fanny Cadeo. And there she was...
But Nicky was a huge problem. No idea what she had to look like, no single inspiration, not a clue... She had to be introduced at the final Zodiak-daily and not knowing what to do I chose a dark version of a blond female character from Zodiak: Bob Karn. (yes, her name was Bob).
Nicky Saxx premiered June 15, 2002. I still didn't like her.
She was to meaningless to me, she didn't have the looks. Particualarly her hair-do. It looked like the hair-do of any average female actionfigure in those days. Just boring. I couldn't get a feeling with the comic and because of that I couldn't reach the quality of the artwork I did for Zodiak. A still shorter hairstyle in the second story didn't work either. But suddenly I stumbld upon a photo the Norwegian photographer Hegre had made of one of his models: Tatiana, the female raven. Just dressed in her very long hair. That's the way Nicky should have been, had to become. A ravengirl with long straight hair, dressed in baggy-trousers. That's what she became.
Willem didn't like it, he wanted her to have the short hairstyle. The opening of the seventh story clearly shows it. Nicky enters the shop of her hairdresser. Her hairstyle is an abomination to him.
She keeps her looks untill the sixteenth stor in which her hair gets stuck in the branches of a Southamerican jungletree. Someone had to cut her loose. But in the seventeenth story it has all grown back.
When Nicky did get her final looks I started to like working on the comic but I never wood reach the quality of the art for Zodiak accept in the shortstory I did for a homage-collection to the Dutch godfather of newspapercomics: Marten Toonder in which Nicky meets Marten's ghost, Nicky's encounter with V which I did for my friend David Lloyd when the movie adaptation of his 'V for vendetta' was released in Europe, and some Nicky Saxx-illustrations.
26.03.08 | Cover Nicky Saxx in pencil
The cover for the fourth Nicky Saxx-collection in pencil.
25.03.08 | Rough cover Nicky Saxx
This is the rough for the cover of the fourth 'adventures of Nicky Saxx'-collection which will be published by Bee Dee (actually the tenth collection, together with the former six done by Boumaar-publishing). Nicky flees from her hotelroom across the roofs of Paris by night to avoid a confrontation with de persuing badguys.
29.02.08 | Red Knight art prints
Out this weekend: two new art prints based on the 'The Red Knight-graphic novel series' by art print-publisher Ammar. One is showing the red knight himself in confrontation with 'the seven' and the other the leadfigure from the second story: 'the black she-wolf'.
The Red Knight-graphic novel series, is based on the long-running Flemish comicseries 'De Rode Ridder' by Willy Vandersteen (at present written by Martin Lodewijk and drawn by Claus Scholz). The first 'Red Knight'-story was written by Ronald Grossey and drawn by Marvano. The tryout-page for the series and two of the pages I did for the second story you'll find in the 'miscellaneous adventure'-section (scroll down).
26.02.08 | Star Wars
In the summer of 2007 one of my mailboxes was bombarded by spammessages. Those kind about problems with your malehood and tell you what you can do about it or offer you cheap Rolexes and are send by senders with English names that don't sound quite real. Also a full load on 16 July. Clean the mailbox, click the name, hold and drag to the garbage.. click, hold, drag and click... wait a minute! When I click such a name and hold it to drag you see the e-mailaddress it comes from and this one ended: ...@DARKHORSE... "Dark Horse Comics" and it come from the man who is known (what I later found out) as "mister Star Wars" in US-comicsworld. He asked me if I would be interested in drawing Star Wars. Sure I was, I wanted to do US-comics for years and Star Wars wouldn't be a bad start, on the contrary. Still knew what it felt like when the first film come out ...
Mark Schulz and Al Williamson did work on Star Wars comics, Collin Wilson... Jan Duursema... George Lucas once said in an interview Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon was one of his inspirations for Star Wars... yes, I want to... I even would have time in a few weeks... Turned out he mainly wanted to see if I was interested but didn't have a story planned for me. Lucasfilm didn't seem to have a problem with it but of course they would want to know if I can do spaceships etc. So I did an X-wing etc. He would keep me in mind and yes, I keep it warm but it still didn't come so far, don't know it ever will and actually, at the moment, allthough Nicky Saxx was canceled in the newspaper, I would have less time than I did have in July / August last year. But drawing a X-wing dogfight sure was fun.
20.01.08 | Cover Jack Pott in color
Jack Pott is a comic with a classic look. Needs a classic cover that doesn't look dull. Took some time to make a choice between these three...
but this is the one:
but this is the one:
16.01.08 | Cover Jack Pott in ink
The cover for Jack Pott #3 in ink.
14.01.08 | Sketch cover Jack Pott
This is the scetch for the cover of Jack Pott #3 'Cry from the past'. Jack Pott is the first daily-newspapercomic I did. Willem Ritstier wrote the stories. Six adventures in ± six years appeared in the Dutch newspaper 'Algemeen Dagblad'. Not the best drawing I did. I was still searching for my own style. But the comic is my alltime favourite. The original daily strips will be published by Bee Dee in six editions, one for each story. Soon I'll show you the inking.
04.01.08 | Nicky Saxx-memorial
Today is a sad day for fans of the Nicky Saxx newspaper strip. "De Telegraaf", which has the exclusive publishing rights for the strip, has decided to cancel it. The final episode appears in the newspaper today. The decision to cancel was not made because the strip had become unpopular, but because the newspaper considers a daily adventure strip to be old-fashioned. They want something new - something different. It's hard for me to understand why they would cancel the last existing newspaper adventure strip in the Netherlands - possibly the last in Europe -and not cancel one of the many average and widely published syndicated strips they feature instead.
This cancellation ends the current story prematurely, leaving Nicky's friend Ella Steiner searching for her at the bottom of the sea after they'd succeeded in destroying the secret oceanfloor base of an evil billionaire striving for world domination. Will she ever be found? Will she ever return? Who knows?
There are no plans for myself and Willem Ritstier to continue producing Nicky Saxx in another form. We loved doing it as a newspaper strip, and we wouldn't enjoy doing it in any other format. It just wouldn't be the same. We'll be working on new things together, and other things separately. Look out for more news on this, later.
One new Nicky Saxx collection is due to appear, featuring stories 19 and 20. Nicky's last adventure will be produced by Bee Dee as a special edition.
