Postcards

Especially for the coming exposition I have produced two sets of postcards. Each set consists of six cards and is wrapped in a semi-transparant bag. One set shows pages from my graphic novels, but without text. The nice thing is that even without words the images seem to tell a small story.

The other six cards carry images of my new story Scherven. All illustrations show scenes taking place in may 1940. On five of them you can see things that happen in the story on the 10th of may 1940, the day the Germans invaded Holland. The adventures of the maincharacter Victor on that day, will take up a large part of the first book.

Both sets will be for sale for the first time at the opening of my exposition at Lilys coming sunday.

Opening expo next sunday

Coming sunday, 30th of november at 16.oo hrs, my exposition at Lilys will be opened. Illustrations related to my books and my new story Scherven will be shown. The work has different sizes, varying from 70x100 centimeters to 30x30 and most of the illustrations are for sale. Of course, all my work is framed and signed. Apart from enjoying the illustrations, visitors have the possibility to really step into my imagery and get an all-time memory. I realize this sounds quite mysterious, but I want to keep it that way till the opening, so come and see it!

At the opening I will sign my books and also have some new work, about which I will tell you in my next post.

Lilys is at Weimarstraat 58, The Hague and the exposition lasts till 27th of december.

At sunday 21th of december I will be at the gallery again to sign my books. I hope to see you at one of these days!

Exposition!

I have got an invitation from Lily Priester to expose illustration-work in her Gallery Lilys in The Hague! Lily wants to show all kind of different forms of art in her gallery: from paintings to textile art, from sculptures to photography and now also comic-related illustrations. The opening of my exposition will be at sunday the 30th of november at 16.00 hours. 

From then on I will show work related to my first three graphic novels and work that has to do with my new story Scherven. At the opening I also will sign my books for everybody who want to buy one. Within a short time I will tell you more about the expo.

Making illustrations for a change

The new story Splinters I'm currently working on, is going to be a long one. I think Book One will consist of 250 to 300 pages. Apart from my daily work as a designer, it means a drawing-marathon during evenings and week-ends and it asks a lot of discipline to bring the story to an end. 

Don't misunderstand me, I like drawing it, but sometimes I feel like doing something else for a change. For instance making illustrations related to Splinters. I use different material then, like pastel pencils. They give a sensitive, grainy character that fits nice to the atmosphere of the story. I like to show you some of the illustrations now and then. Here are the first three of the maincharacters of Splinters.

The use of color in Splinters

My new story Splinters is playing in different periods before, during and after the Second Worldwar. The present time in the story is the year 1946. The year in which Victor and Esther meet again. There are also a lot of flashbacks to the years before the war and the war years themselves. To make clear to the reader in which part the story is, I have given each period its own colour palette.

The years before the war are drawn in warm grey, which refers to black and white pictures and the period of crisis in the Thirties.

The war years themselves are coloured sepia. Brownish colours that have a relation with the sepia photographs from the beginning of the last century. The 'present' (1946) is made in 'greyish' full colour. That kind of full colour appeared in pictures shortly after the war (even already in some pictures taken during the war).

I also coloured the background of the pages. The pages about the years before and during the war have black backgrounds and those that play after the war are kept white. On the one hand the black background together with the warm grey and sepia colors shows the gloominess of the (pre) war period. On the other hand, the white pages with the cautious full colour drawings show something of the hope just after the war. So the use of different colour palettes in Splinters is not only functional, but also has an emotional component.

Comment and send!

As a comicartist it's not easy to get your stories published or get publicity about it. A lot of people still think comics are meant for children. But that's history since a long time. Especially Graphic Novels are responsible that comics are taken more serious, but, as I said before, there are not many ways to draw the public's attention.

A weblog is one of the posibilities and that's why I want to ask you, dear visitor, to send the link of this blog to people you think could be interested. You can help to spread my weblog all over the world!

I also would appreciate if you would leave a comment now and then (just click on comments at the bottom of an article), with a remark or a question or with something you would like to know. It will make my blog more dynamic and interactive. I count on you, dear visitor!

The story so far

My new story Splinters  is growing and growing. In volume and in atmosphere. I have almost finished page 135 and I think at least one hundred pages will follow before I finish Book One.

I also try to catch the atmosphere of the period during and around the Second Worldwar as realistic as possible. I will come back to that later in another post.

The thread through the whole story is the meeting between Victor and Esther on saturday the 4th of May 1946 at a cemetery. A year after the war ended, they both visit the grave of a loved one. Their meeting brings back a lot of emotions and pain about the past horrible years.

On the one hand Victor is very open in telling all about his adventures as a soldier fighting the Germans, about the dramatic events during the days in May 1940 and the loss of some people.

On the other hand Esther is reserved in talking about what she has gone through, although before the war she and Victor were loversand told each other everything.

So Victor is telling a lot but when he asks Esther about her past years, she keeps distance and changes the subject. After some time at the cemetery Esther says she has to leave. Only after Victor urges her to make an appointment for the next day, she agrees. Victor hopes she will tell more about her war-years and how she survived.

After Esther has left, Victor goes home, but his meeting with Esther has brought back a lot of memories. They don't leave him alone and he shares them with the reader. The reader does not only discover what has happened to him but also sees how his personality is changing during the war. That brings him to make a decision that will influence the rest of his life.

Scraps

After making sketches and descriptions of all important characters, I decided to visualize them also in another way. I made scraps (a sort of collages) of all persons from the first book. From Victor to Geert and from Chris to Maas. I wanted the scraps to have the atmosphere of the period in which Splinters takes place.

So I bought all kind of authentic stuff, like paper, accessories, used old photo's and newspaper articles to create that authentic feel. My goal was to get more grip on the different characters, to create some -fictitious- personal history. About a characters' background, profession, circumstances, etc... That would help me to have a clearer view on how each other would act and react in Splinters.

I don't know what I am going to do with the scraps. Maybe I put them in a special quire in the book or maybe I make a seperate booklet together with the documents and photographs of the part of the story that really happened.

Character descriptions

Not only did I make sketches and drawings of the different characters, but I also made a description of each person. I have written quite extensive pieces about the maincharacters Victor and Esther. But the supporting roles weren't forgotten.

The religious Dingeman, the childish Pieter, the unpolished Corné, the wise Mr. Rozenberg etc... All of them were described, because in such a long story as Splinters, it's important to keep the characters clear and to know how a person is going to act or react when something happens. Does Pieter start crying when the war breaks out? Can Corné be kept under control when the soldiers take prisoner some enemies? And does Mr. Rozenberg stay calm and wise when the Germans start transporting Jewish people?

Character descriptions help me to answer those questions and situations in a consistent way. 

Script and characters

Splinters is going to be a long story. I think it will consist of two books. Because it will be such an extensive story I have written quite a detailed script, containing  all actions and dialogues. Of course some things change slightly while I'm drawing, but I stay rather close to the original script.

Before I started drawing the first pages I also made several sketches of the maincharacters and of the characters that have a supporting role. I found it important to have good startingpoints before I started making such a long story about such a delicate subject.

The story

I wanted to make a story about the effect of the Second Worldwar on 'normal' people. Not one with big battles and lots of blood, but a story about what happened to people who had to survive under the pressure of the enemy during the five years lasting war.

Splinters tells the story of young people losing their youth, their friends, their love  and their belief in the future. Main characters are Victor and Esther. He, a normal boy, son of a baker, living in a small village and serving the army at the beginning of the war. She, a Jewish refugee from fascist Germany, a smart girl, daughter of an antique-trader and living in the same village as Victor. They are deeply in love with each other, but then the war breaks out. In the following chaotic period they lose sight of each other: Victor fights at the warfront and Esther flees,forced by her father, together with her mother and sister.

Only a year after the war has ended Victor and Esther find each other back and can tell their stories.

How the story began

Since my childhood I have always been interested in the Second Worldwar. I read a lot of books about it and saw a lot of movies. The cruelty of the war impressed me very much, but I was also caught by the exciting stories, especially the ones about the members of the resistance. My grandmother told me several stories about the war, mostly about the  five days in may 1940 and the period before the war began. In the small village were she, my grandfather and my mother lived an air-defense battalion was stationed. The soldiers stayed at the houses of the citizens.

My grandparents also gave accomodation to three of them. One of them became my uncle after war, his name was Cor. Another soldier, Gijs, came around a lot during the mobilization period, and always kept in close touch with our family (till my mother died in 2001). When I was a boy I used to call him 'uncle', although he wasn't a real uncle. As a boy I also stayed with him and his wife during holidays and did holiday work in his printing office. He also told me warstories and was somebody who stimulated me to use my drawing-talent.

After my three books came out I visited uncle Gijs to give him the books and told him I was considering making a story about the Second Worldwar. Immediately he searched for some books and also showed me his diary from that period. He said I could borrow it and happy and surprised as I was I asked him if I could use parts of it for my new book. He agreed with it and I left not much later, promising him I would come back to show parts of my new story. Ten months later he died.