I am a artist and art teacher. Below is an extensive story about my life so far. In two weeks, I’ll test you with a written quiz to see if you’ve remembered everything correctly!
CHILDHOOD
As a child, I was always drawing and painting. It all started with knights, Romans, castles, and so on. I filled whole stacks of paper with them. I loved comics like Asterix, Suske en Wiske, Lucky Luke, and Tintin. I also enjoyed drawing my own comics.
I also liked to sketch things from life, especially everyday objects, like my room, the living room, the cat, and the view from a window.
Below are some drawings from my childhood, from around 1982 to 1995 (my elementary and high school years).
ART ACADEMY
After high school, I went to art academy. It was a challenging time with long days, as I had chosen to also pursue the teaching qualification right away. The practical part of the training was a bit of a letdown for me, and my motivation and enjoyment in drawing and painting really took a dive. Thankfully, that has completely come back!
The theory, on the other hand, I found absolutely fascinating. I had very passionate teachers for art and cultural history, as well as for pedagogy and subject didactics.
During this time, I drew and painted a lot of trains, as I traveled daily from Culemborg to the academy in Amsterdam. I also started doing Formula 1 drawings and paintings during my time at the academy.
I completed my studies in 1999.
INSPIRATION
I paint a wide range of subjects because I am easily inspired by the things I see. These can be the most absurdly ‘simple’ things, like a certain play of light on a leaf, to the complex shapes of a Formula 1 car. I always feel like I need to do something with it, and by painting, I can somehow transform it into something tangible.
Motorsport
In the early 1990s, I watched a Formula 1 race on TV for the first time, and since then, I’ve hardly missed a race. I also love other racing series. The cars themselves are already stunning, and painting them is a way to express that experience.
During my time at art school, I occasionally painted Formula 1 cars, but around 2014, it became my main theme. For years, I focused almost exclusively on motorsport paintings. Nowadays, I like to mix it up again with other subjects.
In the slides below, you can see the development of my Formula 1 paintings from 2014 to now.
COMICS
My earliest memories are images from a book by Willy Vandersteen: Rikki and Wiske in Chocowakije (Belgian comics). I couldn’t read yet, but the pictures told a story full of excitement and most of all, humor!
As a child, I collected a huge stack of comic books, and I still love them to this day. I’ve also drawn many comics myself, either alone or with friends. It’s amazing how much you can make happen on a flat surface. Nowadays, I don’t have enough time for it, but I occasionally participate in Inktober.
For Inktober, you get a new prompt word each week, and then you create a drawing based on it. I use the prompt words to make short comics.
First YouTube Video (2018)
In the photo, you can see me working (04-2018) on a painting of a rally car. This was also my very first YouTube video! I thought it would be fun to film the painting process and upload it to YouTube. After that, I got the idea to create drawing and painting tutorials as well.
In short: I have fond memories of creating this painting!
Teacher
I am a certified art teacher in drawing and painting, and I truly enjoy guiding others through the creative process. Learning to draw and paint requires two things: mastering techniques and developing, as well as continuously refining, your perception.
Most people can learn the techniques quite well. Concepts like color theory, color mixing, composition, perspective, assessing tonal values, and composition are all skills that can be taught.
However, developing perception is a lifelong process. It also requires a willingness to accept that you’re often wrong. We tend to think we know what we see, but it’s usually far from the truth!
Learning to draw and paint is mostly about learning to observe. This is also why you can start at any age.
Once you begin drawing and painting yourself, your world will look completely different (usually more beautiful!).
For the Dutch membersites Tekenclub.nl (drawingclub) and Schilderclub.nl (paintingclub) I create video tutorials. For Tekenclub, I made a 43-part course on perspective drawing and a beginner’s course in digital drawing.
For these websites I also write blogs.
YouTube (Dutch channel)
As I mentioned earlier, I made my first YouTube video in 2018. I’ve always been interested in cameras, photo, and video editing, and I was also curious about how YouTube worked.
At first, I mainly made timelapse videos, but then I realized there were hardly any videos about drawing and painting in Dutch. I thought it would be fun to do something with that!
I love making videos and enjoy a good challenge. Painting and talking at the same time was really hard for me in Dutch at first. When I paint off-camera, I barely use my analytical brain; I just dive in and work intuitively.
In a teaching role, though, I have to explain what I’m doing and demonstrate things in a logical way.
Now that I’m used to painting and talking at the same time, I thought it would be a nice challenge to start an English channel as well. In the beginning, it was extremely tough. Speaking English isn’t a big problem on its own, but explaining while painting in a foreign language is very challenging. Little by little, though, I’m starting to get the hang of it.
Atelier Magazine
I also write instructional articles for the Dutch magazine: Atelier Magazine. Each issue has a different theme. I create a painting, photograph the steps, and then describe the painting process in an article.
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