'My longing for clarity doesn’t always mesh well with the art academy.'

ArtEZ Studium Generale asked you to create portraits of its seven team members. Can you tell us a bit about the process and how you approached the assignment?

‘I started by showing them a number of my portraits to see what style appealed to them most. Next, I travelled to Arnhem to meet the team members and to make portrait photographs, to use as the basis for my drawn portraits. Then I set to work in the selected style, submitted a few drafts, and incorporated the feedback I received. The first portrait was a longer process with quite a few email exchanges. This helped me to define my work method, after which I could work more quickly. I regularly received some feedback about the resemblance, for example if I had made a nose too large, or someone felt I made them look old. I do like to magnify particular features, to make the portrait a bit cartoon-like, but of course the people concerned also want to be pictured favourably, and I understand that. To safeguard the resemblance I made a line drawing, based on the photograph. I then took a freer approach to fleshing out the portraits. I think that the first few portraits in this series are still quite neat and restrained, while I took more liberty in the later portraits. Personally I’m most pleased with the results of the more casual style.' 

Why does making portraits appeal to you?

'It runs in the family. My father also drew family portraits. I focused a lot on self-portraits in the early stages of my study, and I delved into the various aspects of portraits for my dissertation, Het gezicht achter het portret (‘The face behind the portrait’). Why do portraits get made, what form did self-portraits first take, why do people often see faces in inanimate objects, and so on? I’m also very fond of editorial illustration, which I also see as a form of portraiture. The illustration you make reveals something about you as the maker.

Portraits are very human. It is an art to portray the other or a situation in such a way that the other also recognises himself or herself in the portrait. Indirectly, you get to know the person you’re portraying. And you also get to know yourself. My series of self-portraits reveal how I see myself and the world around, without glasses. Self-portraits always tell you something about how a person views himself or looks around.'

Can you tell us something about your development in the past few years, while studying Illustration at ArtEZ in Zwolle? How did you establish your own style and work method?

'When I started this study, it took quite a bit of searching and getting used to at first. I like assignments to be clear, I need a framework. Before ArtEZ I did graphic design at an MBO (intermediate vocational school). There, assignments are always very clear. The graduation assignment was also described very clearly. But at the HBO level (university of applied sciences), it’s more like, ‘just start’. That’s a big difference. And if assignments are vague, then I tend to start drifting, and nothing gets done. At ArtEZ I would occasionally receive the comment that I had done exactly what the teacher had given as an example. But conversely, if an assignment is clear, then it can really trigger me to deliver good work. As an example, I remember an assignment to create three posters that each revealed something about me. I made posters about my sports club, my favourite pastimes, and one of my many tastes in music. I just needed some time to figure this out and to learn how to deal with it.

That’s also why I did the third year at ArtEZ twice, and I’m really happy I did. While repeating the third year, a new and more project-based lesson method was introduced which worked a lot better for me. Each time we spent two weeks working on a single project, and once that was done we started on a new one. For instance, we would spend two weeks on editorial research and then two weeks on typography, and after that we did a project on storytelling. It suited me very well to concentrate on one activity at a time.

Alongside my graduation project, this year I did a project with De Groene Amsterdammer magazine, making illustrations for articles. This was also very enjoyable because of the framework of having a clear theme, a clear format, and a predetermined publication platform. This works very well for me.

This longing for clarity can be a bit challenging, though. It is important to have structure and fixed rituals, certainly in this time of corona. If I can do things the way I’m used to, then it works out. A clear planning and rhythm are important here. A well-organised project or clear assignment can help me create more clarity for myself.’

Do you find that the teaching staff show sufficient understanding for your desire to have clarity?

'I don’t have the feeling that teachers understand me for 100%. Though sometimes I do. Eva Blaak is my graduation mentor and I do have the feeling that she understands how things work for me. Other teachers say: ‘Just seize the freedom and start!’ But then I’m not very open about it, either. I find it hard to walk up to teachers and to explain these things. And whenever I have some problem or issue, then I am inclined to want to solve it on my own. That’s also part of the feedback I’ve received. Teachers would say: ‘It’s OK to have another conversation, but there’s little point if there’s nothing to talk about.’

Sometimes teachers try to make me see things their way. That’s also something I find quite challenging about the art academy: being confronted with all these different opinions. One teacher says this, another one says that. It sometimes make me spin in all directions at once. What do I think? I had to learn to bracket off the teachers’ opinions and to figure out what my personal position is. And that’s an ongoing process. I am open to suggestions and feedback, but I do try to stay true to myself.’ 

Tell us about your graduation year, what are you or have you been working on?

'I started my internship with Jasper Rietman, an alumnus of ArtEZ Illustration, in September. It’s a bit strange to do an internship under these corona conditions. I have worked a lot from home. Jasper Rietman is fond of the clear line, a bit comic book-like. I had started on my graphic novel about corona at the end of my (repeat) third year, and I discussed that with Jasper as well. We settled on a work method in which I performed a shadow assignment for Jasper in one week, and created a page for my graphic novel the next week. Jasper offered detailed feedback, which was very useful. It was a wonderful internship, and I look back with pleasure on the kind of work it let me do.

After my internship I finished my dissertation, and now I’m working visually again. My graphic novel on corona has become my graduation project. It is about a virus, not necessary corona, and it has the main character waking up in a world where people have lost all their freedom. It’s partly inspired by the futuristic setting of the books 1984 by George Orwell and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, that’s something that appeals to me. It feels good to be working on an actual product now, it gives me something to hold onto. And besides making illustrations, I am also writing text. I always thought it would be great to create my own story and book. I’m really curious to see where it will take me.'

ArtEZ Studium Generale curates and organises gatherings, talks, training courses, podcasts and publications about the state of the arts and its relation to today’s challenges, ranging from immediate societal issues to bold abstract concepts.