Arend van Dam was born in Vlaardingen, The Netherlands in 1945. He studied psychology st the University of Amsterdam and went on to become an illustrator, comic artist and cartoonist. He created several comics for advertisements, such as 'In-tel-ligentje' for Intel Personeelsblad (from 1972), 'Rabofantje' for Raboband (from 1975) and 'Suup' in Diligentia (from 1976). He sometimes used the pseudonym Zetbé.