'Broer Konijn' (Donald Duck #48, 27 November 1976).
Ed van Schuijlenburg was a Dutch comic artist, animator and art supervisor. Between 1969 and 2006, he was a long-running contributor to the Dutch Disney publications. Besides drawing covers and comics stories, he was most notably the art corrector for the local production of Disney comics. In this occupation, he has trained several generations of new Disney artists.
Early life and animation career
Ed van Schuijlenburg (also referred to as "Eddy van Schuylenburg") was born in 1946 in Amsterdam. In September 1965, he began his career at the Toonder Studios, first in Amsterdam, later relocating to the castle in Nederhorst den Berg. At its animation department, he worked alongside Lucas Abedy (1944-2016), who was later also his colleague at the offices of the Donald Duck weekly. The team participated in the production of 'Astérix et Cléopâtre' (1968), a film by Belvision based on the comic book 'Asterix and Cleopatra' by Albert Uderzo and René Goscinny. Part of the production was contracted out to the Toonder Studios under supervision of the Danish staff animators Børge Ring, Bjørn Frank Jensen and Per Lygum. In 1967, Van Schuijlenburg also contributed to Ring's independent animated short film 'Man en Paard' (1968).
Ed van Schuijlenburg, Lucas Abedy and Theo de Kreij at the Toonder Studios. Photo: Corry van Kesteren.
Early comics
In 1969, Van Schuijlenburg became a freelance artist for De Geïllustreerde Pers, part of the VNU publishing group. With Rens Benerink, he made a couple of one-shot comic stories called 'Pepspotters', for comic magazine Pep. With Benerink as inker, he also drew stories with Hanna-Barbera's 'The Jetsons' for the monthly Flintstones comic book (for instance in issue #11 of 1969).
'Het Feest' (Pepspotter from 1971).
Donald Duck
In early 1970, Van Schuijlenburg made his first appearance in the Dutch Disney weekly Donald Duck. Along with Carol Voges and Endre Lukács, he was one of the early artists to work directly for the local production of Disney comics in the Netherlands. He made cover illustrations and comic stories with Walt Disney's 'The Big Bad Wolf'. In 1973, under editor Paul Deckers, the local production of Disney comics became more important, and Van Schuijlenburg moved on to draw stories starring 'Little Hiawatha', 'Jiminy Cricket' and his personal favorite, 'B'rer Rabbit'. Between 1973 and 1974, the rabbit appeared on the back cover of each issue, in gag comics drawn by Van Schuijlenburg. The concept and style were based on the American 'Br'er Rabbit' Sunday comic pages by Paul Murry, Dick Moores and Riley Thomson. He continued to draw longer stories with the character throughout the decade from scripts by Thom Roep and Piet Zeeman, among other writers. The inking chores on his stories were handled by either Joanika Ring or Jules Coenen.
'Br'er Rabbit' comic story from Donald Duck #20, 18 May 1979.
Art supervisor
In 1977, Van Schuijlenburg became a staff artist at VNU's youth magazine division Oberon, where in 1980 he succeeded Daan Jippes as art supervisor/corrector of the Disney comics studio. In this occupation, he was mainly active coaching other artists. During his tenure, several talented artists found their way to the magazine, such as Michel Nadorp, Wilma van den Bosch, Mau Heymans, Bas Heymans, Sander Gulien and Viktor Venema. Van Schuijlenburg and studio chief Frans Hasselaar were also responsible for contracting foreign art studios to supply the increased production. This included Spanish studios like Blai Sanchis' Studio Bonnet, Jordi Sanchis' Studio Blai, Bardon Art and José Cánovas' Comicup Studio, as well as Fabrício Grellet's Magic Eye from Brazil. The most fruitful partner proved to be Studio Comicup, which since 1987 has continued to provide a large part of the Dutch Disney artwork.
'Donald Duck Extra' (May 1986) and Donald Duck issue #48 (2 December 2005).
Artist/illustrator for Oberon
While mainly a corrector, Van Schuijlenburg continued to make an occasional cover illustration or editorial illustration for Donald Duck and the other Disney publications (for instance the cover of the annual Sinterklaas issue). At times, he also made illustrations for other Oberon titles, such as the preschool magazine Bobo. In 1985, he provided illustrations and the artwork of a funny animal comic strip with the character Hein Konijn for the Oberon book 'Goochelen met Hans Kazan', built around the famous Dutch magician. The comic was written by editor-in-chief Thom Roep. In 1988, Van Schuijlenburg made the short comic story 'Gowo en het grote ruimteavontuur' for Golden Wonder crisps, in collaboration with fellow Disney artist Wilma van den Bosch.
Recognition
During the Stripdagen in Houten, held on 26-27 September 2009, Van Schuijlenburg was awarded the Bulletje & Boonestaak Plate for his contributions to the Dutch Disney productions.
Recent years
Ed van Schuijlenburg retired in May 2006, moved from Amsterdam to Haren in the province of Groningen, and has spent his time experimenting with Flash animation and writing his memoirs.
'Hein Konijn' (From: Goochelen met Hans Kazan, 1985), marking "the first time a high hat is pulled out of a rabbit, instead of the other way around."