'Koning Arthur' (from the 1990 'Suske En Wiske Familiestripboek').
Rik Dewulf is a Belgian comic creator and children's book illustrator. He is best-known for his collaborations with Marc Daniëls (who called themselves "De Marck & De Wulf") in their Studio Max! comics. Their most notable creation was the children's adventure series 'Stam & Pilou' (1999), made for the Belgian postal services, De Post. They additionally made celebrity comics about cyclist Eddy Planckaert and his family ('De Planckaerts', 2004-2005), the TV comedy character Kamiel Spiessens ('Kamiel in Vuur en Vlam', 2007) and table tennis champion Jean-Michel Saive ('Jean-Michel Saive', 2012). As a solo artist, Dewulf created the weekly gag comic 'Happy' (1984-1989) for Stipkrant and the medieval humor series 'Koning Arthur' for Suske en Wiske Weekblad. Between 1989 and 2002, he was additionally an assistant for Merho on 'De Kiekeboes'.
Early life and career
Rik Dewulf was born in 1958 in the Brussels suburb Sint-Jans Molenbeek/Molenbeek-Saint-Jean. For commercial reasons, he spelled his name "Rik De Wulf" during his Studio Max! collaborations. As an artist, he is self-trained. He studied Economy and modern languages and never went to an art academy. Still, Dewulf enjoyed drawing and painting, which in 1984 motivated him to become a freelance comic artist. At the start of his career, he worked as a lay-out artist at publishing house Infodok in Leuven.
'Happy'. Happy wonders why Grandpa threw a bucket of water over him in the middle of the night.
Happy
Between 1984 and 1989, Dewulf created the weekly gag strip 'Happy' for Stipkrant, a children's supplement of the newspapers Het Nieuwsblad, De Standaard, Het Handelsblad, De Gentenaar and De Landwacht. Happy is a girl with a single hair in which she wears a ribbon. Many gags feature her in slapstick situations with her bald, mustached grandfather. One book collection was published, 'Dat Doet De Deur Dicht' (Infodok, 1985). On his website, Dewulf offers three additional book collections as free downloads.
Koning Arthur
Dewulf's next comic project was 'Koning Arthur' (1986), his first attempt at creating longer stories, for which he initially used the pen name "Pias". The series was a humorous take on the legends of King Arthur and Lancelot. The adventures, varying from 6 to 23 pages in length, appeared in the annual holiday books of Willy Vandersteen's comic series 'Suske en Wiske', published by Standaard Uitgeverij. Several stories are available as free downloads on Dewulf's website. Between 1993 and 1998, new adventures of 'Happy' (this time with hair) and 'Koning Arthur' ran in Suske en Wiske Weekblad.
De Kiekeboes
During the 1990s, Dewulf assisted Merho on his popular comic book series 'De Kiekeboes', collaborating on from the album 'Zeg het Met Bloemen' (#57, 1993) through 'Taxi Comitée' (#93, 2002). Thanks to his experience with comics in a medieval setting, Dewulf wrote the synopsis of the 92nd 'Kiekeboes' album 'De Heeren van Scheurbuyck', in which medieval versions of the main Kiekeboe characters appear.
De Marck & Dewulf.
Studio Max!
In the 1980s, Dewulf began an enduring collaboration with fellow comic artist Marc Daniëls. Their first collective work was a comic strip called 'Moya Moya' and some advertising artwork. In 1998, they truly joined forces and founded Studio Max! in Meise, focusing on the production of comics on commission and commercial illustrations, as well as workshops in comic art for children and young adults. Under the title 'Grappen & Grollen' (2000-2001), Studio Max! released two collections with jokes created by their students. Working for Studio Max! were the artists Steve Van Bael, Tim "Tibo" Bolssens, Emiel De Bolle, Caroline "Cargo" Godts, Steven De Rie, Joseph Vance, Daniel Van de Voorde and Jos Vanspauwen, as well as a host of colorists, translators and technical aids. The studio was active until 2010.
Stam & Pilou
In 1999, Studio Max! was hired by the Belgian postal services, De Post, to create two mascots for their junior stamp collectors club and its magazine, StamPilou. De Marck and Dewulf introduced a boy, Stam, and a girl, Pilou, who live in the same neighborhood. The good friends are often pitted against Pilou's grandfather Fons, who used to be a postman, but is now a stamp collector. Known as 'De Onvrijwillige Avonturen van Stam & Pilou' ("The Involuntary Adventures of Stam & Pilou"), the series ran in the StamPilou club magazine, but was so popular that De Post also launched a book collection in cooperation with Standaard Uitgeverij. The series was also made available in book format and, between 2000 and 2002, ran in Suske en Wiske Weekblad.
Stam & Pilou #2 - 'Opa Fons Flipt!' by Studio Max!.
Comics on commission
Other comic albums commissioned to Studio Max! were 'Het Geheim van de Boskapel' (2004), a comic book celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Buggenhout Forest Chapel, and the bilingual album 'De Magische Schilders van Jette/Les Peintres Magiques de Jette' (2009), about famous painters from Jette: René Magritte, Victor Petré, Jan Verdoodt, René Chauvenheid, Fernand Poncelet and Eric Daniëls. For comic legend Jacques Martin and Éditions Casterman, De Marck and Dewulf illustrated the 28th installment of 'Les Voyages d'Alix', dealing with Alexander the Great (2009). This educational book series was a spin-off of Martin's comic series 'Alix', offering backgrounds and information about countries and civilizations from Antiquity. For publisher European Treasure of Durbuy, De Marck and Dewulf created the interactive treasure hunt comic book 'Ontdek de schatten van het surrealistische Brussel' ('Discover Surrealist Brussels' Treasures', 2010), available in Dutch, French and English.
Celebrity comics
The Studio Max! team also plunged into the popular wave of Flemish celebrity comics. They first tied in with the reality TV show about the Belgian cyclist Eddy Planckaert and his family, 'De Planckaerts' (2004-2005). Two albums were published by Van Halewyck. In 2007, Dewulf and Daniëls created 'Kamiel in Vuur en Vlam!' (2007), a celebrity comic book starring Kamiel Spiessens, the signature character of comedian Chris Van den Durpel. Self-published by Studio Max!, the book was made on commission by the St. Niklaas fire department and the Proximus Foundation, and aimed to teach young readers about fire prevention.
'Knuf Plast In Bed' (2011).
Children's book illustrations
In addition to comics, Dewulf has also been active as an illustrator for the children's book publishers Bakermat and Clavis. He livened up the pages of several picture book series, including Gerlinde Vandenberghe's 'Knuf' (2011-2012), about a little boy and his cuddly toy, the adventures of the chicken 'Lotta' by Diane Put (2012- ) and Ruth Brillens' 'Pauwtje Pio', about a peacock (2018- ). The artist's son Tom Dewulf was the creator of two children's musicals based on the 'Lotta' picture books, and the songwriter for the songbook 'Het Grote Muziekboek van Lotta' (2021). Father and son Dewulf also collaborated on the picture books 'Pico de Vreemde vogel (in de klas)' (2023) and the 'Ik Voel Me Goed' series, dealing with feelings and self-esteem.
Graphic contributions
Studio Max! additionally contributed to comic stamps-related publications of the Belgian Comic Strip Center in Brussels, namely 'Kerststerren van de 9de Kunst' (2002) and 'Hulppost' (2003). In 2009, Marc Daniëls, Rik Dewulf and Steven Dupré wrote the story 'De Sage van de Bronzen Man', for the collective comic book 'Brussel In Beeldekens' (Vlaamse Stripgilde, 2009), a collective comic anthology with real-life anecdotes about the history of Brussels.
'Lotta The Chicken'.