'Ype+Willem'.
Ype Driessen studied Artificial Intelligence but has been making professional photo comics since 2004. His first creation was '3hoog', a series about three students, published in several student magazines. In 2007, Ype started the first ever autobiographical photo comic, together with his then-boyfriend Willem. This comic, 'Ype+Willem' appeared online four times a week and has been printed in book format by publishers Catullus and Strip 2000. Driessen's photo comic has also appeared in Passionate Magazine, Stripnieuws, sQueeze and on nrcnext.nl.
'De VrijMiBoys' (Eppo #12, 2013). The characters try to activate a powerpoint presentation in preparation for a lecture... about use of audiovisual media during company presentations.
Following his break-up with Willem, Driessen has been making his photo comics under the title 'Ype'. The comic strip has also been published in the French-speaking countries as 'Yves et Guillaume'. Another photo comic by Driessen is the gag series 'De VrijMiBoys' (2013- ) that ran in Eppo magazine, among other publications. For the publishing house Strip 2000, he developed the photo webcomic 'De Uitgeverij', starring publisher Peter van der Heijden and occasionally Dutch comic artists associated with the company. He is also present in the linguistic magazine Onze Taal.
Photo comic by Ype Driessen. The characters laugh at the idea of a "plint gnome" as a comic character, until it turns out publishing company Le Lombard shows interest. Peer De Plintkabouter is a real-life character by Marq van Broekhoven.
The format of his photo comics (usually gags of 4 panels) proved so popular that Driessen has been making them into photo comic films: photographed films with speech balloons, which have appeared on Dutch TV. He additionally works as a children's book illustrator with writers like Edward van de Vendel, Floortje Zwigtman and Jan Paul Schutten. He makes the gag comic 'Zoo & Zo' with Abe Borst for KidsWeek. Ype lives and works in the city of Utrecht.
In 2020, Driessen joined 75 Dutch & Flemish comic artists to make a graphic contribution to 'Striphelden versus Corona' (Oogachtend/Uitgeverij L, 2020), a free collective comic book intended to support comic stores that had to close their doors during the lockdown at the height of the COVID-19 virus pandemic.
Panel from a photo comic by Ype Driessen.