'Japie Eigenwijs'.
Wim Giesbers was a Dutch animator and illustrator, who had a very short stint as a comic artist working with Jan Kruis. Together, they made the children's riddle comic 'Japie Eigenwijs' (1962) for Olidin magazine. The animator Wim Giesbers should not be confused with the Nijmegen photographer Wim Giesbers (1929-2021).
Early life and career
Nothing is known about Wim Giesbers' early life. The Rotterdam-based artist first came to notice in 1957, when he submitted several drawings to a contest held by newspaper Het Vrije Volk. He won a prize in April 1957, and one week later, the newspaper praised him for his knowledge of perspective, in the 20 April 1957 issue. Giesbers was 23 at the time, so his birth year is either 1933 or 1934. Giesbers studied Publicity and Advertising at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rotterdam, where Jan van Haasteren was one of his fellow students.
Japie Eigenwijs
During the 1960s, Giesbers assisted Jan Kruis on several advertising projects for the Van Maanen agency in The Hague, alongside other Kruis co-workers like Jan van der Voo and Martin Lodewijk. One of his co-creations with Kruis was the comic 'Japie Eigenwijs', a riddle comic in which a smart kid solves a mystery. The strip ends with the question if the reader knows how Japie came up with the solution. The feature was created for Olidin, a promotional comic magazine produced by Van Maanen for the Junior Club of petrol company Shell from 1958 to 1963. 'Japie Eigenwijs' appeared in the early 1960s, and was in a way the successor of the similar riddle comic 'Ben Jij Een Goede Detective?' by P. Visser. Other important contributors to Olidin were Emile Brumsteede, Frits Godhelp, Friso Henstra, Niek Hiemstra, Hans G. Kresse, Jan Kruis, Ted Mathijsen, Joost Rietveld, Chris Roodbeen, Jan van der Voo, Dick Vlottes, Carol Voges, Joop Wiggers and Piet Wijn.
'Japie Eigenwijs' (Olidin #12, 1962).
Animation career
In 1959, Giesbers provided the illustrations for a book with Chinese poems, published by Van Sijn & Zonen in Rotterdam. It contained translations of work by poets like Li-Tai Bo, Syn-Yu-Seng and Wang We. Later in his career, Giesbers turned to animation, focusing on corporate films and commercials. By 1964, he was working at the animation department of the Toonder Studios as a background and storyboard artist. At the studio, he also acted as tutor for the young animator Dino Candotti. According to the August 1976 issue of comic news magazine Striprofiel, Giesbers was also working with comic artist Peter de Smet on an animated adaptation of the comic series 'De Generaal', but the project remained unfinished. In 1977, he provided animated opening credits and promotional spots for the worker's broadcasting corporation VARA, which had just received a new design and house style created by Swip Stolk and René Coelho. At the time, the more prominent role of the corporation's iconic rooster mascot caused controversy, mainly within the VARA's own ranks. One fear was that the animated animal would replace the human announcers. In her 'Sonja's Goed Nieuws Show' of 8 December 1978, VARA star host Sonja Barend called the creation "horrific". In April 1979, the whole matter was chronicled and exhibited in an exposition about Stolk and Coelho's work at the Groninger Museum. Giesbers was also one of the animators of the 1987 'Home of the Future' campaign by Philips.
One of the VARA spots featured an entire rooster choir.