'Toon and Toos Brodeloos', VPRO-Gids #13, 1976. In this episode, they meet the comedy group Farce Majeur.
Rob Gorter was a Dutch cartoonist, caricaturist and illustrator, who also published under the pen name Roggel. He was most notable as a sports cartoonist and caricaturist for many niche magazines, including the comic 'Harro Hairtrick' in Sports Express. Gorter was also one of several cartoonists to contribute to the collective comic 'Toon en Toos Brodeloos' (1976) in the underground magazine Tante Leny Presenteert. He additionally drew the children's comic 'Jappie' and various educational comics ('Buro Moeilijke Zaken', 'De Familie Hatweeootje').
Life and career
Born in Rotterdam in 1945, Rob Gorter made his graphic debut in the Limburg magazine Ut. Throughout his career, he was mainly active as a commercial artist. He regularly produced artwork for Hans van Beers and Jan Smeets of the Sittard youth centre Don Kiesjot, who also organized the annual Pinkpop festival from 1970. Since the 1980s, Gorter has been the house illustrator of the Alpha Group, a company in Oud-Beijerland which provides promotional gifts, premiums and fashion logistics. Among the company's many clients are the union FNV, stores like C&A, M&S and Neckermann, the clothing brand Mexx, the Red Cross, the Ministry of Waterways and Public Works, and the banking industry. Rob Gorter passed away in 2017. His obituary notice came with a recent self-portrait.
Jappie
Rob Gorter's earliest comic strip was a children's series, 'Jappie'. It ran in De Nieuwe Limburger, a newspaper circulating in the Dutch province Limburg, and in Rotterdamsch Nieuwsblad, a paper syndicated in the city Rotterdam.
Sports comics
As an avid soccer fan, Gorter made caricatures for Sport Express and Voetbal International, while the first magazine also ran his strip 'Harro Hairtrick'. According to an article in Leeuwarder Courant of 14 July 1969, Gorter applied a style similar to that of famous sports cartoonist Dik Bruynesteyn. Bruynesteyn didn't mind, and was even asked to fill in for the young artist during a holiday break. Bruynesteyn grabbed this chance and in return mimicked Gorter's style in detail, while signing the work with "Rob Gortig" ("Gortig" meaning "going too far" in Dutch). Gorter briefly worked with Bruynesteyn for a short while on the comic 'Chris Crack' in 1970. He has been equally active as a cartoonist for several magazines involving the sports swimming, korfball and handball.
Toon en Toon Brodeloos
Gorter made a contribution to Evert Geradts' underground comic magazine Tante Leny Presenteert in 1972. He was one of the artists involved in the 'Toon en Toos Brodeloos' strip, which a team of seven artists produced in 1976 for VPRO-Gids, the magazine of broadcasting company VPRO. Each episode was a satirical story about one of the Dutch broadcasting companies, drawn by a different artist. Gorter did the one about NCRV, while the other artists were Joost Swarte (AVRO), Evert Geradts (KRO), Joost Troost (EO), Harry Buckinx (VPRO), Aart Clerkx (VARA) and Fred Julsing (TROS). The stories were collected in a book by Har van Fulpen's Drukwerk in 1976.
Cartoon by Rob Gorter.
Buro Moeilijke Zaken / De Familie Hatweootje
In September 1976, Gorter started drawing the strip 'Buro Moeilijke Zaken' in Apo-nu, an information magazine of the city of Rotterdam. He additionally drew 'De Familie Hatweeootje', a promotional comics booklet for the Drinking water pipeline Rotterdam. The characters show similarities to Robert van der Kroft's 'Droppie Water' (1982), made for the district water control board of Rotterdam.
Self-portrait, printed in his obituary notice, 2017.