Gemma
As a boy, Hein de Kort drew on everything he could get his hands on. No wonder that he went on to become one of the most productive comic artists in The Netherlands. Although he studied to become a drawing teacher, he turned out an artist. De Kort found his influences in "dirty" French humorists like Reiser and Vuillemin.
He had done some cartooning during his schooldays, but he made his professional debut as a comic artist in Ger van Wulften's alternative magazine De Balloen in 1981. By then, De Kort was a one of a kind artist in The Netherlands, drawing his inspiration from pub jokes and everyday absurdities. He became one of the main representatives of Van Wulften's publishing house Espee, together with Gerrit de Jager, Wim Stevenhagen and Eric Schreurs.
Jean-Pierre
His work also found its way to magazines like De Waarheid with 'Korte Grappen' (1983) and in OOR with 'Eikels' (1984). Book collections of his work were published by Espee, and later Big Balloon and CIC. He has been an artist with Nieuwe Revu magazine since 1984, at first with 'Pardon Lul' and starting in 1990 with 'Dirk & Desiree'. Pardon Lul was also a short-lived magazine in 1988, in which De Kort published his own work, but also comics by Vuillemin and Kamagurka.
In 1985, De Kort became the house artist of comic magazine Eppo Wordt Vervolgd, making cartoons for the mail page. In the magazine's later incarnation Sjosji, he made the comic about the purple monkey 'Jean-Pierre' from 1990. In addition, De Kort took on cartooning and illustration assignments from clients like Libelle, GOLFjournaal, Sportweek and Het Financieele Dagblad. Together with Eric Schreurs, he created 'Dick van Bill' for Penthouse in 1989. In that same year, he was present in Pauze with 'Tuig'.
Dirk & Desiree (Nieuwe Revu, #9, 2011)
Besides Nieuwe Revu, De Kort's other main client is newspaper Het Parool. He started out making drawings for the children's section Goochem, and since 2002, he does the daily drawn column 'Piet & Riet van de Buis'. 2009 saw the first publication of Hein's annual 'Het Jaar van Hein'. On 15 October 1992, during the Stripdagen, Hein de Kort was awarded the Stripschapprijs for his entire oeuvre.
In 2005 De Kort made a graphic contribution to 'Suske en Wiske 60 Jaar!' (2005), which paid homage to Willy Vandersteen's 'Suske en Wiske'.
www.heindekort.nl (in Dutch)