Gag comic by Niwi.
Nick Willemse is a Dutch cartoonist and comic artist, who has worked under the pen name Niwi and Niwi Ruimtekiwi. After starting in the Dutch small press and webcomic scene of the early 2000s, he has been making comics for commercial clients, most notably the weekly comic for the Inkooptopper website, 'Inkooptopper'. Other gag comics by his hand have been 'Dr. Saterpluis', 'Camping Het Hijgend Hertje' and 'Gordon'.
Early life
Born in 1980, Nick Willemse - also referred to as Nicky Willemse - got his education at the Utrecht School of the Arts (HKU), but as a cartoonist he is mostly self-taught. He has named André Franquin, Hanco Kolk and Maaike Hartjes as notable influences on his work. While his early comics were published under the pen name Niwi Ruimtekiwi, he later dropped the second part of the name and went by just "Niwi".
Rotkopf, published on the online platform Stripster in 2009. Translation: "This experiment is called 'Schrödinger's cat'. As long as the cat is locked inside with a tube of poison, he is in a quantum state and both alive and dead." - "And if the box opens?" - "Some or other dumb kid."
Personal comics
Between 1999 and 2003, Niwi contributed his early comic work to the small press comic magazine De Stripper, edited by Sven van der Hart. He then started his online daily comic 'Dr. Saterpluis', about an "all-round disciplined physician with a dark sense of humor and a healthy dose of sarcasm". In 2003, the cartoonist self-published one book collection. He has since then regularly published his autobiographical 'Niwi' comics online, of which he self-published the short detective story 'De Ontvoering van Misty' (2016). His comic strip 'Rotkopf' (2009-2010) has appeared on the online Stripster platform and in the 2010 comic paper Stripkrant.
In addition, Niwi contributed to the small press comic magazine De Lijn, edited by Johan de Rooij and the Belgian comic magazine P@per (with his comic strip 'Camping Het Hijgend Hertje', 2014). Niwi was also one of the participating artists with Gerrie Hondius' 'Teken Mijn Verhaal' initiative, a foundation that draws out the comic stories created by handicapped children.
Commercial comics
More commercially, Niwi has made comics and cartoons for a host of clients, including the Triaspect software company, the Belgian cable broadband provider Telenet, the culinary website Kookjij.nl (the weekly comic strip 'Gordon', 2011) and the auction sites Biedplaats, Epaloe and LavoroFatto. His most notable commercial comic has been the weekly 'Inkooptopper' strip, about the corporate world of acquisition, which he made in collaboration with the writers Abe Goldman and John Weinstock for the Inkooptopper knowledge platform for purchasers. Between 2013 and 2016, four book collections have appeared, followed in 2019 by a special 'Defensie Inkooptopper' book for the Ministry of Defense. Part of the proceeds were donated to the CliniClowns Foundation.
'Inkooptopper'.