'Plastic Libido: Een Toekomst??' (De Vrije Balloen #18, 1979).
Paul Schindeler was a Dutch graphic designer and comic artist. Prior to his successful career in advertising, he was a 1970s contributor to the alternative comic magazine De Vrije Balloen and an assistant for Theo van den Boogaard on the 'Sjef van Oekel' comic.
Early life
Paul Schindeler was born in 1955. According to a 2016 blogpost by his former colleague Rudolf Kahl, Schindeler was a savant, whose high intelligence and creativity resulted in a photographic memory, great technical skills and an unstoppable work ethic, but also caused unexpected behavior. Diagnosed with "Minimal Brain Dysfunction" (MBD), a form of autism, Schindeler shared this condition with his father, an electrical engineer at Siemens, specialized in marine installations. During World War II, father Schindeler had been put to work in Berlin, where he survived air raids and Russian imprisonment. Back home, he could remember all the Berlin street names, and tell which parts had been bombed and which had remained standing, down to the exact house numbers.
'Operation: Table-top' (De Vrije Balloen #11, 1977).
During the mid-1970s, Schindeler studied Graphic and Audiovisual Design at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam, where among his fellow students were the future comic creators Wim Stevenhagen, Gerrit de Jager and Lex van de Oudeweetering, as well as the future singer Fay Lovsky. In their student years, Schindeler and Lovsky briefly joined De Jager and Stevenhagen in their joint comic production team-up, called "Prutswerk". Together, they began making comics for the alternative comic magazine De Vrije Balloen, both individually and as a group.
'De Reis In De Tijd' (De Vrije Balloen #14, 1978).
De Vrije Balloen
Between 1977 and 1979, Schindeler made about ten contributions to De Vrije Balloen, some written by himself, others from scripts by Patty Klein. Contrary to the more cartoony creations of his college friends, he immediately showed a talent for semi-realistic artwork with detailed and technical backgrounds. Narratively, his stories dealt with scientists, secret agents and space travelers, while playing with the expectations of the readers and cynical twists. A battlefield with dead and wounded soldiers turns out to be a set of toys by a little boy ('Operation: Table-top' in De Vrije Balloen #11), an invention that will change the world forever causes murder and mayhem, but only turns out be a new kind of crisp ('Zo Zout Heeft U Het Nog Nooit...' in De Vrije Balloen #16) and a heroic time jump that allows a space traveler to warn his past self is thwarted by a silly car accident ('Perpetuum Mobile' in De Vrije Balloen #17).
Collage of comic characters from the publishing house Casterman, made by Paul Schindeler for Het Parool of 2 January 1980.
Graphic career
Through De Vrije Balloen, Schindeler ended up with the publishing house Espee, where he was an artist and graphic designer for De Stripkrant and Gummi, working alongside Rudolf Kahl. Around 1980, he was an artist for the Amsterdam newspaper Het Parool, making illustrations and graphic collages. By then, he was also working as Theo van den Boogaard's first assistant on the 'Sjef van Oekel' comic, showcasing his skills for drawing technical backgrounds and cars. His contributions appear notably in the 1982 album 'Sjef van Oekel Draaft Door', after that, his role was gradually taken over by Eric van Rootselaar and other assistants.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Schindeler was a prominent artist and visualizer in the Dutch advertising industry, based in the town of Watergang, north of Amsterdam. Thanks to his condition, he again stood out for his technical knowledge. In the Netherlands, he pioneered the "moving storyboard", and he was also one of the first illustrators to switch to digital art.
Death
At the early age of 46, Paul Schindeler died in France from a heart attack. By then, he had been divorced twice, and living with his third wife. His ex-wife had remarried to Rudolf Kahl, who raised Schindeler's two youngest children.
Paul Schindeler. Source: rudolfkahl.nl.