'Luk'.
Jos Vanspauwen is a Flemish comic artist, who is mainly known as an inker for Studio Max, Dirk Stallaert, Marc Verhaegen, Merho and Charel Cambré. He has furthermore worked as a cartoonist and comic artist for local papers from the Genk and Hasselt region.
Life and career
Vanspauwen was born in 1954 in Genk and attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Hasselt. He ranks Marc Sleen, Willy Vandersteen, Jef Nys, Hergé, Franz and Yves Swolfs among his artistic influences. His first professional work was the comic 'Het Web van Hij', which he started with Noël Slangen, the well-known communication advisor and spin doctor for various Flemish politicians. The project was however never finished. He found employment with Studio Vandersteen as one of the pencillers and inkers of 'Bessy' stories for the German market under supervision of Jeff Broeckx between 1981 and 1989. When the series was cancelled, he contributed to several local weekend papers. He made cartoons for Jet Magazine, and the bi-weekly gag strip 'Luk' voor De Vinstermik, a local paper from Hasselt. He has additionally worked with Ivan Claeys on a comic story about "Het Borrelmanneke". The so-called "drink lad" is a statue which personifies the connection between Hasselt's rich connection with the jenever industry. Vanspauwen drew the 16-page comic album under the pen name "Joseph Vance" in 1996.
In the early 1990s he also worked on properties like 'The Smurfs' for Studio Peyo. He returned to the mainstream comic industry in 2004, when Studio Max (De Marck & De Wulf) searched an inker for their 'Stam & Pilou' series (2004-2010). He since then worked as an inker for a great many authors. He inked Dirk Stallaert's 'Mieleke Melleke Mol' since 2007, and nearly every production of Marc Verhaegen since 2006, including 'Senne en Sanne' and the educational comic albums for Eureducation. Since 2011 he inks the popular comic series 'De Kiekeboes' for Merho, and he furthermore inks the work of Charel Cambré ('Albert & Co', 'Jump' and his productions for Studio 100) and Steve Van Bael ('Figaro', 2010-2011). Vanspauwen does his inking work completely digital since 2006. He is furthermore active as a caricaturist for commercial clients, and he gives workshops in comics art and cartooning.
Graphic contributions
He paid homage to Pom in the collective tribute album 'Op Het Spoor van Pom' (2011).