'De Muziekbuurters'.
Ben Westervoorde is an Amsterdam-based comic artist and illustrator. He is best known for his long-running children's series 'De Muziekbuurters' (1994-2006), which ran in respectively Taptoe and Flo, and 'Yvonne de Amazone' in PaardenSport (2012-2013). For a more adult audience he illustrated a biographical comic book about Dutch folk singer André Hazes, written by Jan-Willem de Vries.
Early life and career
Ben Westervoorde was born in 1963 in Velsen. A self-taught artist, he has been working as a freelance artist for clients like Malmberg, Standaard Uitgeverij and Vanin Uitgeverij since 1994. His first published comic stories appeared in alternative magazines like Coyote (1983), Posse (1994) and Incognito (1994).
De Muziekbuurters and other series
Westervoorde first came to notice with 'De Muziekbuurters', a comic that he made for Taptoe from 1994 to 2004, first with Hanco Kolk and later with Evert Geradts as scriptwriters. The comic was then continued in Flo until 2006. He has worked at Studio De Wittenkade, the art studio of Peter de Wit, and he has also contributed the mini comic 'Cover' to the Pincet collection of Kolk and De Wit's label De Plaatjesmaker.
'Siglo XXV'.
Westervoorde has subsequently drawn 'Siglo XXV' for National Geographic Junior (scripted by Maaike Hartjes, 2004-06), 'Benny's Brein' for PLAY (2010), 'Familie Rekels & Co' for Rekels (2010-13), as well as several comics for trade journals, such as the gag strip 'Conny & John' for Connexxion Magazine (2009-11). He he has also contributed several short stories to Zone 5300, MYX and Eppo. With studio colleague Peter de Wit, he made the daily rebus feature 'Rebuzz' for newspaper AD (Algemeen Dagblad) in 2007.
'Conny & John'. Translation: "Lovely! Let's go to the sun! And all that thanks to my All-In Met Connexxion Travel! What luck! Credit card?! Can't I use my OV- chip card here?!"
'Yvonne de Amazone', a funny strip about a girl who talks with her horse, first appeared in PaardenSport (2012-13), then in Tina (2015), and also in book format by Strip2000. He has worked with writer Jan-Willem de Vries on a comics biography of Dutch popular singer André Hazes (1951-2004), of which the first volume was published by Silvester Strips in November 2016. Westervoorde has made illustrations, including for several English children's books while living in South Africa for a couple of years. He is additionally a live cartoonist and gives comics workshops.
'Yvonne de Amazone'.