'Hazes De Stripbiografie' Vol. 2: 'Zweet (1977-1990)'.
Ben Westervoorde is an Amsterdam-based comic artist, illustrator and live cartoonist, with a versatile comic production for children's magazines, commercial clients and graphic novels. His longest-running creation was the kids gang comic 'De Muziekbuurters' (1994-2006), which ran successively in Taptoe and Flo. Among his other co-creations have been 'Siglo XXV' (2004-2006) in National Geographic Junior, 'Familie Rekels & Co' (2010-2012) in Rekels and 'Yvonne de Amazone' (2012-2013) in Paard&Sport, as well as several installments in René Leisink's crime short story feature 'Amorfati'. With scriptwriter Jan-Willem de Vries, he created the critically praised graphic novel trilogy about Dutch folk singer André Hazes (2016-2020), as well as another informative music-related comic feature, 'Off The Record' (2022- ).
Early life and career
Ben Westervoorde was born in 1963 in IJmuiden, a port town in the municipality of Velsen. At age three, drawing became his main passion. In 1983, he had his first comic story published in the amateur comic magazine Coyote, called 'Erfenis van de Toekomst'. It took another ten years before he switched to making comics on a professional basis. After a technical education, Westervoorde held several odd jobs, including truck driver, carpet layer and steel worker, as well as outdoor sports instructor with Ardennes Adventures in Belgium. Eventually he found work as a graphic designer and illustrator with advertising agencies.
'GBSB' (Incognito #10, August 1996).
Professional cartoonist/illustrator
In 1993, Westervoorde decided to turn freelance and became a full time comic artist/illustrator. In the following year, his first new comic story appeared in the indie comic magazine Posse, after which he became a regular in Robin Schouten's small press comic magazine Incognito. Under the pen name "The Chilli-King", he notably created the cynical gag comic 'GBSB - Goede Bedoelingen, Slechte Bedoelingen' (1994-1997), and also participated in the magazine's chain comic 'Het Lieve Leven'. Westervoorde's work for Incognito was noticed by the comic creator Hanco Kolk, who invited Westervoorde to come and work at Studio De Wittenkade in Amsterdam. In addition to Kolk, he has worked there alongside fellow artists like Peter de Wit, Aloys Oosterwijk, Floris Oudshoorn, Peter Koch and Michiel de Jong. During this time, he also frequented Maaike Hartjes' studio De Zwarte Handel. When in 2007 Studio De Wittenkade was dissolved, Westervoorde joined Aloys Oosterwijk in another shared atelier, dubbed "Studio K28". As his main graphic influences, he has mentioned Willy Vandersteen, Robert van der Kroft and his tutor Hanco Kolk, as well as Yves Chaland, Moebius, Frank Miller, Peter de Wit, Kees de Boer and Mark Retera.
Since turning professional, Westervoorde has been available for all sorts of comic and illustration assignments. His comics and cartoons have appeared in newspapers and magazines like Algemeen Dagblad, National Geographic Junior, Nickelodeon Magazine, Tina and Taptoe, and he has done regular illustration work for the publishers Malmberg, Wolters Noordhoff, and Vanin, as well as the Amsterdam Chamber of Commerce KVK, the FNV union and the magazine Binnenlands Bestuur. During his regular trips to South Africa, Westervoorde has also made illustrations for English-language children's books. Since 2016, an important part of his work has been making live cartoons and infographics for organizations during conferences, brainstorming sessions, strategy discussions and workshops. He has been affiliated with the Draw Up! collective, along with Jeroen Steehouwer, Anne Stalinski, Berend Vonk and other live cartoonists. In addition, Westervoorde has given comic workshops at schools and public libraries.
'De Muziekbuurters'.
De Muziekbuurters
During the 1990s, Westervoorde also came to notice in the mainstream press. Together with studio colleague Hanco Kolk, he created the two-page comic feature 'De Muziekbuurters' (1994-2006), which ran in the Malmberg school magazine Taptoe until 2004, and then for another two years in Flo. In 2003, the comic was also printed in Belgium in Suske en Wiske Weekblad. During the later years, Evert Geradts had taken over the writing duties. Mixing recognizable contemporary subjects with straightforward humor, the comic had a diverse cast of streetwise kids, ranking in age between 7 and 12, whose everyday adventures dealt with falling in love, school, losing weight and sports. In 2002, Silvester Strips released two comic book collections of 'De Muziekbuurters'.
'Siglo XXV'.
Other comic features
Between 2004 and 2006, Westervoorde appeared in National Geographic Junior with 'Siglo XXV', a funny sci-fi comic about a boy who lives in an intergalactic space station. For the scripts, he worked together with Maaike Hartjes. With studio colleague Peter de Wit, Westervoorde made the daily rebus feature 'Rebuzz' for newspaper AD (Algemeen Dagblad), which in in 2007 shared the page with Jan Dirk Barreveld's 'Eugène', Herman Roozen's 'Eefenement' and Floor de Goede's 'Flo'. His comics have also appeared in trade journals and house organs, for instance the gag strip 'Conny & John' (2010-2011) in the monthly staff magazine of public transport company Connexxion.
'Yvonne de Amazone'.
In 2010, Westervoorde additionally created two episodes of 'Benny's Brein' (2010) for the short-lived gaming magazine PLAY, as well as the family humor comic 'Familie Rekels & Co' (2010-2012) on the back page of Rekels, a magazine for parents. A later children's comic by Westervoorde has been 'Yvonne de Amazone' (2012-2013), a gag feature about a girl who talks with her horse. It first appeared in Paard&Sport (2012-2013), and was then reprinted in Tina (2015). In 2015, Strip2000 released a book collection.
Max Rosenkrantz - 'De Laatste Rit van Gerrit' (MYX #2, 2005).
Among Westervoorde's more personal comic projects has been 'Max Rosenkrantz', a comic about pub life, told from the perspective of a bar owner in the Amsterdam Jordaan area. Dealing with themes like mourning, loss and longing, the strip has appeared in MYX (2005) and Eppo magazine (2009). Additional Westervoorde comics with a more serious undertone have appeared in Zone 5300.
Amorfati - 'Witte Kerst' (Eppo #25, 2013).
Eppo magazine
Westervoorde has also appeared regularly in Eppo magazine, starting with a 2009 reprint of his 'Max Rosenkrantz' short story. Between 2012 and 2016, he drew five installments of René Leisink's grim crime story feature 'Amorfati', an experience that allowed him to experiment graphically. In 2017 and 2021, he drew two more episodes for Stripglossy magazine, for the occasion using the pseudonym "Euroshopper", satirically referring to the budget beer brand and the low pay of comic artists. Westervoorde's more loose graphic work the 'Amorfati' stories also formed the blueprint for his own humor comic 'Arme Rijk' (2015), which he made with editor Noël Ummels as writer. The series consisted of a couple of short stories about the only man in the street who does not win in the "Postal Code Lottery", and is quite grumpy about it.
'Arme Rijk' (Eppo #18, 2015).
Music-related projects
Another keen passion of Westervoorde is music. During the 1990s, he played in the guitar band The Mauverrrs, and he has since then played in groups like Shea, Halifax, Goldzounds and I saw Les Monte. Music was also the subject of 'Cover' (2000), Westervoorde's contribution to the Pincet series of mini-comics by Hanco Kolk and Peter de Wit's De Plaatjesmaker imprint. Years later, he was approached by publisher Silvester for a graphic novel series about Dutch folk singer André Hazes (1951-2004). Written by Jan-Willem de Vries, the three-volume series 'Hazes: De Stripbiografie' (2018-2020) met with much critical acclaim for its clear storytelling and fine research.
'Hazes De Stripbiografie' Vol. 3: 'Tranen (1990-2004)'.
In the Netherlands, and especially in Amsterdam, singer André Hazes (1951-2004) was the most important interpreter of the so-called "levenslied" ("song of life") genre. Comparable to French chanson, but with more folksy roots, singers cry their heart out about recognizable emotions, like love, melancholy, sorrow and despair. Hazes was very popular with general audiences, but cultivated listeners dismissed him during his lifetime for being low-brow, awkwardly written, theatrical schmalz, sung in thick Amsterdam slang. Yet nobody doubted his sincerity. Hazes performed without posture or pretense, writing his lyrics the way he felt sounded best, expressing his emotions straight from the heart. His private life was worthy of a "levenslied" too. He came from a simply working class background, struggling with an alcohol and cigarette addiction, troublesome relationships and depression. Yet when he died, he was revalued as a musical talent, with a publicized funeral and even professional Dutch-language singers praising his work. Even today, public interest for Hazes's life and career remains, which motivated De Vries and Westervoorde's graphic novel series.
In three volumes, the authors cover all the successes and tragedies of Hazes' life: his difficult childhood, struggle to the top, family life, addictions and personal troubles. The titles of these three volumes, 'Bloed' ("Blood"), 'Zweet' ('"Sweat") and 'Tranen' ("Tears'), aptly combine the title of one of Hazes' most beloved and characteristic songs.
'Off The Record' (2022).
As their collaboration on 'Hazes' proved a success, Westervoorde and De Vries then set out in developing their next project, the short story series 'Off The Record'. Built around the unlikely friendship between the former record store owner Bas and a quick-witted girl called Nina, the authors offer mini-biographies of several bands and musicians. In June 2022, the first stories appeared in the Belgian comic magazine MaxiX. After this magazine was canceled in late 2023, the authors launched a successful crowdfunding campaign with publisher Personalia, allowing them to continue with their comic.
'Het Leven als Krijgsgevangene' (from: 'Hellships', 2022).
Graphic contributions
During the 2000s, Westervoorde was one of the artists participating in Gerrie Hondius's 'Teken Mijn Verhaal' ("Draw My Story") initiative, a foundation that draws out the (comic) stories created by handicapped children. Since 2020, Westervoorde has worked regularly with Stijn Schenk on his humanitarian comic projects under the "Real Comics" banner. He was one of the contributing artists to the comic paper 'Mensen' (2016), collecting graphic stories about mental illness, and subsequently also participated in the comic anthologies 'WijMannen' (2020), about the social roles of men, and 'Hellships - Herinneringen in Beeldverhalen' (2022), a collection of true stories from the Japanese World War II hell ships. In addition, Westervoorde has been one of the artists for Schenk's original puzzle concepts to Denksport.
Expositions
Under his alias "The Chilli King", Ben Westervoorde exhibited his artwork in 1998 at the Gallery Klerkx & Van Heerden in Haarlem, alongside Typex.
Photo © Peter Beemsterboer.