Original Pen Drawings

Here the developments of my pen and ink drawings, here one of the first from 1970. In primary school we had to draw an old-fashioned carpet that was the start of the development of my pen drawings. Unfortunately I no longer have that first pen drawing, but my mother has for 22 years one of my first works. After a few years I wanted to try something different and started drawing realistic figures and then filling them in.

I have a few more of this work from the old box below.

Drawing realistic shapes wasn't really what I wanted to keep doing anyway. Because geometric figures have always appealed to me, I wanted to use them in my art.

With this way of drawing I could let my imagination run wild.

I started drawing in the middle of a sheet and while dreaming away from the rest of the world my drawings took shape. I had found what I was looking for, I wanted to continue with this. After all these years of black and white I wanted to add colour to my work, this was not so easy because a Rotring pen is not made for drawing on paint, it quickly gets clogged and the ink I used first discolored too quickly. In addition, it had to be very smooth paper that you could also paint on. When I had found the right combination, a whole new world of possibilities opened up for me, which I wanted to use to the full. In recent years I have had various exhibitions in the Kunst Schouw in Haamsteden, Delta Nuts, work in stock at Galerie Esprite, old town hall in Sint Anna Ter Muiden and Grote Kerk in Goes. My works have been sold across the Dutch border to Germany and Switzerland.

Digital pen drawings

Unfortunately, drawing by hand came to an end when I started to suffer from RSI, which made it impossible to fine-tune the work. At exhibitions it was often thought that I made the work with the computer and that now became reality. After much experimentation, I succeeded in creating work based on my pen drawings. With a digital pen and a drawing program, it is less taxing than a brush and rotary pen. The little characters that started it all have of course remained. A completely different medium, no pens that get clogged, but programs that you have to learn to work with before you get a line on paper. Make sure the colors of your drawings look just like you envisioned in print. In short, a new challenge.

Unfortunately, with my current work, digital drawing is also too taxing because I spend a lot of time behind the computer. So a few years ago Navota Desing created a website where you can have clothes and other objects printed.

Back then I made some symmetrical figures of which you can determine the color yourself. Everything is free to use. Setting up a real webshop takes a lot of time and I don't really have a commercial spirit, but this way I can design my own clothes and the like and who knows, there may be more enthusiasts. For the littlest ones I have Spijkie a little creature that I designed for my ecard site a few years ago.