illustration Archives - Ben Lustenhouwer

29 May 2016

I loved all kinds of drawing

When I was 11 years old I received my first drawing lessons from Beatus Nijs. I´ve written about him before. To him I owe much of the success of my entire career. He was like a father to me. He encouraged me enormously and made me draw everything that was available. He once gave me a table leg to study as homework. I found a drawing pad of mine from 1964 with this pencil drawing. I was 13 years old. If you look closely you can see on the right side Beatus´ drawing correction. Continue reading “I loved all kinds of drawing”

20 March 2016

This time a sad message

The portrait below is of Kees Thijssen. Last week he died. He was my agent for more than 25 years when I was working as an illustrator.

Keest Thijssen — Kees Thijssen 1933-2016

I was about 25 years old when I went to Amsterdam with my portfolio to find an agent. There were three major illustration agencies at the time in Holland: Art Connection, Top Drawers and Art Box. For some reason I could only visit Art Box. There I met Kees. He looked intently through my portfolio. He was excited: the next day I received a first commission! And the week after two, months later a dozen and, over the years, hundreds and hundreds. We became close friends.

Continue reading “This time a sad message”

20 December 2015

Commissioned works

As I have told you once, I was commercial illustrator in a past life. Even after we moved to Spain, twenty-five years ago, occasionally there were advertising commissions or assignments for institutional campaigns. Hence commercial work. I have experienced great pleasure, not at least for the preparatory phase. For example, the search for models and props, such as for the illustration for the Dutch beer brand Amstel.

The other picture shows the irrigation system for agriculture in the village of Paterna, where we used to live. This latter was an assignment for a calendar produced by a bank, the theme being Water in the Comunidad Valenciana.

I always did these jobs with satisfaction but the time pressure was often lethal, ever again fighting against deadlines. In that respect I am really glad that time in my life is far behind me now.

Continue reading “Commissioned works”

12 April 2015

Excursion to the Spanish Civil War

Belchite. Guided tour through the ruins of the village.

One of the first people I met in Spain was Sento Llobell a fellow worker in art. Over the years he and his wife have become very good friends of ours. Sento is a famous cartoonist, he has published quite a few albums of his own work. He received international recognition for the graphic novel “Un Médico Novato” for which he won the Premio Internacional VI Fnac Sins Entido. The story is based on a true narrative of Sento’s father in law Pablo Uriel, who was starting his career as a doctor during the civil war (1936-1939). Under his own auspices Sento has published the second part of this history “Atrapado en Belchite” and yesterday the book was launched in Belchite, a town in Zaragoza where in 1937 a bloody battle took place between the republicans and the army of the future dictator Francisco Franco. For propaganda reasons Franco never rebuilt the place and to this day it is a gruesome reminder of the Spanish Civil War. Part of Sento´s story takes place in this city during that combat and hence he chose this place to present the book.

8 February 2015

Mario Monreal

It is five years ago this week that our friend Mario Monreal died. Mario was a great pianist and a affectionate friend. Yesterday, on the occasion of the anniversary of his death, a concert was given in Sagunto at the Cultural Center that bears his name. One of the three performers was his widow. My contribution to the commemoration was a portrait of him – a schematic black and white picture that is used in publicity.

When I think of Mario a warm summer night comes to mind when he played his grand piano. It was not a concert but one of his daily rehearsals in his music room where Helma and I happened to be quietly present. It was already dusk, the space was unlit. A balmy breeze stirred the curtains. At my request Mario played Chopin- Waltz no. 7 in C sharp minor. Magical moments and we were incredibly lucky to be part of that opportunity.

(Mario can be heard in a number of my videos.)

23 October 2013

Storyboard illustrations

Some twenty years ago I was asked to make a number of storyboard illustrations for a big movie project. I can´t remember what the script was exactly about. Anyway the set was presented in the Mayan culture in the dense Central American jungle. If I ‘m not mistaken there were also all kinds of fantasy creatures involved. And actors like Antonio Banderas and Salma Hayek were sought-after.

In 1977, my wife and I made a tour to visit the pyramids & ancient sites in South and Central America . From the Aztecs in Mexico to the Incas in Peru. Trough this I had sufficient own photographs of those locations and I could use them as the basis for the illustrations. If ever the movie was released, I don´t know but the watercolours are still here in a box and I found them today whilst clearing away my studio. Memories hence, not only to the time I still occasionally made illustrations, but also keepsakes of our trip, where we got to know each other better.

10 February 2013

Commercial illustrations

Commercial illustrations

A long time ago I made commercial illustrations. Yesterday I found two paintings in the storage.

Together with five other pieces of artwork, these illustrations were published in a calendar for a spanish banking company. The theme was “History of Money“. As always I was searching for models. But this time I guess there was no time left to do so. (Always killing deadlines in commercial illustration!) In the first picture you see me and my wife. The twenties hat I bought especially for that occasion and I still have it in my studio. The counter in the shop where the shop-lady (my wife) stands behind is a piece of furniture in which I store my painting stuff already for a long time. That was pure coincidence and very useful. In the other you see me minting, in a moresque ambience.

Minting coins — Me as a morisque minter.

Now I see clearly the influence of the lessons of Andrew Loomis “Creative Illustration” Still I scroll through that book every now and then.

13 April 2012

Trip to st.Petersburg (2)

I have already mentioned our trip to St. Petersburg. The first stop on this holiday was Helsinki. There in the Athenaeum Museum I saw some amazing paintings by Ilya Repin. In Groningen (The Netherlands) in 2002 I saw the work of Repin for the first time and I was really impressed. I admired Haulers on the Volga , but another painting , Unexpected Return. was different; he shows himself as a story teller like Norman Rockwell in his covers for the Saturday Evening Post.

Previously during the holidays in St. Petersburg we had seen the Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council also by Repin. In Helsinki a similar painting hangs in the museum restaurant. It’s painted after he changed to using his left hand. (I knew he suffered from osteoarthritis at a later age. From then he started to paint with his left hand, and his style changed dramatically.) The painting in the restaurant of the Helsinki museum was of exceptional size, and like the ‘State Council’, with a crowd of characters. However, in this painting Repin has lost all sense of drama and composition. I don’t think that it’s just because he’s changed hands. It’s a mysterious and monstrous piece of art, and hard to find in any catalogue.

Still, Repin is one of my greatest favourites!