'Stront aan de Knikker'.
Willem Vleeschouwer was born in 1950 in Hilversum and attended the Graphic Art School in Utrecht and the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. Early in his career, he made illustrations for Anti Apartheids Nieuws, and for a punk card game for music magazine Oor. His first comic was 'De Wonderbaarlijke Reis van Jacobus Maneschijn en Sientje Zeester', a story written by Willem Wilmink, and published in the daily newspaper in De Waarheid in 1978.
'Duppie en het Doorbroken Isolement'.
It was followed by two stories of 'Duppie' with Gerard van Santen ('Duppie en de ZZ-sekte', 'Duppie en het Doorbroken Isolement') and the series 'Flip Vla en Pintie Prima', both for Oor. Vleeschouwer was one of the artists published by Ger van Wulften's publishing house Espee in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
'Flip Vla en Pintie Prima'.
Van Wulften published two of Vleeschouwer's books, 'De ZZ-sekte' and 'Het Doorbroken Isolement', and Willem's art also appeared in collective projects like school diaries as well as 'Gevelfut's Doorzon Vakantiealbum' and 'Van Mij Heeft Ie Het Niet'. He also worked with Gerrit de Jager on the comic 'Puck', published in the girls' magazine Club. A collection of his comics starring characters like 'Flip Vla & Panty Prima', 'Jerry-Ken', 'Porky P-Kel' and 'Té & Tie Tie' was published by Trico in the book 'Plenty Plaatjes' in 1988.
'De Wraak van de Dikke Ong'.
Vleeschouwer's best-known comics are his 'Spoorstraat' stories 'De Wraak van de Dikke Ong' (1996), 'Stront aan de Knikker' (2001) and 'De Geheime Spleet' (2009), all published by Oog & Blik. His cartoons and illustrations have graced the pages of magazines like Elsevier, Esquire, PSV-Voetbalblad, Autoweek, Het Parool, Hard Gras and Cosmopolitan.
"De Hel"
Vleeschouwer has drawn football caricatures for Panorama and posters for the Amsterdam Uitmarkt. Among his commercial clients are Gall & Gall, Red Band, Wehkamp, Postbank, Punica, Duyvis, Nederlands Zuivelburo and Albert Heijn.
'Stront aan de Knikker' (2001).
One of Vleeschouwer's early successes was the drawing he made for a firework awareness campaign by non-profit organization SIRE. Willem Vleeschouwer felt validated as a comic artist after he received a signed drawing from André Franquin just a few months before Franquin's death, in reply to Vleeschouwer's interest in his work. Galerie Lambiek hosted an exhibition of his artwork at the occasion of the publication of his book 'Stront aan de knikker' in 2001.
Artwork by Willem Vleeschouwer.