Screaming Face

Weird video interview with a photographer who found that his picture of his screaming face was used around the world without being asked forpermission http://t.co/rld4ctb.  
Weird because this should be a -very lucrative- piece of cake for an agent. Weird also that this particular picture should become iconic.  

Jeroen Brouwers

One of the recurrent themes in Jeroen Brouwers oeuvre is the fear of being erased by death, by time. Sic transit gloria mundi. In his beautiful most recent novel Bittere Bloemen (Bitter Flowers) this theme features prominently again.
Published in Vrij Nederland 2 Apr 2011
This portrait reminded me that I've been drawing Jeroen Brouwers for over 30 years now.......  See e.g http://ow.ly/4qds8of http://ow.ly/4qdsl of http://ow.ly/4qdsM

Henk Bleker at work

Henk Bleker is the Dutch secretary of state responsible for nature conservation. But he is also a passionate farmer. Here he is shown at work.
Published NRC Handelsblad 30 Mar 2011

Not just cats, also houses can look like Hitler!

We humans have an uncanny ability to recognize faces. Not just in real people, but also in clouds, rocks, wall paper etc.  So after cats that look like Hitler, there now is house that has his likeness hovering over it!  So who says that drawing a face is difficult, if even cats and houses can create a likeness.

Dr Frank at lunch

Dr Frank, the Dutch diet guru du jour savors his lunch.

Hillen at work

Hillen in conference

The world of pencil portraits

Lots of people draw portraits with pencil. It's a world on it own. The more like a photo, the higher the praise. Amazing stuff. see f.e this House portrait done by Dirk Dzimirsky (Blacleria)

Aussies

This is what you get when you put an Aussie crowd before the camera in the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra on a Friday afternoon

Bernlef

Bernlef's last novel did not inspire me. I concentrated therefore on his beautifully wrinkled face in this portrait of simple lines.

Justin Bieber is cool!!!!!

63 million 12 yr old girls can't be wrong! Justin Bieber is so cool!  Justin Bieber! Justin Bieber!! And he comes to Holland!
NRC Handelsblad 26 Mar 2011

Fake and real smiles

Contrary to common belief, recent research shows that smiles CAN be faked. On photos that is. But it is more difficult to fool other people on video. Read more here  

Hans Hillen stumbles on

Hans Hillen the journalist always knew how politicians should have acted. Now he is Minister of Defense and stumbles from incident to mistake. It is embarrassing, almost pitiful.

Mug shots of world leaders

Platon made mug shots of world leaders for the New Yorker in December 2009.  It is 16 months ago, but wandering from face to face is still a memorable experience.  Have a look for yourself http://ow.ly/4mbcn

Robots draw faces - poorly for the time being

On the internet several movies can be found of robots drawing faces of people sitting in front of them. Fascinating stuff.  Check out some different artistically inclined robots here and here or here .  There is even the claim of a robot that does a self portrait!
Not much new stuff seems to have surfaced in the past 5 years.  And from the portraits that are shown, there is no reason for me to worry.  Yet.

Willem Elsschot

Never read anything by Elsschot (1882-1960)? Treat yourself to his novels 'Soft Soap' or 'Cheese'!

Remarkable how his face remained the same over the years.

Charles I

After his decapitation in 1649, king Charles I became a martyr of Christ like dimensions among protestants in England and Holland

Naoto Kan

How does the Japanes Prime Minister Naoto Kan hold up under pressure? In the past he reacted sometimes good, sometimes bad. I minimized color and line to give it a somewhat oriental feel.
Published in NRC Handelsblad 19 Mar 2011

Vasalis (Margaretha Drooglever Fortuyn-Leenmans)

Dutch poet Vasalis (Margaretha Drooglever Fortuyn-Leenmans) wrote a small oeuvre of wonderful poems. Jeroen Vullings (Vrij Nederland 5 March 2011) is dismayed that her biographer, Maaike Meijer, did not show similar constraint.

Weiwei Ai

This is one of the 52 portraits that I was commissioned to do for the TED 2011 conference in Long Beach, California. The portraits were printed in the program guide and displayed on large posters in the central hall of the convention centre.  All portraits can be seen here

Good day for a self portrait

It is cold and windy outside.  In other words, a good day for a quick self portrait.  I used a 3D picture that was made of my face at TED by Autodesk for reference.

Until two weeks ago, he was Herr  Doktor Karl Theodor Maria Nikolaus Johann Jacob Philipp Franz Joseph Sylvester Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg, 39,German Minister of Defence, aristocrat, married to a Duchess,  crown prince of the Christian Democratic Party.  This portrait was made when the dissertation that brought him a summa cum laude PhD degree was found to be full of plagiarism.  A few days later he resigned from the Bundestag and was relieved of his duties as Minister of Defence.

Charlie Sheen is fine

As you can see, there is absolutely nothing wrong with Charlie Sheen.  Only with the rest of mankind.  

I drew this for NRC Handelsblad in my hotel room in California, on the return journey.  Now that I'm back home, I plan to be posting on a daily basis again.