Hanco Kolk Gilles le Brigand

At seventeen, Hanco Kolk was already making comics. He even published his own magazine called In De Gekleurde Omelet, which featured his artwork. He formed Studio Arnhem with several young artists in 1980. The studio produced a great variety of comics for several Dutch and Belgian publications. Kolk cooperated on the newspaper strip 'Otto Raaf', as well as 'Ernst Vrolijk & Dik Hout' (with Gleever and René Meulenbroek) for Robbedoes.

He eventually began a fruitful collaboration with Peter de Wit. Together, they began the publishing company De Plaatjesmakers and started the 'Gilles de Geus' series in Eppo in 1984, which is by many considered the Dutch equivalent of 'Astérix'.
In 1999, when expecting a nervous breakdown, Kolk went on a retreat in Italy. In the sketchbook he kept as a diary, he developed a whole new drawing style, which he applied to the prize-winning comic 'Meccano' after his return. Again with Peter de Wit, he created the daily newspaper strip 'S1NGLE', which appears in newspaper Het Parool. In 2003, the sketchbook-diary which he drew in Italy, was published with the title 'Retraite' at publisher Oog & Blik. (source: www.lambiek.net)