Joost Swarte (1947) graduated as an industrial designer, but has made a name for himself as a comic artist since the 1970s, and has built an impressive career. What hasn't he done? He started his own comic magazine, designed record covers, magazine covers, started a publishing house, designed stained glass windows, buildings, furniture...
The comic book author came up with the concept of clear line as a defining stylistic feature for his work at the end of the 70s at a Hergé exhibition in Rotterdam, "Tintin in Rotterdam". The drawing style has clear contour lines, bright colour areas without perspective effects via shadow without details. This gives the effect of a maximum and unambiguous readability of the drawing.
In 2004, Swarte was knighted by Queen Beatrix as Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau. In recent years, Swarte has made many illustrations for the magazine The New Yorker, and recently Joost Swarte's work for the magazine was bundled in the 'New York Book'. His most recent work included the design for a fashion show for a major French fashion house.
