Erik Fokkens

Erik was born in the east of The Netherlands in the 60's. He was raised in a homely skippers family and he developed a passion for drawing and working with color at an early age. When his mother arranged for him to be an apprentice of a local classical fine artist he started to explore and develop his painting talent. He was taught to paint with oil in ways the old masters did. He started to practice this oil painting technique at an age of 13 years old with a focus on using "underpaintings" with casein and tempera paint techniques. This new way of working with an "underpainting" also called "tonal" formed the main bases for his later skills in creating beautiful atmospheres and lighting. After high school he started an illustration agency. Slowly he started to develop a fixation for producing highly detailed murals and special paints on motorcycles. His main tool had become the airbrush, a new tool on the market in these days.

In 1992 he produced a fully hand painted graphic novel named "Olimbo the Source". After showing this creation to several studios and publishers around Europe he eventually gets hired at the Don Bluth Studios in Dublin in 1994. This was the start of his career in the animation industry. His traditional painting skills rocket during his time at Don Bluth while contributing to "The Pebble and the penguin" and "All dogs go to Heaven". After his time in Ireland he works in Europe in the main animation studios around at that time and he travels to the US to work as a matte painter.

Erik has been credited since the early days of his career on more then 20 features and numerous TV Series in several positions.