Peter van Dongen made his debut as a comics artist at the age of sixteen in the magazine De Balloen, followed by a number of separate gags in the comics monthly magazine 'Word Vervolgd'.
In 1990 Casterman published the comic book Muizentheater (Theater of Mice). In 1998 and 2004 Rampokan: Java and Rampokan: Celebes were published; a diptych set on the eve of the Independence struggle in Indonesia. The first part was prepublished in the newspaper, Het Parool.
A French, German, Indonesian, English and Spanish translation of Rampokan has now been published and in 2018 the publisher Dupuis published the complete edition, coloured by Marloes Dekkers. In addition to interest from abroad, the book certainly did not go unnoticed by the makers of the Dutch feature film De Oost, in which this colonial war is also discussed. Visit their website ‘De Wereld van De Oost’ here (in Dutch).
Here you can find an online interview about Rampokan with Europe Comics. In English.
From September 2007 to June 2009, van Dongen made portraits of Dutch writers three times a month, especially for the Books supplement of NRC Handelsblad.
Commissioned by clothing brand GANT International he made Three days in Rio (2013), a story loosely based on an event from the childhood of their retiring director Lennart Björk. It also appeared in English and Swedish for their stores worldwide.
In Familieziek (2017), Peter van Dongen adapted the novel of the same name by Adriaan van Dis (‘Repatriated’, Cornerstone 2008) into a visual novel. It’s a story in scenes about an Indo-Dutch family, scarred by the war, trying to settle in the Netherlands in the 1950s. (coloring Marloes Dekkers). The French translation appeared in 2020, published by Dupuis.
For the iconic series Blake and Mortimer by Edgar P. Jacobs van Dongen and Teun Berserik (the first Dutchmen) made the diptych ‘The Valley of the Immortals’ part 1 & 2, based on a script by Yves Sente, which was published in 2018 and 2019 by publisher Dargaud - Lombard. In November 2021 their third Blake and Mortimer album ‘The Last Swordfish’ was published, written by Jean Van Hamme. In addition to the drawings, equally divided between Berserik and van Dongen himself, also provided the complete coloring for all three albums. The graphic novel was originally published in French but has subsequently been translated into Dutch, Danish, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German and English.
In addition, van Dongen has regularly supplied illustration work for many years to various clients such as literary publishers, newspapers (het Parool, NRC-Handelsblad), magazines (Vrij Nederland, VPRO Gids), CPNB (including Children's Book Week Gift 2005), museums (Kunstmuseum Den Haag, The National Maritime Museum Amsterdam and Centraal Museum Utrecht) and commercial companies (such as Capgemini, Martinair and Zorgverzekeraar DSW).
Before working professionally as a comics artist/illustrator, van Dongen played drums in an Amsterdam band called ‘the Original Talkatives’ during his teenage years.
Achieving the final of the Grand Prix of the Netherlands in 1984 and a few rankings in the Tipparade are among the modest achievements. In 2013, after almost 30 years under their own management, the once 'intended' single Squeeze Louise was released on vinyl. Watch and listen to the song here at a reunion concert in 2015. The single is not commercially available, but can be purchased via the order form for € 12,-.(incl. shipping costs).