Jan van Haasteren

Profile Jan van Haasteren

Jan van Haasteren was born on February 24, 1936, in Schiedam and lives in Bergen. Together with his wife Romi, he has two daughters.

Besides drawing, Jan has another great passion: tennis. Even at a later age, he can still regularly be found on the tennis court. He also greatly enjoys chess, a hobby he has taken pleasure in for many years.

Jan van Haasteren is known for his unique and humorous drawing style, filled with absurd situations, hidden jokes, and endless details. Over the years, he created countless comic strips, advertising posters, and jigsaw puzzles, growing into one of the Netherlands’ most well-known illustrators.

Childhood and Education

Jan van Haasteren discovered his passion for drawing at a young age. He loved creating drawings and comic stories and was especially inspired by the humorous comics and cartoons of that time. The absurd situations and funny details featured in them later became the foundation of his own distinctive style.

His talent was noticed early on by the people around him, and his teachers also recognized his creative abilities. After finishing school, Jan continued his studies at the art academy in Rotterdam, where he further developed his skills as an artist and illustrator. During this period, he became familiar with various styles and techniques, but his passion for humorous illustrations always remained central.

Career

Jan van Haasteren began his career at an advertising agency, where he increasingly came into contact with illustrators, comic artists, and the creation of humorous drawings. After working in several different jobs, he decided to continue as a freelance illustrator, giving him more freedom to further develop his own distinctive style.

Over the years, Jan collaborated with many different writers, artists, and clients. He created comics for various comic magazines and also designed countless advertising posters and illustrations for commercial companies. His work stood out for its humorous details, absurd situations, and busy scenes, which would later become the hallmark of his puzzles.

In the 1980s, Jan began working with the Dutch puzzle company Jumbo Games Initially, existing advertising posters were used as puzzle illustrations. As the popularity of the puzzles grew significantly, Jan started creating new illustrations specifically for the puzzle series, in his recognizable style full of chaos, humor, and hidden jokes.

The puzzles quickly became popular with a wide audience and grew into an international success. Today, Jan van Haasteren puzzles are enjoyed by millions of puzzle enthusiasts and collectors around the world.

For his major contribution to the Dutch comics and illustration world, Jan received the Bulletje en Boonestaak Schaal from Het Stripschap in 2006. In 2013, he was appointed a Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau

''There's always something going on in my drawings, but never what's supposed to be happening''

Jan van Haasteren

Studio Jan van Haasteren

Royal Jumbo officially established Studio Jan van Haasteren in 2013 to meet the growing demand for new puzzles. Within the studio, several illustrators work together on new puzzle designs, all created in Jan van Haasteren’s recognizable style and atmosphere. In addition to Jan himself, several regular artists are now involved, each contributing their own details, humor, and creativity to the puzzles.

The studio ensures that the familiar world of Jan van Haasteren continues to expand, while preserving the signature chaos, hidden jokes, and recurring family characters. As a result, new puzzles are released every year, eagerly anticipated by fans around the world.

In 2023, Jumbo also launched the Oldtimers puzzle line as a tribute to the work of Jan van Haasteren. This special series reintroduces classic Jan van Haasteren illustrations in their original form as 1000-piece puzzles, giving fans the opportunity to rediscover older and iconic artwork.

Signature

Over the years, Jan van Haasteren developed a completely distinctive drawing style, recognizable for its enormous amount of detail, humorous situations, and busy scenes in which something is happening everywhere. His illustrations are filled with small jokes and hidden elements, allowing puzzlers to discover something new every time they complete a puzzle.

For many puzzle enthusiasts, searching for these recurring details has become an extra game within the puzzle itself. It is precisely this combination of humor, chaos, and hidden jokes that makes Jan van Haasteren puzzles so unique and beloved.

The shark fin is without doubt Jan van Haasteren’s most recognizable trademark, but the little hands, Santa Claus, the dentures, the octopus, and the famous “I Love Jane” sticky note have also become recurring elements in the puzzles. In addition, Jan himself regularly appears in his own illustrations, often as a silent observer in the middle of the chaos.

Over the years, the world of Jan van Haasteren has grown into a recognizable puzzle family filled with recurring characters, hidden details, and humorous situations that fans can spend hours exploring.

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