Mickey riddle comic for the detective supplement of Donald Duck #36, 2015. © Disney.
Jan-Roman Pikula is a Dutch staff artist of the Dutch Disney magazines, published by Sanoma and then DPG Media. He ranks as one of the most talented new artists who emerged in the 2000s, and is especially known for his highly detailed and retro-style 'Mickey Mouse' artwork.
Early life and career at Donald Duck
Jan-Roman Pikula was born in 1983 in Enschede, where he studied Art and Technology at the Saxion University of Applied Sciences. In the evenings, he has also attended Rens Benerink's Cartoonschool in Amsterdam. In early 2006, Pikula had an apprenticeship at the art studio of the Dutch Donald Duck weekly, where he was one of the last Dutch Disney artists trained by Ed van Schuijlenburg. Since graduation, he has remained an illustrator/comic artist for the magazine ever since. At the in-house art studio, first in Hoofddorp then in Amsterdam, he has worked alongside fellow art team members Tim Artz, Wilma van den Bosch, Maarten Gerritsen, Dorith Graef, Frans Hasselaar. Michel Nadorp and Viktor Venema.
Cover illustrations for Donald Duck Extra 2009-12 and Donald Duck 2010-07. © Disney.
Illustration work in Donald Duck
Pikula has been mostly active making editorial illustrations for Sanoma and later DPG's several Disney publications, including covers for Donald Duck and Donald Duck Extra. In 2007, he succeeded Maarten Janssens as the regular artist of 'Uit het Handboek van de Jonge Woudlopers', an educational section written by editor Jos Beekman presenting pages from the Junior Woodchuck's guidebook. Since that same year, he was also the original illustrator of 'Willies Wereld', a science feature starring Gyro Gearloose, written by Jim van der Weele. With editor Lotte Roep, he has been responsible for the section 'Op Bezoek Bij...' (2019- ), in which the readers are given a sneak peak in one of the Disney characters' homes.
Christmas spread for the mail section, with cameos of many villains from the classic Disney comics (Donald Duck #51, 2011). © Disney.
Other illustration work includes game pages, funny news articles for the Duckburg newspaper and crowded and detailed topical spreads for the mail section in thematic issues. With Bas Schuddeboom, he has developed several original characters for fake Duckburg advertisements on the Donald Duck website, such as bicycle salesman Peter van der Gaap, music store owners Loek and Sjon, travel agent Isabelle Jambon and bookseller Jan Roman. Since 2010, Pikula has been instrumental in the 'Mickey Mouse' riddle comic 'Mickey Lost 't Op', which was originally drawn by Michel Nadorp. Although the section is written by editors like Jos Beekman, Ferdi Felderhof, Bas Schuddeboom, Esther Holtkamp and Lotte Roep, Pikula contributes a lot of extra fun and detail in the artwork. His Mickey is strongly inspired by Floyd Gottfredson, and his pages regularly have character cameos from the classic US newspaper comics.
Junior Woodchuck Guidebook page about Angkor Wat (Donald Duck #17, 2011) and a visit to the shady harbor bar De Olijke Schavuit (Donald Duck #17, 2023). © Disney
Comics in Donald Duck
Although his main output has been illustration work, Jan-Roman Pikula has also drawn a few comic stories. In the period 2008-2009, he most notably provided artwork for many comic stories for the junior version of the Donald Duck weekly, Donald Duck Junior, which were written by members of the editorial team. In the regular weekly, he has drawn many gag strips for the mail section, as well as an occasional longer comic story, written by several of the magazine's freelance scriptwriters, such as Jan Kruse, Frank Jonker and Gaute Moe.
Uncle Scrooge story from Donald Duck #26, 2010. © Disney.
Zo Zit Dat - Professor Breinstein
During the 2010s, Jan-Roman Pikula and his studio colleague Viktor Venema oversaw the art production of the non-Disney comic 'Professor Breinstein' for the children's popular science magazine Zo Zit Dat!. With its concept and characters created by Frans Hasselaar, this back cover gag strip starring a kid and his next door professor was launched in 2011, with gags written over the years by Jos Beekman, Bas Schuddeboom, Simone Ruitenbeek, Mirthe Niehoff, Lotte Keizer and other editors. Pikula himself provided the ideas for most of the editorial cartoons. The artwork was produced under Pikula-Venema supervision by artists affiliated with Studio Comicup in Barcelona, subsequently Dany Fernandez, Sonia Álbert and Andrea Dotta. After a corporate reorganization in 2017, full production of the strip was transferred to Dutch cartoonist Roel Venderbosch. Since 2019, Jordi Peters has been the comic's writer and artist.
Letterbox comic from Donald Duck #34, 2010 (H 2010-177) - © Disney.
Other comics
Outside of his dayjob at Sanoma/DPG, Jan-Roman Pikula has worked for a couple of other projects. In 2018, Pikula made his appearance in Dolfje Weerwolfje Magazine, the magazine based on Paul van Loon's children's book series 'Dolfje Weerwolfje'. His feature, 'De Klas van Meester van Beenderen' (2018-2019), replaced Maarten Gerritsen's 'De Rampier', and dealt with a skeleton teacher and his extraordinary primary school class of monsters, mummies, zombies and other scary creatures. It ran until the magazine was discontinued. In 2025, he also drew an installment in Frans Hasselaar's parody superhero comic 'Beterman', published in Jump magazine.
Jan-Roman Pikula at the editorial art studio of Donald Duck weekly in Hoofddorp in 2024. Photo: Jasper Zwartjes