Illustration project 'all kind of things'

I'm working on a new illustration project: 'all kind of things' I mostly draw characters and faces. So I challenge myself in this new project to only draw 'things':

And the fun is: if you do that for a while, you suddenly have a whole collection :)

I'm always looking for characters, emotions and a kind of story in my work. This is the biggest challenge in my 'all kind of things' project. To draw the things in a way they have a sort of soul.

And sometimes I give them a face and even red cheeks (I can'tt help it... ;-)

I also experiment with hand lettering in this project :-)

Will be continued... ;-)

Exhibition Carll Cneut 'in my head'

Yesteday I visited the wonderful and impressive exhibition of Carll Cneut 'in my head' in Ghent in Belgium. I took some (not so good quality) photos to give you an impression, but it's better to visit it yourself, because it is an inspiring expericence  which is difficult to catch in photographs....

What made the day extra special was to meet a whole bunch of illustrators from Belgium and Holland which I know from Facebook. We went for a lunch and walked the exhibition togther :-)

The first part of the exhibition is about Carll's youth. You get an audio guide with lyrics written especially for this project by Wouter Deprez and Carll Cneut. I saw a lot of laughing people. The stories are really funny.

The second part of the exhibition shows the original works he made through the years. I was really surprised how small they were. Sooo many details, so precise... Wonderful colors, textures, fantasy, a treat to look at!

And ofcourse I also bought his latest book 'De Gouden Kooi'

At the end we met Carll in person in his studio at the exibition. He thought he was able to work there during the exhibtion, but due to the giant succes he is only signing books all day..  He also signed our books :-)

When we wanted to leave and said goodbye. Carll asked if we would like to have an illustrator group photo with him in the middle. Isn't that sweet? ;-)

So here we are, from left to right:

Els Vlieger, Ellen Vesters, Nelleke Verhoeff (me), Carll Cneut, Lien Geeroms, Vera Van Groos and Ine Beerten.

Illustrator Pencilory Pecncilory had left already and during lunch we also met Vicky Lommatsch.

It was a wonderful day! Full with great impressions and inspiring conversations.
Thank you all :-)

portfolio update

This week I've updated my website. I've added some new work. I also added a whole new projects section about the book 'stil verwateren'  I have made with author / poet Geert De Kockere. It's almost ready now. They expect it the 3d of April! How exciting :-)

Here is an illustration I made for the book:

And another one. It goes along with haiku's in Dutch.

I've added a whole bunch of them to my website under the menu item projects
So if you are curious, have a go ;-)

Je kunt nog steeds voorintekenen op het boek, dan krijg je een geisgneerd exemplaar en een cadeautje.

Restyling Company 'De Luchtreiziger'

Last two weeks I worked on a restyling of the Dutch Hot Air Balloon Company 'De Luchtreiziger'. (The Air-Traveler) We also restyled their website. The project was in cooperation with  my partner Herman from Yepr 


This is the backside of their business card, a special 'Luchtreiziger' mascotte ;-)

Besides the design for the website and businesscard I also designed a flyer,
a birthday giftcard, a flag, a polo shirt, a sticker, and a certificate.

Here's the special Luchtreiziger birthday card:

And I made some animated pictures for the website:

....this one is already for Christmas....

...and one for the football championships...

...and ofcourse the olympic games....

It was a fun project to work on :-)

Printing process book 'stil verwateren'

This morning at 10 o'clock they started the printing process of the book 'stil verwateren', with haiku's from author Geert De Kockere and illustrations by me.
(photo's: Geert De Kockere)

Because the book will have 576 pages the printing process will last for three days....

As you can see, it's a very delicate process....

So nice to see our work rolling out of the press. Unfortunately I wasn't able to have a look, because it'is printed in Belgium, where Geert De Kockere lives. But I'm glad he took these photographs :-)

You can find more photo's of the printing process here

After these three days the pages will go to the binder.
The book will be expected half of April, but maybe a bit earlier now...

For the Dutchies: je kan nog steeds voorintekenen voor het boek. Dan ontvang je een fraai cadeautje. Meer informatie vind je hier

Happy International Women's Day!