planet tropicana

Recently I was invited to participate in a publication made by Planet Tropicana, a new illustration platform founded by Dutch illustrators Sjors Tomlow, Ming Sin Ho, Levi Jacobs and Saman Dezai. They made a limited edition magazine, printed in a special 2-colour Risograph technique, that was presented at the RAW Art Fair in Rotterdam. Having worked with a Risograph-printer myself for the first time a couple of weeks ago, I know this is not an easy task. Certainly no job for the impatient. I think their efforts have definitely been rewarded, it looks great!
Cover-design by Levi Jacobs.

landscaping

Who needs a garden when you can draw one? Okay, not the same..

with love for Belgium

Mission accomplished. Monday the second illustration in de Morgen, and with that their chance to make up for the mistake. The game is on. No, just kidding. I love the Belgians, or residents of Belgium, equal.

day of hatches

Vandaag in de Morgen! (Today in The Morning, Belgian newspaper)
The Belgians retaliated after my words of warning yesterday, by not mentioning my name.. How am I to conquer Belgium when they don't know whose drawing it is?? I had to give them my ultimate punishment, which is forcing them to provide me with a lifetime of assignments. But so far I have not yet received their response..

preview

Morgen in de Morgen! (Tomorrow in The Morning, Belgian newspaper). Beware Belgians of the Dazzling-Dutch-Drawing! Love my alliterations, maybe even more than the actual drawing, but hey, it was a four-hour-chore :) 

glory to the cat

No my blog didn't die on you. I bought a house. It needed some attention.. But, I'm back in the game. And with that, I thought I'd let my new living room serve as a model. For the cover of newspaper De Volkskrant, themed peer-to-peer traveling, I wanted to show a hotel slash living room. 
This proved rather difficult with my current working method in which I'm trying to avoid all unnecessary elements. Because in this particular picture drawing the details would be essential to make the room more personal. I had to get past my 'thingies'-aversion and throw in slippers and coffee cups. That was hard, but I pulled it off because they were functional to the story. But then came the next tricky part, not to go overboard with the personal items because it should also function as a hotel room (unpersonal, tidy). You see my dilemma? I struggled a while but when I finally added the cat on the couch and the (hotel)key in the door I felt everything coming together. 

So. Enough words to illustrate my blog is still alive & kicking? The cat on the couch isn't though... Afraid the move did him in. Apparently he had a weak little heart. I'm quite sad about it, but glad he made the newspapers...

if I can make it there

Yesterday I got a call from New York - which I didn't know at that point but it sure didn't look Dutch to me - but surrounded by a bunch of freshly released toddlers I thought it wise to let my voicemail do its job. So straight after escaping the schoolyard I played the message of a very friendly and enthusiastic lady congratulating me with being admitted to this year's Annual Exhibition of the Society of Illustrators in New York (there you have it, indeed). I'm thrilled!! And if I can make it there..
This is the piece that was selected, Megaliths, it belongs to a series of drawings I made for newspaper de Volkskrant about Dutch attractions.