Happy 2011!
The first thing I did this year, was to find some top quality footage of Special Forces who are reading up on some top secret intelligence papers. You can keep an eye on them on your desktop: download wallpaper (1920x1200px, 2mb)

This drawing was inspired by books and drawings from the University of Amsterdam’s Bijzondere Collecties.

Lately I’ve been trying to get away from the computer and do more analogue, yes I mean on real paper, with ink stains on my hands and paint under my nails, learning to draw without ctrl-z. I need more practise, but so far it’s refreshing to play with new techniques.

» Repossess
» Regress

» Larger version of Tin Solider

At very long last, I finished my project De Brief (The Letter), that I’ve been working on off and on in the last few years.
It started out with seeing a rainbow halo above a cemetery at a nuns convent in the south of Peru and kites on the wind on the Day of the Dead in the autumn of 2007.. it ended up with drawings, telling the story of a letter’s journey throughout the world, as a metaphor on hope, and how colours return in your life after a difficult period.
It turned out to be a wordless picture book, an interactive map and a collection of drawings and portraits of people and beings that got in touch with the letter.

» A few drawings from the book
» Portrait of a tin soldier

I got the opportunity to dive into this project thanks to the marvelous Fiep Westendorp Foundation (the foundation that manages the legacy of the brilliant late illustratress, Fiep Westendorp), who awarded me a young illustrators stimulation prize to work on this project. Yesterday was the biannual Fiep Day at the University library here in Amsterdam, where I and the other awardees (check out Chuck‘s fantastical children’s illustration work) got to present their projects. It felt great to round everything up and show everybody my story.. at last :)