When I Grow Up...

The past year I made illustrations for quite a few books; for Oxford University Press nine stories which are going to be published in South Africa, for Benchmark Education Company five children's books (including two books in Spanish) which are going to be published in the US and Mexico, for Delubas publishers two children's books in Dutch, for Clean Slate Press a children's book which is going to be published in New Zealand and for Home Town World a children's book to be released in several English speaking countries including England, Australia and New Zealand.
This last book "When I Grow Up ..." is about a boy who dreams of becoming a great rugby player. It was written by Gemma Cary and the artwork I made together with the Spanish illustrator Tatio Viana.

I don't often work together with other illustrators. The first time was more than twenty years ago (1993 or 1994), when I worked together with Marnix Rueb on a comic. Marnix, the creator of 'Haagse Harry', sadly died in October 2014.
We made a comic in which both our comic heroes are acting. First I started drawing three pages of my comic creation 'Joop de Westlander' (just ink on paper!) and then Marnix drew Haagse Harry in the comic. The comic is published in part 3 or 4 of Joop Westlander.

Check out some illustrations and sketches of  "When I Grow Up ...".

Van Dale Junior woordenboek (dictionary)

At the moment I am working on hundreds of illustrations for HarperCollins publishers in England. The illustrations are to be released in a project called Treasure House, and it is like a dictionary. The project is described as 'Treasure House is a primary literacy resource developed specifically to help teachers implement the 2014 English National Curriculum. Treasure House provides essential language building blocks and star-studded children’s literature, all in one place.'

Right now I can only show some sketches. Later on, as the project is finished, I will show more sketches and illustrations.

The project (though less extensive) reminds me at a job  I did before and I've been working on for ten years (with intervals); illustrating all the words mentioned in the Van Dale Junior Woordenboek (dictionary for children). I did this project for Ambrasoft and Noordhoff publishers. In total, it went over 10,000 unique images from 'aaien' (stroke) until 'zwoel' (sultry) and everything in between.

Together with my great friend Jos van de Langkruis (who sadly passed away in October 2011), I started this job in 2002. I ended the complete work with my other great friend Jamel Armand in 2012. Jamel currently is making the headlines with his videos and CD designs for bands like Di-rect, Douwe Bob and others.

Below are some of the 10,000 images that we have made in the period 2002-2012 for the Van Dale Junior Woordenboek.

Girl with bird and boy with whale

Last week I made two illustrations to try out some techniques. It took me about four hours to draw each illustration.
The first illustration shows a girl and a bird.

Above you can see a coloured outline and below the same illustration with a black outline. I don't have a clear preference for a coloured outline or black outline in this picture...

I worked out the background completly and then placed a blur over it. 

 Below the drawing without  a blur.

And a few sketches...

In the second illustration you can see a boy and a whale swimming by...

In this illustration I wanted to try some brushes and check out how I could make a fine light effect

Also check out some sketches.

Recent work

The last period I worked on a lot of different jobs. Most of the material has not been published and that is why I can only show some sketches.
For Oxford University Press, I made drawings for nine stories.

For Igloo Books Publishers from England I made an illustration for a book about fashion.

For Advocate Art, the agency who represends me, I made an illustration for their calender. This is my contribution.

Before I came to this illustration I had some ideas which I worked out in sketches.

But eventually I came up with some sketches...

... which led to my final illustration. The illustration is contained in a voluminous calendar full of beautiful work.

For Identity Games from Rotterdam, I made the following sketches and drawings for a children's book.

For Dutch publisher Kwintessens I have made a number of drawings that will be published spring 2015 in there education method 'Trefwoord'.

Also for publisher Kwintessens I'm working on a major project 'Kwink (social-emotional skills). The following drawings are animated by Tom Verweij of www.tommotion.nl

For Benchmark Education Company from New York, I made illustrations for a children's book written by Lori Mortensen. The book is called "Click!" and will be published early 2015 in the United States.