This week's Illustration Friday's topic is 'balloon'. 

I love balloons. They're funny as well as poetic. They grasp the elusiveness, if you will. 

great advice

The great advice series, picking up where I left it years ago. 

More to come.

Terrible two / IF: opinion

My son turned two last week. He's a sweet kid, the best in the world, not at all a little ennoying brat like the one I drew here. But you know, even the sweetest kids get tantrums sometimes, preferably in the supermarket. So this one goes out to all the mums and dads trying to get the groceries in a bag while the wee one is crying their lungs out, climbing mum's leg or pulling dad's pants. We've all been there...

Raising kids is hard, and everyone seems to have a different opinion on parenting methods. New parents get flooded in well-ment advice, tips and techniques, supernanny-alike methods, and then some. Seems to me this information overload makes it even harder to find your way in parenting-land.

Chi Neng Institute

  

koeniepaint

birthcards

      

      

Made some cards for kaartjeshuis.be. It's a project that aims to be an alternative for the boring old birthcards and wedding invitations you find in those books at the printer's. 

homeless dude

Old picture I took for school a couple of years ago. 

I was taking pictures of a deserted boat in the harbour (adventurous as I am) while this guy appeared out of nowhere. He said he lived there. He also said he was possessed by the devil. Weird experience.

gentlemen

published

Hurray! Thank you, Alex and the people at Creatief Schrijven.

poodle power

Yes, the power of the poodle is growing. We already have followers so loyal they are spreading our name. Check this out.

the little things

Little things that make me happy: 

my first espresso of the day, watching my son dance, the smell of rain in the summer, running into koen de bouw and almost fainting, picking up a batch of new prints, nice waiters, a well-ment compliment from a total stranger, waking up and realising my son slept through the night, finishing a project and thinking it's the best I ever did - for like 5 minutes, my second espresso of the day, fresh food from de broers van julienne, a home made mojito, a new word my son learned, my third espresso of the day, watching project runway.

Chineng Qigong

Making a brochure for the Belgian Chineng Qigong Institute. 

Say what? From what I understand, it's kinda like Tai Chi. A lot of solid breathing and waving arms in the air ;). A more professional explanation can be found on their website.

KAMIKAZE

IF: Enough

Outrageous story about Burmese Kayan. Read about it here. 

Untitled

New masters

Went to the expo of the Masters in Art at Sint Lukas Antwerp.

Names to remember: Femke Van Grootel (above), Joris Gibbens (below) and Lien Boelen.

YK - More pen talk

Work in progress. I used a Copic Multinliner SP Brush Pen for this one. It's similar to the Farber-Castell PITT, but the ink is more dense, and you can refill it with a new ink cartridge- thank heavens, 'cause it's kinda pricy.

Workspace

Check it out, I got myself a drawing table. Second hand, cheap as f*. No more drawing on the wall, getting cramps in my arm. 

Giant squid - Let's talk pens

A little sneak peek of the giant squid as the one in my sketchbook posted earlier. It's not finished yet, but it's getting there.

I'm using my new Farber-Castell PITT pens, highly popular amoungst illustrators worldwide. The brush pen is nice and smooth, but a little soft for me and the ink is not as dense as I would like it. I'm not easily pleased when it comes to pens. Staedler Lumocolors are pretty dense, but bleed too much. Same for Zig Brush Pens. I've tried dipping, but I hate the fact I can't control the ink flow. Besides, metal nibs are too rigid for my hand, they make me draw too slowly. Bamboo pens are much smoother, you can carve them any way you like, but they don't hold much ink. You'll be dipping till you drop. Fountain Pens are great, I prefer Pelikans, but the ink is crappy. If only the people at Pentel would come up with a lightfast, waterproof version of the Tradio- a pen with the perfect tip as far as I'm concerned- I would be one happy camper. 

Baby vectors

              

Sketchbook

I usually get uncomfortable when showing people my sketches, since they're unfinished, and a lot of them are just rubbish ;). However, the 'sketchbook' button is the first one I will click when I'm checking out someone's site - I often find them more interesting then finished illustrations or artwork. So it's only fair that I share a peek too.

More primitive robots

I wasn't entirely happy with the previous one, so I made two new little paintings for my son. Kele is 17 months old and likes robots, bright colours and everything on wheels. Oh yeah, and he dances like a pro. 

Illustration Friday - Primitive

A rather primitive robot I drew for my son. 

Inspiration

Just some pictures that are hanging on my wall and some (old) books that are lying on my desk for the moment. 

From top to bottom & left to right: something I tore out an interior design magazine / pics from Men and Machines, a booklet a found in a second hand book store that has awesome images from early 20th century machinery and factories (010 Publishers, Rotterdam) / still from 2046 (Wong Kar Wai) / De Gele Kruik (P. Atangan, Atlas Amsterdam), a  ukiyo-e style comic / extract from The Look of the Century (M. Tambini), book about product design in the 20th century / the very first art book I ever bought: HR Giger ARh+ (Tashen) - I think I was about 11.

The sorrow of Belgium

Hugo Claus died last week. Claus was the author of 'The Sorrow of Belgium' (Het verdriet van België) and is considered the best writer Belgium ever knew. He suffered from Alzheimer's and ended his life by euthanasia, a decision he took in an early stage of his disease. It is not hard to understand that a man who dedicated his life to literature and poetry, cannot bare to live when he's no longer even capable of speaking clearly. Some people say life shouldn't be valued by intellectual capabilties. I fully agree. That being said, I know I wouldn't want to go all the way down Alzheimer's road either. I've seen it. It's not just about not being able to speak or reason. In the end, it's the absence of any clarity in any way. Nothing left but confusion.

Food is a weapon

Stencil -text added digitally.