Website update!

A couple of more projects in there...

rachelsender.com

Fresh from the printer! vanderMEULENnienke promotional pieces!

I just received a little parcel from Nienke with her promotional pieces and a custom made wallet for me!

Click here for a better view of the illustrations. 

Buttonface.

I've been experimenting a bit with these wooden round disks, turning them into what Phil helped me name "Buttonface"(s). I like playing around with the circular proportion and using the hair for the compositions. I think I'm going to try polymer clay next... maybe something with a bit more volume. Third dimension world, here I come!

Painting for Hanna.

Lots of babies around lately! I made this illustration for my friends Lotte and Joost's baby, Hanna. Congratulations to the three of them!

Sneak peak - Rough Edge Bags

Nienke van der Meulen, a bag and purse designer based in Amsterdam, asked me to do a promotional piece for her to illustrate a step by step of her working process to make her designs. All the leather she uses is from abandoned couches she finds on the streets.

BIRD

GIRAFFE

RHINOCEROS.

DOG

Plantágoras in Niche Rotterdam.

Plantágoras postcards can now be found in the lovely
Niche Rotterdam shop! I couldn't think of a better context for my postcards! 

My little booklets are also for sale there. 

I recommend checking it out, not only because my work is in there, there are many pretty treasures to be found. Nic(h)e!

Bird illustration by http://cargocollective.com/strokeabird.

Beautiful feathery hairy artwork by http://cargocollective.com/strokeabird.

Claire's interview

Today the lovely Claire Maucorps published the interview she had with me. You can read it here.

Sunday Market - Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam

I like people's reactions looking at my work. There were lots of giggles and smiles when reading the "Overheard" series. Sometimes, though, some girls seemed a little offended with the print that says, "I thought I trusted him, but then I caught myself checking his e-mails."

I'm happy with how the market went, it was specially nice to talk to the visitors and make new contacts.  

Sunday Market - Ijburg, Amsterdam.

It was a nice day at the Sunday Market in Amsterdam. For the first time, the public saw my "Plantágoras" series live. I got several nice reactions. Coming Sunday we will be joining the next Sunday Market, this time is Westergasfabriek, also in Amsterdam. I'm hoping it will be a bit more crowded, as the one in Ijburg was a bit far from the center, so most people were the locals living in the area. 

Sunday market in Amsterdam!

This is where I'll be this Sunday selling my prints!

Art series - Wit Industries bike rims.

I was asked to make illustrations on the rims of these bikes for Wit Industries. They are in the process of making an art series with the work of 4 other illustrators.

My work was based on portraits of Rotterdammers, specifically the ones watching the carnival a couple of months ago, so that's why the expressions are varied.

The rims were white so I decided to make the most of the white "canvas" and keep colors to a minimum. So a black marker was my only tool (that and a rag and ammoniac, to make sure the surfaces were clean, dry and oil free).

The marker I used was uniPAINT oil-base. Super resilient!

Some of the sketches I did before the real deal on the rims. 

Finished rims!

Better photos are on their way.

Sneak peek.

For the last couple of months I've been working on a series of illustrations. I'm still working on them, but soon they will be out there for sale on my Etsy store! 

Difumina illustration workshop to end the holidays.

In the first post on my work blog I will tell you about my invigorating experience in the Catalan Pyrenees. I thought it would be a good way to get back to work with full blast energy. I attended an illustration workshop organized by Difumina. My group was tutored by Sonia Pulido, an illustrator I have great respect and admiration for. Sonia proposed to do a series of illustrations themed "journey to the inside".

The results were very different and in the end my journey was more like a study of the small details I spotted in nature. I find it interesting to collect many of the same object and then spot the differences, which is always quite more drastic than what I imagine when I think of, say, two sticks, or two stones or leaves. Each single one of them will be completely different and to think of the vast amount of elements around us, each with their own differences is mind-blowing to me. This is what captivated me and I'm hoping to be doing something with all the sketches I did and turn it into a finished project.

Here are some of my sketches:

Sticks.

Dry flower buds.

Stones.

A feather.

Pine nut details.

This was what my working space looked like: 

This is me presenting my work: 

These are the lovely people from my workshop group with Sonia.