Who is Marijke Meersman ?
Marijke Meersman (°1965) comes from a family of artists. Her parents ran an art studio. She grew up in an artistic environment.
She trained in the art of illustration at various academies of art and was also taught by her father. Until 1996 she worked for the family business that belonged to her parents, after which she started her own studio.
She concentrates resolutely on book illustrations but also does other graphic work. She enjoys experimenting with different materials. For Marijke the combination of what at first glance appear to be conflicting techniques is a challenge. Her preferred materials are pencil, watercolours, oil paint and scraperboard.
Her style for the cover illustrations of books for young adults is somewhere between realism and abstract but, in fact, she considers the abstract and the suggestive to be more important than the realistic. To her it matters more that it appeals to young people and that their imagination is given a chance.
Marijke Meersman works for literary publishers in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. In Belgium she works for Clavis, Afijn and Facet publishing group, Davisfonds/Infodok, in the Netherlands she illustrates books for children and young adults for Uitgeverij Fontein, Uitgeverij Callenbach and Uitgeverij Columbus. In Germany she works for Urachhaus Verlag and Bertelsmann Verlag.
In addition, she produces illustrations for periodic literary publications and specialist journals. This includes working together with Readers’ Digest in the Netherlands and WTCB in Belgium, a scientific organisation responsible for passing on know-how in the Belgian construction industry. She also creates covers for weekly and monthly magazines.