Suzanne Wissink

As a child, I would get lost for hours in my own world. A world full of fantasy, daydreaming, and drawing. This love has never faded. In fact, it now forms the core of my visual work as an illustrator. With refined details and a touch of dreaminess, I create images that both children and adults can wander through.

Fairy tales and the rich imaginations of children are my greatest sources of inspiration. I enjoy working with craftsmanship, using graphic techniques like tetra printing and linoleum, and with an eye for detail. I believe that meticulous illustrations invite us to look, look again, and rediscover them. With my images, I hope to open up a world where the viewer can get lost and dream, just as I so often did as a child. I often imagine that the image I'm creating now is the image I imagined and experienced as a little girl in my own fantasy world.

During my time at the academy, a child's experience was a common thread running through everything I created. From intuitive paintings to self-invented stories and objects, I always sought ways to make imagination tangible. Over time, this desire evolved into a need to bring illustration, interaction, and space together.

I'm graduating with a project about the fairy tale "Thumbelina," a story that captured my imagination even as a child. My graduation project consists of a children's book in which I bring this classic fairy tale to life in my own unique way—enriched with spatial elements that together create a comprehensive experience. I hope my work can be not only viewed but truly experienced; that the viewer is transported for a moment, wandering through a world that is small, wondrous, and full of imagination.