Background: I continue experimenting with illustration. This series is inspired by Stephan Vanfleteren, a brilliant Belgian photographer who exhibited at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam years ago. I remember having been mesmerised by that show: extreme close ups, black and white, staring to the camera, expressionless. Same lighting, same camera position, in a studio environment. Few other details than the face (hair and clothing are practically unseen). So powerful. | Assignment: draw 20 portraits based on Vanfleteren’s photographs as line drawings. Not caricatures but rather a drawing that captures the essence of a face, very much in the style of Matisse and Jean Cocteau’s ink drawings. | Proposal: Full page faces, one tint (blue), positive and negative, on thick watercolour paper.
Dutch and Flemish faces | Illustrations | Book or editorial | A self-initiated project
![](https://www.yvonnenelson.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Dutch-Flemish-faces-spread-grey-1w.jpg)
![](https://www.yvonnenelson.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Dutch-Flemish-faces-spread-grey-2w.jpg)
![](https://www.yvonnenelson.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Dutch-Flemish-faces-spread-grey-3w.jpg)
![](https://www.yvonnenelson.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Dutch-Flemish-faces-spread-grey-4w.jpg)
![](https://www.yvonnenelson.nl/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/Dutch-Flemish-faces-spread-grey-5w.jpg)