I have always felt at home with illustrated books, no matter where in the world I would find myself - the universal (and yet varied) language of illustration would speak to me, and draw me inside the story. As a child it offered possibilities of different worlds and different ways of seeing; as an adult, and practicing illustrator, my fascination has become much deeper.

Art, and drawing in particular, have always been a great outlet for me. My studies, work experience and personality have guided me, in a roundabout way, toward the illustration of picture books, and I feel very much at home there. I am hugely indebted to, and continue to be inspired by, the guidance and example of local illustrators and artists like Paddy Bouma, Paul Emsley, Niki Daily, Marjorie van Heerden, Piet Grobler, and many others here and abroad.

The narrative nature of picture book illustrations, the special interaction of pictures with the text, the process of making a book…are all aspects of my work that excite me.

I’ve dabbled with many media, and I struggle to describe my style. I believe style and to a lesser extent medium should be appropriate to the style of text and to the reading market. I am inspired by good texts. This is my starting point. The more excited I am about a text that needs illustrating, the more I feel I’m starting from absolute scratch. A good text demands it. The process that follows are at times exhausting, frustrating, but also exhilarating and honest, and hopefully true to the text.

I work in inks (Dr Martin’s), in conjunction with collage, or chalky pastels, or gouache. For my inks I would use mostly smooth (or slightly textured) water colour paper. I also sometimes, when text dictates and time allows, use a scraperboard medium which involves spray painted board and then covering it with ink where after I would distress the ink by means of an artist knife and the finest grade steel wool, taking away colour to reveal highlights. Finally I would enhance the ‘drawing’ with layers of oil glazes.

Alzette Prins - 2008