Margreet de Heer's Blog, page 2
April 18, 2019
What is Love?
Did you know the Ancient Greek had at least seven words to describe the concept of Love? There’s agape (deep devoted love), eros (lust), philia (friendship), storge (family love), ludus (playful love), pragma (rational love) and philautia (self love).
Ludus literally means “game”, so I decided to draw a game board in my upcoming book Love: a Discovery in Comics. It’s not accidental that practitioners of this kind of love are often called “players”.
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On the other end of the spectrum there’s pr...
April 15, 2019
Love is coming!
My newest book, on Love this time, will hit bookstores in June! It will be first available at the TCAF comic con in Toronto on May 11 & 12, which Yiri and I will be attending (find us at the NBM booth for a chat!).
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The first review, from Publisher’s Weekly is already in, and I’m really happy that they call it upbeat, good-natured and affable:
The latest in de Heer’s series of simple, cheery graphic novel guides to big topics like science, philosophy, and religion finds the Dutch cartoonist...
December 30, 2018
A New Year!
What a year it’s been – what a year to come… Here’s how Minnie and her girlfriend Mia feel about it:
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And here’s the New Year’s card Yiri and I sent out:
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On the left we listed main events of 2018: the death of our beloved cat Toto, my tattoo, a theater play, illustrations for a new book with Karel Eykman, lots of activities as Comic Artist Laureate, especially the publication of a guide for adding graphic novels to the Dutch Literature reading list in schools – and of course our new cats, R...
October 13, 2018
One year Comics Laureate
For starters: congratulations to Hannah Berry, who was appointed UK Comics Laureate yesterday! To be honest, I was not aware of the title in the UK, or that it’s written as “comics laureate” rather than “comic artist laureate” (although I’ll stick to the latter, because I like more words).
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The task of “comics ambassador” in the UK revolves around many of the same issues as mine: more visibility, and promoting comics in education. And I love that Hannah is also a short-haired, bespectacled fe...
August 17, 2018
Update from The Netherlands
It’s been months since I posted on my English blog! But I have not been idle – read all about it in these two editions of “The Adventures of the Dutch Comic Artist Laureate” (originally drawn for comics magazine Stripnieuws)…:
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March 30, 2018
Peter van Dongen and the Clear Line
One of my duties as Comic Artist Laureate of The Netherlands is awarding the prestigious Stripschapprijs to this year’s recipient, Peter van Dongen.
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March 26, 2018
The first months as Comic Artist Laureate of The Netherlands
In October, I was voted Comic Artist Laureate of The Netherlands. What has happened since? Well, among other things, I drew this comic about the first few months…
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February 23, 2018
Death of a Cat
Our cat Toto has died, well over eighteen years old. For us at-home-working, childfree artists, out cats have always been much more than just pets to us – they are life companions…
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Our cats have always found their way into our work. Here’s the last drawing of Toto in the Discovery-series (the book about Love, to be released at a later date by NMB):
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January 22, 2018
The Story of Our Love
This week, Yiri and I celebrate nine years of marriage and ten years of being together! The funny thing is, I remember saying on our second day or so: “I’m sure that in ten years we’ll still be together, and basically still feeling for each other what we’re feeling now.” And I was right.
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These pages are from our graphic novel about Love, which came out in The Netherlands last year, and may be appearing in the US later this year…
January 1, 2018
Happy New Year!
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A good new year to all!
This year’s card features a background by famous Dutch illustrator Anton Pieck – it’s a view of the Schreierstoren in Amsterdam. There’s no skating on the canals at the moment, but hey, we can dream…
