Olf de Bruin has an outstanding talent.  He is amazing.  He can, just like his creatures, pass by you unnoticed.  But there is a good chance you have seen his peculiar animals go by several times, perhaps smiling for a moment; and his work on the covers of the Volkskrant Magazine, Philosophy Magazine or the VPRO guide might have also gone by too quickly, with you not in the least noticing how good he actually is.

Now that I have your attention, have a look at his illustration shown here.  Or even better, just have a look at his work online on the internet.  Look at them, and keep on looking.  You will place yourself into his fantasy-rich world.  There are colours.  Those weird biological creatures with strange anatomies.  The elegance.  The flowing lines.  The humour.  Sympathy oozes little by little from them.  It is so cleverly done, that despite all this strangeness, every animal feels so familiar that you think they almost exist.  Or, to be honest, you are hoping that they really do exist.

But before you continue browsing the WOTH enthusiastically again, take a moment to look at Olf de Bruin's beautiful work and amaze yourself a little longer.

Willem van Roosmalen
Editor in chief of Fontanel and creative director of Homerun. He has a personal appetite for illustration.

Note This feature was published in our WOTH editon No14 unfortunately something went wrong in our lay-out . This is the correct text and illustration. Our sincere apologies to Olf de Bruin and Willem van Roosmalen.