'Vuur van Tuur' (2008).
Mark Janssen is a Dutch illustrator from Limburg, who has illustrated hundreds of children's and picture books for all the major Dutch and Belgian publishing houses. Working regularly for the educational publisher Zwijsen, he has created comic stories for the publisher's magazines and their comic book series for early readers. The Dutch illustrator Mark Janssen should not be confused with fellow artists like the Antwerp sculptor Marc Janssens (b. 1969), the Belgian cartoonist Mark Janssen (b. 1972?) or Dutch doctor-cartoonist Marc-Jan Janssen.
Early life and career
Marcus Jacques Agnes Janssen was born in 1974 in Eijsden, a town in the province of Limburg, near the Belgian border. While he was initially interested in designing on the computer, he eventually ended up making, in his own words, "beautiful things with drawing and painting". After studying at the Maastricht Academy of Fine Arts and Design, where one of his teachers was the Dutch illustrator and writer Willemien Min. The only two illustrators that graduated in his year were Mark Janssen and his future wife, Suzanne Diederen, with whom he has regularly collaborated.
After graduation, Mark Janssen settled in Valkenburg aan de Geul, where he has been working as a full-time illustrator from his house studio since August 1997. His first professional assignment was illustrating the children's book 'Mijn Vriend de Sjeik' by Ulf Stark for publisher Lemniscaat (1997). Since then, he has worked as an illustrator for book publishers, as well as newspapers like Dagblad de Limburger and commercial clients like the ABP Pensioenfonds.
'Lees mee met Koen en Lot'.
Children's books
Over the years, Mark Janssen has illustrated up to 500 books for publishers from the Netherlands and Belgium, but also from China. Many of his books found their way abroad and have been translated into about twenty languages. Besides his wife Suzanne Diederen, Janssen has also collaborated with the writer Sanne Rooseboom on the book series 'Het Ministerie van Oplossingen' (2016- ) for publisher Van Goor, and with Marianne Busser and Ron Schröder on the 'Koen en Lot' books (2012-2023) for early readers by publisher Van Holkema & Warendorf.
Notable bestsellers have been 'Het Wonderbaarlijke Verhaal van de Kleine Prins' by Tiny Fisscher (Volt, 2019), 'Van Snoepjesproever tot Matrassentester' by Marianne Busser and Ron Schröder (Moon, 2021), 'Soms als ik een Vlinder Zie' with Boudewijn de Groot and Jaco van der Steen (Lemniscaat, 2022) and 'De Jongen die van de Wereld Hield' with Tjibbe Veldkamp (Querido, 2023). Mark Janssen has additionally illustrated books by Lizette de Koning, Arienne Bolt, Mariska Overman, Reggie Naus, Bies van Ede, Marcel van Driel and the cabaret duo Yentl & De Boer, among many other writers.
'Niets Gebeurd' (2016).
Author
In 2016, Mark Janssen started writing and drawing his own picture books, often starring comical animal characters. His debut 'Niets gebeurd' (Lemniscaat, 2016) was followed by 'Dino's Bestaan Niet' (Lemniscaat, 2017), which won him the 2017 "Vlag en Wimpel" award for children's books. Then came 'Eén Eenhoorn, Alsjeblieft!' (Moon, 2018) and 'Eiland' (Lemniscaat, 2018), which won the Dutch Children's Bookstore Award 2019 and the Premio Andersen Award 2020. In 2020, Lemniscaat released his books 'Raar', 'Altijd Dichtbij' and a collection of Sinterklaas (Saint Nicolas) songs. Further solo books by Mark Janssen have been 'Dromer' (Lemniscaat, 2021) and 'Thuis' (Lemniscaat, 2023).
'Blijf Van Big Af!' (2013).
Zwijsen
One of Mark Janssen's regular clients is the educational publisher Zwijsen. Besides illustrating picture books for early readers for the publisher, he has also made drawings and comic pages for its school magazines, such as Zomerlezen. Starting in 2008, Janssen also drew installments in Zwijsen's comic book series for early readers. In 2007, Janssen's first comic book was 'Vuur van Tuur', about a young dragon who is not allowed to spit fire in the house and then flies away from. The book's two kid characters Koen and Kaat returned in Janssen's next volume, 'Hiep hiep, daar is Piep!' (2008), about a big bird who suddenly drops into the children's garden. In 2010, Janssen created the landscape-formatted comic book 'De Boot van Sint en Piet', a story tying in with the annual Sinterklaas festivities. In the same format, he subsequently made the comic book 'Blijf van Big af!' (2013), about a hungry pirate who wnats to eat a little piglet.
Among the other writers and artists who contributed to Zwijsen's comic books for early readers series have been Daniëlle Schothorst, Robbert Damen & Daniel van den Broek, Andrea Kruis, Ruben Prins & Hélène Jorna, Rian Visser & Hugo van Look, Ckoe, Paul van Loon & Ivan Ilia, Marinte Letterie & Rick de Haas, Tamar Bos & Juliette de Wit, Jolanda Horsten & Ivan Ilia, Mariken Jongman & Loes Riphagen, Johan Klungel, Jørgen Hofmans with Hester van de Grift, Marieke van Ditshuizen & Camila Fialkowski, Nicolle van den Hurk, Jan Paul Schutten & Heleen Brulot, Jørgen Hofmans & Marieke van Ditshuizen and Madeleine van der Raad.
'Raar' (2020).