'Hier Waakt Oma'.
Wout Schildermans is a Belgian illustrator, painter and graphic designer, who works for publishing houses, advertising agencies and production companies under the pseudonyms Melvin or Mister Melvin. He is best-known as the most prominent illustrator of Stefan Boonen's children's books, which often make use of comic strip-like illustrated sequences.
Early life and career
Wout Schildermans was born in 1980 in Neerpelt, a town in the northern Belgian province of Limburg. After studying at the Hogeschool PXL in Hasselt, he worked as a teacher at the Provincial University of Limburg (Provinciale Hogeschool Limburg). He later settled in Borgerhout, near Antwerp, where he worked as an independent illustrator and designer. Using the pen names Melvin or Mister Melvin, he has drawn and painted for children and young adults, with his artwork appearing in magazines, books and on murals.
Children's books
Since 2014, Mister Melvin is fully dedicated to illustrating picture books, read-aloud books and children's novels, working for publishers like De Eenhoorn, Pelckmans, Het Geluidshuis and others. He has worked extensively with the writer Stefan Boonen on children's novels with comic-like illustrations. Their collaboration kicked off with 'Hier Waakt Oma' (De Eenhoorn, 2014), a story of a fantastic weekend with an extraordinary grandma. This was followed by 'Mammoet (Over Theo, Een Van De Beste Jongens Ooit)' (De Eenhoorn, 2016), about Theodore Bob Prinsel the First, a rich and imaginative kid who has to live up to the expectations of his wealthy parents. He escapes his everyday reality through his fantasies, and has adventures in a prehistoric amusement park with cannibals, saber-toothed rabbits and a primeval girl.
Several more books followed. 'Kamp Bravo' (De Eenhoorn, 2018) is set in a youth camp, where one boy feels homesick and too scared to make contact with the other kids. 'Max Halters' (De Eenhoorn, 2020) revolves around a professional stuntman, and 'Dat Met Leo' (De Eenhoorn, 2020) centers on a boy who feels nobody recognizes him and goes in search of himself. One of the duo's most unusual books was 'Billie en zijn Genen' (Pelckmans, 2021), as it explains to children in a playful, but educational way what genes and DNA are. Boonen and Schildermans went so far as to have their own DNA tested for this book and consulted the Center of Human Inheritance at the University of Leuven/Louvain.
'De Familie Blet Tikt Door!' (Nanuq, 2022).
Schildermans' work for the publisher Het Geluidshuis has included illustrating the books 'De Bokrokker' and 'Johanna en het Gravensteen' (2019), both written by Hans Kerkhoff. In addition to his collaborations with Boonen and Kerkhoff, Schildermans illustrated Kim Crabeels' 'De Grote OnderbroekenRoof' (Pelckmans, 2021), in which a piece of underpants is stolen from the Royal Museum for Underwear and the head of the museum has to find the thief. His first actual comic book was 'De Familie Blet Tikt Door!' (Nanuq, 2022), a story written by Frank Pollet and Moniek Vermeulen about a crazy family addicted to screens. Together with Meneer Zee (a pen name of Jan De Maeyer), he created 'Waarom Een Tafel Geen Dier Is' (Horizon, 2023), a philosophical picture book about being different. Books illustrated by Mister Melvin have been translated into Italian, German, Danish, Slovenian and Arabic.
Other activities
Together with Wout Schoonis and Kim Vreys, Wout Schildermans is a co-founder of BLUTS, a studio specializing in animated shorts for bands and other customers. He is also a member of DeKLUP, an artist collective that draws from life in the most unusual places, varying from parks and forests to the Erotica Fair. Together with Boonen, Schildermans also initiated, a two-day children's book festival in Antwerp, kicking off the Children's Book Month in Flanders. The first edition was held in 2021.
'Mammoet'.