'Acception'
Coco Ouwerkerk is a Dutch comic artist and 2D animator, also known under the pen name Colourbee. She is a representative of the Dutch doujinshi manga scene, and the author of the high school comic 'Acception' (2017). Her work focuses on fantasy, animals and soul searching people.
Early life and career
Coco Ouwerkerk was born in 1992 and studied Comic Design at the Artez School of Arts in Zwolle from 2009 to 2011. She then studied 2D animation at the HKU University of the Arts in Utrecht (2012-2016), and was Marissa Delbressine's assistant on the second 'Ward' album. She ranks among her main inspirations shojo and shounen manga authors like Hiroyuki Takei, Eiichiro Oda, Aya Nakahara, Masashi Kishimoto, Akira Toriyama and CLAMP, but also European authors like Barbara Canepa, Alessandro Barbucci, Doug TenNapel, Fabien Vehlmann, Kerascoët, Grzegorz Rosinski, Jean Van Hamme, Pierre Alary, Arthur De Pins, Delaf and Dubuc. She also has a passion for Cartoon Network, Disney and Nickelodeon animated cartoons.
'The Meeting' (2016, story published in Tapas.io).
Acception
Ouwerkerk has made contributions to the BCM magazines Koe and Sint (2013-2014) and published work in Aniway, the Dutch magazine for Japanese pop culture. She is also the author of the small press mini comics 'Colourbee in de pocket', 'L.O.C.O' and 'The Meeting'. The first album of her personal comics project 'Acception' was published by Syndikaat in late 2017. It deals with a group of outsider teenagers trying to find their way at their high school. Through the lives of main characters Arcus, Gale, Iris and Maud, Ouwerkerk deals with typical teenage issues like friendships, insecurities and subcultures. She has been posting the follow-up as installments on the online comics platform Webtoons since 2018.
Other activities
Together with Kimberly Geelen and Renee Rienties, she has published the manga anthology 'Oyasumi' (2017), consisting of monster, ghost and other supernatural stories. She works as a 2D animator through film studio Het Nieuwe Kader in Arnhem. Ouwerkerk also invents fantasy animals based on existing toy lines like 'My Little Pony' and 'Pokémon', and sells these drawings and sculptures on events and fairs.
'Yokai the Last Guardian' (from: Oyasumi).