'Lotta' strip from Tina #49, 2022).
Marloes de Vries is a Dutch freelance illustrator and comic artist, based in Capelle aan den IJssel. She regularly posts autobiographical comic strips on her popular social media accounts, and provides illustrations and cartoons for books and magazines such as Flow and Flair. Since late 2018, she has made the weekly gag strip 'Lotta' for girls' magazine Tina.
Early life and career
Born in 1984 in Emmen, Marloes de Vries developed interests in several artistic disciplines throughout several stages of her childhood, starting with painting at age 5, then comics at age 9 and finally web design at age 14. At age 18, she enrolled at the ArtEZ School of Arts in Enschede, where she studied visual communication from 2003 to 2007. Her desire to switch to the illustration department was cut short due to bureaucratic reasons and the off-putting opinions of some overly critical teachers. She began her professional career working as a graphic designer for agencies in the provinces Overijssel and Groningen, before becoming a freelance designer, art director and wedding/portrait photographer in 2009. She ranks the illustrators Fiep Westendorp and Quentin Blake among her major inspirations.
Translation: - "Why don't pull that bag of crisps a bit nearer?" - "Because I'm doing a kind of sit-ups. I have to think a little about my figure, don't you agree?"
Full time illustrator
In 2010, De Vries picked up illustration again, when she participated in the Boekie Boekie Start Award, an international competition for up-and-coming illustrators. The positive feedback on her work gave her enough confidence to further explore this field. Through a Summer Course at the Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, UK, Marloes then developed her skills as a storyteller. She began to frequently post her work on social media platforms like Twitter and Instagram, which led to her first picture book assignment in 2012. She has since then illustrated a variety of books for publishers like Leopold, Noordhoff and Zwijssen, as well as June Books in the USA. These are mostly self-help or Q&A books about subjects varying from ADHD, super powers, sexuality and growing up, aimed at either teenagers or parents.
2013 was a turning point in De Vries' career. She moved to Rotterdam and decided to fully focus on a career in illustration. Her ongoing assignments included illustrations (mostly hand lettering) for Flow magazine, and working as a ghost artist on the children's book series 'Borre' for illustrator Stefan Tijs (2014-2016). Among her other clients are Ravensburger and TEDx.
2018 comic.
Journal Doodles
De Vries also began posting her self-described "journal doodles" on her social media accounts. These funny and at times moving comic strips give an open-hearted and recognizable peek in the life of a young professional woman. Already in 2013, she self-published a book collection under the title 'Journal Doodles - the works'. Her daily strips went viral in 2017 after being the subject of an article on the website Bored Panda, which resulted in publications on A+ (Ashton Kutcher's online magazine), 9GAG and Forbidden Planet. A large selection of her diary comics is released by the Utrecht-based publisher Blossom Books under the title 'Volwassen Worden Is Optioneel' ("Adulthood Is Optional", 2019). Several of her strips are available on greeting cards through Ohh Deer.
Cartoon by Marloes de Vries.
De Week van Marloes
Since 2016, De Vries makes a monthly cartoon for the union magazine NT Magazine, and writes articles about self-development for Charlie Magazine and Flow. In the same tradition as her journal doodles, she made a monthly cartoon for the women's magazine Flair under the title 'De Week van Marloes' from November 2018 until mid-2022.
Scene from the first 'Lotta' strip (Tina #1, 2019). Translation: "You know what, Bien? I'll just make sure I strike a unique pose on the photo." - Photographer: "Smile!" - Bien: "Well, at least you look unique, Lotta!".
Lotta
In 2018, De Vries was asked to develop a new weekly comic strip for the girls' magazine Tina. A dream come true, since she used to be an avid Tina reader. Her comic strip 'Lotta' made its debut in the first issue of 2019. The title character is a girl who does things her own way, and is not so much a "girly-girl". In her comic, De Vries tackles both humorous topics, like Lotta's clumsiness and work at the children's farm, and serious subject matter, like school bullying and growing up without a mother. The rest of the cast consists of Lotta's single father, who has a crush on her teacher, her little sister Elfie, her best friend Bien and her eccentric grandmother, Oma Toeps, with her garden full of goats, alpaca and chickens. Marloes uses her own childhood experiences as main reference, and hopes she can inspire young girls who also deviate from the norm. On occasion, Kenny Rubenis has been an additional gag writer for the feature.
Graphic contributions
In 2019, Marloes de Vries was invited by King Features Syndicate to create a special episode of E.C. Segar's 'Popeye' for the Popeye's Cartoon Club project on the occasion of the character's 90th anniversary. Her episode appeared on 10 November 2019. In 2020, De Vries was one of five artists who made a collective comic adaptation of the dark story 'De Man Die Geen Saxofoon Mocht Spelen' (Personalia, 2020) by novelist Lilian Blom. The other contributors were Aimée de Jongh, Ibrahim R. Ineke, Juliette de Wit and the veteran illustrator Thé Tjong-Khing, who also initiated the project.
In the special thematic issue of Tina dedicated to the 50th anniversary of Patty Klein and Jan Steeman's 'Noortje' comic (issue #18 of 2025), Marloes de Vries and scriptwriter Bas Schuddeboom created a special 'Noortje' episode as a tribute to the character's creators.
Cartoon by Marloes de Vries.
Inspiration for others
De Vries has a large fanbase on Instagram (129K followers by early 2024), and posting on the platform has become her main source of acquiring new clients. She also uses the medium to give tips and advice to young and aspiring illustrators, and to post openly about dealing with burn-out and depression, while appearing in several creative podcasts and magazines to talk about her profession. Since 2015, she has worked as a freelance teacher at the ArtEZ Institute of the Arts in Enschede.
In 2023, Blossom Books released her illustrated non-fiction book 'Kinderen krijgen is optioneel', about being a consciously child-free woman and dealing with all the inappropriate comments, prejudices and social barriers that come with this life choice. In her spare time, Marloes de Vries is active as a painter. In April-May 2025, the Grafisch Atelier Den Bosch hosted her solo exhibition 'Hardop Leven', containing works of art inspired by the artist's experiences with autism and neurodivergence.
Cartoon by Marloes de Vries.