Who I am
Teacher, graphic designer, web designer, Overthinking Overthinker, sensitive, creative, animal-loving nerd.
Interested in science, especially if it's about space and nature.
I am a bit stubborn (yes I am) and 'sometimes' think I know best. I have been told I am a perfectionist. But I am getting better at this.

What I do
I work as a graphic designer and web designer and teach all that with great pleasure at a school: I teach people how to use Adobe software; I develop lesson material, courses, and complete educations. My favourite application is Illustrator, which I used to create all the illustrations on this personal website. I also teach Photoshop (photo editing) and InDesign for graphic design. But I love code too, so I teach web design as well. I kept this website super simple to maintain it quickly, I want to concentrate on the content and not get lost in more complex CSS.

Ah, teaching...
I have been teaching ever since I was young: I even taught the small children in my old neighbourhood while I myself was a child. Having fun with glue, scissors and much more, and getting dirty while making lots of paper maché. Later, when I learned English myself, I wanted to teach my brothers and sisters English too. Because they were very small at that time it was quite difficult to keep their attention, but I realized much later in life that was already a teacher when I was a child because I managed, kinda... I tought my brothers how to swim too, for instance, I just really liked teaching people things.

What I love to do is trick the students because it's fun to make them realise things sometimes just can't be done gheheheh... I try to keep my cool while they slave away on an Impossible Assignment but I keep their slaving brief enough: they don't have to try for more than, say, a few minutes. Hey: at least they get to practise those shortcuts and think of all the cool tricks they just learned and try to apply those!
Unfortunately I am usually found out after a few lessons because I can't keep my face in line. I remember a student's whispered 'No, don't fall for it, look at her eyes, look at her eyes..." which I overheard. "What?" I asked, and they all howled with laughter. This called for more refined trickery, of course.

And...
I started drawing portraits a while ago, digitally, granted, but it is done by hand nonetheless! I don't trace anything automatically, there are already way too many 'works of art' out there that have been created in a few seconds. My pride and joy is to create portraits that are unique and fun, and that reflect a portion of the life of the portrayed.
I also do product drawings et cetera. My initial style is free and personal, and if I have fun I add stories to them or 'weird stuff' because well, they have to be there, right?
I have an eye for detail, which sometimes makes me miss the bigger erm... What was I... erm...

I care
I support nature and anti-bullying causes. I also stimulate creativity, which I love to do during drawing classes but can also be done during conversations to get good ideas. This talking can be done in Dutch, English, French, and German.

So erm... what's with 'soulful ash'?
Well, I didn't have a particularly easy life. And after bad times, I felt all that was left of me was a pile of ashes. But I still had a spark, and that's my soul. So... that.