Illustrator and character designer Mieke Driessen has thousands of friends. Many are thumb-shaped, thumb-sized creatures with two protuberant eyes: Foomps. These mischievous candy-colored companions pop up in her exuberant, topsy-turvy illustrations and in pockets of travelers around the world. She's starting new Foomp adventures all the time, so we asked her about her latest projects.
INMYX: You've brought Foomps to so many media: photos, installations, illustrations, murals, life-size furry characters. Recently you worked in theater and film. How did that go?
Mieke Driessen: The theater piece was made for a one-day happening organized by En Plein Public. Director Naomi Vermeulen and I made it out of all the objects, toys and chaos in my atelier. The theater could fit thirty people; we played with two people behind a table and the Foomps. We made sound effects and narrator Sjaak Hertog told the story: about a picnic, a Foomp family and Kwarks (green creatures with three eyes).
It was funny, nobody noticed us behind the little Foomps (just 3 cm high); everyone was into the story. People saw happiness and felt like children again.
We also do Foomp workshops making animated films, or making Foomp families. Recently I did a t-shirt workshop and 40-year-old women were saying, "I never did something crazy like this!" When I heard that, I was happy!
For the Foomp movie, we're experimenting with stop-motion animation. We will be able to present it to the world in maybe a year. But I might do Foomp “television” online, with little animations, or Foomp movies.
INMYX: What do you have planned next for the Foomps? What are your wildest Foomp dreams?
Driessen: The next thing coming out is the Foomp book, a children's book for publisher New Amsterdam. It's about "a day out." A book you can't stop looking at ... and finding new things.
There are sooooooooo many nice projects to do with Foomps ... I want to always be working with different people from different disciplines!
Links:
www.foomp.nl
www.miekedriessen.nl
