What If: Grow Your Imagination

Born in 1970, Tom Schamp grew up in and around Brussels. He now lives in the suburb of that same city. After graduating from the Applied Arts department at the Sint-Lukas Art School in Brussels, he spent an additional year studying graphic design in Poznań, Poland. Schamp has a long track record. His illustrations are aimed at both adults and children. He receives assignments from an international mix of customers, from the very commercial commissions over magazine illustrations to picture books. Over the past 20 years, Schamp has published 35 picture books, many of which have been translated in different languages. Schamp has a "complex-naive" style, often spiced with a touch of humor. Over the past decade, Schamp has painted the different elements of an illustration separately on cardboard, which he later scans to make digital compositions. This technique allows him to find the right rhythm more easily and offers him the right balance between craft and technology. Schamp's later work is far more detailed than his older illustration, up to the point that his illustrations need a trained eye to catch every subtlety. He has a fascination for strange objects, little hand-painted boxes, stamps, and animal-shaped coffeepots.