Return of the giants

Illustrations for a dark fairytale

By Illustrator Henk Willems

August 18^th, 2024

A children's book by Henk Willems, Liene Donckers & Joachim Claeys.

'Return of the giants' is not commercially available. The makers prefer to keep the production and sales in-house because it allows them to donate all the proceeds (€5.000) to a good cause: vzw Feestvarken. An association that fights poverty in Belgium for and together with people with a vulnerability. It does so by giving birthday packages to children in families living in poverty and by conducting awareness campaigns for the general public and weighing in on policy.

In the far North, far away from everything and everyone, heavy rock walls were shifted. Hands, almost as big as the stones themselves, broke open the rocks. Up there, at the very top of the mountain, gigantic giants crawled out of the cave where they had spent years and years. They stretched their legs. Crunched their toes and took small steps forward, for they still had stiff muscles from years of sitting still. They also had to get used to the outdoor mountain air. They looked around very cautiously as their eyes turned to the daylight. After all these years, they were finally free. They had decided that themselves. Just as they themselves had decided all those years ago, to crawl into the cave, never to come out again. But now it had been enough. They were completely fed up with each other's whining. Years of being in that dark cave together had been a very long time. So long, in fact, that they knew less and less about their past. They had spent all those years in the cave having long discussions about why they were in the cave. Why they were there together.

‘Return of the giants’ was book of the week on Ketnet in March 2020.

'Using mixed techniques (paint, acrylic marker, pastel crayon, print and photoshop), Henk creates almost mythical prints full of atmosphere and suggestion. They stimulate your imagination and act on your subconscious. He skilfully plays with proportions, perspectives, colours and backgrounds: atmospheres are set with a compelling hand and the prints themselves tell and drive the story.'