Who is Chapo?
That’s me, Simon Willems, but you can call me Chapo. I’m a conceptual illustrator based in Mechelen, Belgium. I like to translate my ideas into simple and clever illustrations using basic shapes and limited colors.
My creative journey
After I graduated, I worked as a Creative / Art Director in several advertising agencies like Mortierbrigade, TBWA and Bonka Circus. I loved to come up with concepts for some of Belgium’s biggest brands, but after a few years I felt the urge to start my own studio… and so I did: Studio Chapo was born. It started out as a graphic design studio where I made lots of corporate identities. I really enjoyed the process of coming up with clever ideas and transforming these into very minimalist logos. I always wanted to tell a whole story in one simple design. After a while I used this same approach for making illustrations and portraits. This combined everything I loved: Creative thinking, visual language, geometric shapes, limited colors, … This was the direction I had to go: I became an illustrator!
Graphic Storytelling & Portraits
Over the years I developed my own visual language. I always challenge myself to transform messages or people into very simple images based on a smart and creative idea. I want my designs to tell something. Because I used to work in advertising, I never lost focus on the concept. Moreover, it still takes up most of my design process…
