Merve Erbilgiç was born in 1988 in İstanbul. She is currently working on contemporary-creative-fictional illustration for books and exhibitions and giving workshops in Istanbul, Turkey.
She is interested in creating meaning in her illustrations, by using the power of experimental drawing, colors and design, and tries to discover how these factors affect the human soul.
After her university education in Communications and Marketing, she attended “Illustrative Today Studio”, a long-term education program for fiction-illustration in Istanbul. In the same period, she established her own studio.
In 2017, she started studying at the “Sàrmede School of Illustration” in Italy, where she currently attends master-courses. Merve was trained by Javier Zabala, Linda Wolfsgruber and Saeed Ensafi. She has participated in group exhibitions in Turkey and Italy.
In January 2018, her first book “Bazı Kuşlar Uçtu” is published in Turkey by Nesin Publishing House. In the same year, her illustrations were selected for the international online catalog and presented at the major fairs of the world, including the Bologna Book Fair.
In May 2019, her illustrations had been given Honourable Mention for the “Personal and Powerful Aesthetics” of her works by Edelvives Publishing House in ”First International Illustration Award 2019”.
She loves to transform her books to an artistic experience and aims to increase the imagination of the audience by using mixed techniques such as; experimental drawing, monotype, gravure.. For Merve, illustrated books should also be a personal art gallery that can give its audience an artistic experience.
She continues to work in her studio in Istanbul.