Durk van der Meer

Aku at his drawing desk

Work — Character & world

Aku

Aku is an astronaut created by Micah Johnson. I designed him, modelled him, and have been building his world ever since — across renders, a magazine cover, a bestselling novel and a game.

00 — Origin

Where Aku comes from

Aku began with a question. Micah Johnson — a Major League ballplayer who traded the diamond for a paintbrush — overheard his young nephew ask, “Can astronauts be Black?” His answer was a boy in an oversized astronaut’s helmet who refuses to let anyone tell him what he can’t be.

Aku launched in February 2021 and grew fast: ten chapters of story, sculptures in eight cities, the cover of TIME, a New York Times bestselling novel and a game. Micah brought me in at the very start to turn his sketch into a three-dimensional character, and I’ve been shaping Aku and his world ever since.

Visit aku.world →

01 — The character

Designing him

A young Black kid, around twelve, in an astronaut’s helmet that is never coming off. It’s an old-school one, scaled down to fit him. The colours are primary and simple: a yellow backpack with his name on it, blue pants, and a red heart on his T-shirt.

Aku is creative and inventive, but most of all he’s a dreamer. Give him a garage full of cardboard boxes, a roll of tape, a bag of tennis balls and a traffic cone, and he’ll build a flying saucer. That’s the whole idea of him: he’s for the kid who thinks he’s not good enough, who looks at something and thinks that’s not for me. Aku just starts building.

Aku concept art — the character in a sunlit workshop beside a hand-built model of Ibra — Concept art

Aku at an easel in a sunlit studio, painting a portrait of a yellow-suited astronaut, surrounded by his own canvases — Aku in the studio — illustration made for Amazon, 2023.

02 — Reach

On the cover of TIME

TIME magazine cover, Into the Metaverse, August 2022 — Aku steps through a glowing portal

Cover illustration for TIME, Into the Metaverse, August 2022. Aku created by Micah Johnson; illustration by Durk van der Meer.

03 — Reach

Aku: Journey to Ibra

Published by Penguin Random House. An instant New York Times bestseller, and a Junior Library Guild selection. Written by Micah Johnson, illustrated by me.

The hardcover of Aku: Journey to Ibra standing on a wooden table in window light — The published hardcover.

Interior illustration — Aku’s father with an arm around him, both seen from behind, Aku carrying his helmet

Interior illustration — Benji and Trae sitting up in bed at night, one with a tablet, one with a game controller

Interior illustration — a cluttered attic workbench with Aku’s helmet under a desk lamp, half-built machines on the floor

Interior illustration — the Lunaberry tree glowing in a jungle clearing at night, small creatures gathered beneath it

Black-and-white interior illustrations running through the 224-page novel.

04 — Reach

The game

I designed and built the Aku: Journey to Ibra Book Quiz single-handedly — a short interactive 3D game that tests you on your knowledge of the book, alongside a few minigames I made along the way. Playable free on Viverse.

Akuverse trailer

Trailer for the Aku: Journey to Ibra Book Quiz.

Play it free →

05

Credits

Aku has appeared with MLB, Beats by Dre, Starbucks, PUMA, New Era and TIME, among dozens of other partners.

Beats by Dre × Aku — hand-drawn custom headphones, one of thirteen pairs

New Era × Aku — three stacked white fitted caps, Dodgers, Giants and Padres, each with a hand-drawn Aku helmet and Micah Johnson's signature

Character: Created by Micah Johnson
Design & 3D: Durk van der Meer
Book: Illustrated by Durk van der Meer · Penguin Random House
TIME cover: Illustration by Durk van der Meer