Mike Hermans (°Antwerp 1971), pseudonym Maaik, has been an architect since 1997 and is a cartoonist for newspapers and magazines.

Maaik is a creative braindog: architect, designer, cartoonist, illustrator, animator, storyboard-artist, character designer, concept artist, artist, writer...

His comic-strip "arch." is about architecture and the life of an architect named Archibald.
The strip is published worldwide in architecture media in several languages. Seven cartoon collection books have been published to date.

He recently started with a weekly animated architecture short series based upon the strip.

About "arch., an architecture animation series" at the GreekArchitects.gr

The series is about the life of architect Archibald and his daily struggle with his office colleagues, employees, clients, contractors, civil servants, consultants, architecture critics and other people involved in the building industry.

Archibald runs an architecture office with his partner and engineer, Gerald. While Archibald is a visionary and a romantic dreamer with a tendency to idealistic and egocentric behavior, Gerald is the rational one who keeps his feet on the ground.

In their office also work, among many others, an exploited intern named Ralph, a narrow-minded IT-specialist named John and a weird Asian cardboard model builder named Mr. Shan.
Archibald is married to Charlotte, a succesful lawyer who quit her job to help Archibald clean up his administrative mess. They have two children: Archie, his six-year-old son who wants to best the best architect in the world and Charly, a smart-mouthed ten-year-old daughter with a strong dislike for everything regarding art.