Karl Meersman

caricature of Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni (2008)

Meersman's art has been widely lauded in the press, in the art world, and in politics. He gained international attention when his work was displayed in the Belgian consulate in New York City, in 2006–2007.

illustration De Kust (Dutch for The Coast and a word play on the word kust which can mean both coast and kiss) (2006)

In 2002, he became the permanent illustrator for Focus Knack, for which he draws caricatures of showbiz people most of the time.

After deciding he wanted to follow in the footsteps of his parents, he dropped out of high school and attended different art night schools instead. He was awarded degrees in publicity, printmaking, and figure drawing. In the meantime his father sent him to a photogravure company, where Meersman held a day job. When his father's drawing workshop became too big to be run by a single person, he became permanently involved there. In 1991, together with two of his siblings, Meersman took over his father's drawing studio Meersman I.D. to manage the ever-growing work load.

Initially, Meersman was mainly occupied with work in the publicity sector. He was hired as a caricaturist by Trends magazine in 1987 after he was noticed drawing visitors in a furniture shop, and has been drawing political cartoons for the magazine weekly ever since. The economical magazine calls the cartoonist their "jester of the socio-economic society".

Karl Meersman (born 14 September 1961) is a Belgian editorial cartoonist, living in Sint-Niklaas. He is known for his weekly caricatures in the popular magazines Trends and Knack. Meersman is married to former VRT-television journalist and presenter Lies Martens.