Welcome!
This is my very first post on Substack, where I’ll be writing about processes, Sunday evening philosophical reflections and stuff I like, such as printmaking, photography, all things design & illustration but mostly children’s books.
Feel free to subscribe to this space and share it if you’re keen, I won’t be clogging your inbox, promised!
This is all new to me so it’ll stay a free space for now, and I’ll see where this goes :^)
1. Why write all of this?
Shine –my very first book– is out April 30th! I started and almost finished it while studying the Children’s Books Illustration MA at Anglia Ruskin, in Cambridge. This is the main reason I started this Substack, as I wanted to share some of the images I made in the process of making the book: loose sketches, prints made with different techniques, and images I ended up taking out but may have played a role in developing the book.
There will be 3 light-read posts to launch Shine, read below for Part 1 of 3.
Shine is on preorder now, so feel free to order it here or better still, from your favourite independent bookshop! And happy belated children’s book day!
UPDATE: If you’re in the UK, get Shine from Shelf Editions. It’s run by Helen Hancocks, who is a children’s books author an illustrator herself and has curated this incredible space into a book-lover paradise.
2. What is ‘the hideout’?
Arch Cape, Oregon. Taken with a Rolleiflex 2.8D on JHC PAN 400.
I tend to take tons of photos –both digital and analogue–, of processes, interesting places, books and even some that I would dare calling street photography. I have no space to organise them, share them or archive them in an intelligible way and I thought some kind of blog/newsletter would be a nice way to hold me accountable for the images I create and as a space for them to live. A sort of personal museum, cabinet of curiosities, or a hoard of treasures I used to hide away when I was a kid, but with a Children’s Books kind of focus. And I though there may be some people interested out there!
3. What you can expect from ‘the hideout’
I am planning to post processes, thoughts and images in a monthly-ish basis. Although there will be 3 posts this first month, as a way to launch Shine.
There may be more in-depth content in the near future, such as tips and tricks, recommendations and even tutorials of some kind, too.
4. The real reason you might be reading this for: Shine anecdotes, processes & behind the scenes Part 1
initial linocut experiments for the moth.
Shine ‘s first title was the moth. Yes, very descriptive and obvious. I learned there were different ways to kickstart an authored-illustrated project while thinking what this project could turn into. I tend to plan things, make lists and narrow down tasks to be done, which wasn’t working to develop stories that excited me. And thanks to a great tutor –and many others– I had in the Children’s Books Illustration MA –Katherina Manolessou–, I stopped worrying too much for a story to make sense from the outset, and just focus on making.
character development and colour research for the moth.
This was back in 2021, and as Covid lockdowns started being lifted and restrictions were implemented, I started spending most days at the print room and having it almost to myself, getting away from desk and screens, and starting to think with my hands. The print room at Anglia Ruskin is unlike any print space you can find today. There’s access to virtually any printmaking technique, and I fell in love with linocut, risograph and screenprinting. I’d tried these techniques before, but never as a tool for exploration and experimentation, and it made me realise how making –and the hours put in it– sparks and develops ideas. Making before thinking. Or thinking through making.
some initial character development and monoprints for the moth.
Some moth characters emerged out of pure interest in them and as I cut the linoleum, prepared tracing-paper originals to be printed on the risograph machine and cleaned screens. All that time spent in the print room working and chatting with people, as well as receiving proper feedback from peers also had a huge impact on the project. Do take feedback! But also be critical of the direction it might steer you into. Note that none of the images in this post ended up being used in the book, but all of them helped develop an intelligible sequence, a reveal –I love reveals!– and something that felt exciting and true to myself.
Some childhood memories had been disentangling themselves in the back of my head, as I also started reading folktales and fables about moths. It turns out there has been a long-lasting relationship between humans and moths, from munching on our wool jumpers to entering our language in the form of proverbs and poetry. ‘Like a moth to a flame’, does it ring a bell? Well, moths would end up burnt for being attracted and getting too close to the fire, but they survive nowadays because most of our lights are artificial and harmless. This turned out to be fertile ground for ideas and metaphors.
I remember going back home at night in Mexico city, climbing up two flights of stairs from which you could see the sky, most often overcast. Sometimes, especially after heavy rain, I would be mesmerized by the sight of stars in that same, usually greyish sky. And I was also terrified to think that I could be lifted up from the ground, closer to those stars, and I would never be able to come back down. The print below was the key to mix the my own attraction to stars with a mischievous moth: what if the kid in the story was a moth who is afraid of the dark and its dangers? And that was the first exciting step in the process of making Shine.
initial risograph experiments and character development for the moth.
The next step was jumping into making more risographs then onto screen printing, but that’s for the next post, in a couple of weeks! Here’s a teaser below, though.
screen printing exploration and colour variations to set the tone of the story
Thank you for reading this far, and please subscribe if you would like to read part 2 in the making of Shine.
And remember Shine is out on April 30th! Pre orders are a huge way to support my work and ensure the book is successful, so thank you even more so if you’ve ordered yours already!
– bruno
Your work is so beautiful! I look forward to reading these :)
Hooray! Welcome to Substack Bruno! Loved this post, and I love Shine! Congratulations!! 🥂