the making of el toron
Many people wonder how a picture book comes to life. Author Dave Greene walks us through how a scene goes from a few words on paper to a final scene illustrated by Sunga Park. We also see how El Toron, the heroic bull, is created.
This book has only one sentence per page, and each is edited hundreds of times. This nighttime party scene is a good example. At first, it said that night, they drank “toast after toast,” but that was revised to, “song after song,” because this is a kids book. This complex scene would be the first illustration, because if we got our style right here, it would set the tone for the whole book.
When the prose for the page is completed, a description of the illustration for the page is added. As you will see later, this illustration description will also go though many edits once Sunga and I start to draw.
We were creating a night fiesta in old Mexico. I wanted it to be indoors and outdoors. So we needed a courtyard with no roof and traditional Spanish architecture. After searching hundreds of pictures, we found this one. But it was in modern times. So we would have to remove everything but the walls.
I loaded the photo into Adobe Illustrator and traced over the walls, the beautiful arches and a few of the more traditional decorations…
Everything and everybody else was removed. The photo was shot at dusk, but I wanted the scene to be late at night, so I included that in the notes for Sunga. We had a location, one that I had imagined for a year!
It was time to invite some guests. But who? How would they dress and dance during this time in 1930’s Mexico? I found this fabulous lady, traced her and added her to the back of the fiesta, where she would stand mysteriously.
What’s a party without music? Another big search for inspiration began. I thought these guys looked ready to play. Let’s put some mariachis over there.
I did some research on Mexican dancing and found this couple. Just look at the flow of her dress! I traced their shapes and placed them where they should dance.
I searched and searched and found more and more inspiration for how people would dance at a fiesta like this. The cowboy was having a great time, but the magnificent dress stole the show. They had to go right up front.
We thought a bull ranch should have a statue of a bull on the wall. Let’s put it in the back center.
I wanted a little scene of a boy pretending to be El Toron while chasing a girl. So I had a friend’s kids pose as models.
They went up front, so nobody would miss them.
Before Sunga could work her magic, we had to imagine the style of the book. We looked at many options, from classic Mexican folk art, to Picasso and Hemingway, to realism, to vintage Spanish travel posters, even to Mexican revolutionary propaganda.
When Sunga sent her interpretation of a period-correct style, I knew I was lucky to be in the presence of a true artist. We were ready to apply this style to the full scene.
The first draft was great! Mercury House and I had a few ideas for Sunga, like adding detail to the wrought iron lanterns, embroidered flowers on the lady’s dresses and a string of party lights under the bull statue. We even adjusted the skin color of the kids.
The changes were made. And Sunga had created a spectacular two-page layout! Don’t you wish you were there.
Now that we had established the style of the book, and illustrated a full scene, it was time to create El Toron himself. I looked at many options, from traditional bullfight posters, to modern fairy tale books, to heavily stylized animals, even an Occupy Wall Street ad. But none of them really spoke to me. So the search for the perfect bull went on…
For weeks I was having real trouble finding a style worthy of the great El Toron. Then, on a trip to Manhattan, I had a strange urge to visit the Barnes and Noble on 5th Avenue. And there he was, El Toron! In the most unlikely of places, the cover of Foreign Affairs magazine. I sent the photo to Sunga and she went to work on the first scene with our bull in it.
She had done it again! Sunga had brought my imagination to life. Mercury House and I thought it would be worth the extra work to add detail to the crowd and determination to his eyes. Also, a beautiful Spanish tile roof on the bullring would be a nice touch. We sent our notes and the marked-up image back to Sunga…
Now the crowd had details, the roof was tile and El Toron had the eye of the tiger. Even the detail of the flag of Spain was improved. Finally, El Toron was truly alive on the page. Great work Sunga!
