One day, I was sitting in a food court having my lunch, and as usual, thinking about my books-why they are not selling, how to make them sell, or more importantly, how to make more children like them. Suddenly, a thought just came to my mind: so far I have been producing books inspired by or based on different members of my own family-my two sons, my wife, and most recently, myself (the Dad in ‘A Family Dinner’). I suddenly began to question: why would children be interested in a book about a mother or a father, of all things! So I came to the realization that who you cast as the main character in the book holds paramount importance on whether the book would appeal to your readers (namely, young children) at all. This may be common knowledge to most writers, but believe it or not, it was something that had never occurred to me, until that day.
When I look back at all the books I have written so far, only ‘Theodore the Unfortunate Bear’ seemed to come close to putting the child in the center of all the action. Hence, I decided that my next book would be a ‘Theodore’ book.
But why is there a villain in this new book? Sorry to say, as this may sound very banal and layman to you, the idea came to me when me and my boys were enjoying Marvel’s ‘Infinity War’ and ‘The End-Game’. We were discussing why these two movies were amongst the greatest superhero movies ever produced. Was it because of the heroes? No, it cannot be as they were practically the same heroes from the very first Avenger movies, no change at all… It was the villain ‘Thanos’. It was he who made these two movies so great and so special. He was arguably the most terrible villain who had ever existed in a movie-cruel, ruthless, yet incredibly strong, intelligent and irresistibly charismatic! Without this ultimate bad guy, these two movies would be just another two ordinary Marvel superhero flicks. In fact, we came to the conclusion that the greatness of a superhero movie depended on how bad or evil the villain was. That was why I decided that I must have a villain in my story, though this may also be the last time (as it is really not my writing style).
At first, I only had a very vague idea of what this villain would look like. Like Enid Blyton once said, she wrote ‘straight from her subconscious’. So I too realized that many of my ideas came from my subconscious-not that I’m trying to compare myself with the great Enid Blyton, but I usually realized where my ideas came from long after they came to fruition. For example, this particular story surfaced in my mind as soon as I decided to do a ‘Theodore’ story with a villain inside. But it was after a few weeks of drafting and preparation that I realized where the idea had come from. So here’s how it goes…
Once, I heard from my boys, who heard from my Mum (their grandmother) relay a story told to her by one of her friends. So we do not know if it’s true, but it was a very compelling story. It goes that one day, a mother brought her two sons to Disneyland (Hong Kong, I supposed). Either she was too engrossed buying something or she happened to be in a very crowded shop. Anyway, by the time she realized it, one of her sons had gone missing! She immediately went into a state of panic and her mind just turned blank. It was at this moment that a passerby (kind, harmless and educated-looking woman, the kind you think you can trust) came along and offered her assistance. She offered to look after this woman’s other son so that she can be relieved of her duty to go look for the missing one. The distressed mother immediately took up the ‘kind’ offer and went in search (frantically) of her missing son in the huge amusement park. Of course, her hunt was fruitless and she finally decided to come back for the only son she had left. Guess what? She lost two sons in a day.
I’m not sure if this story was true or made-up. If it was made-up, I think it was very well made up indeed, and it served as a very good precaution to parents like myself who can sometimes be carried away when bringing our kids out. And after hearing about horrific stories of human trafficking, both in the news as well as on TV documentaries, this amusement park story left a very deep impression on me… on my subconscious I supposed, and it resurfaced immediately when I needed a story about a villain.
So the villain in my story was this human trafficker/kidnapper who had passed off as a nice, trustworthy, harmless looking lady. You can never judge a book by its cover. And nowadays, most human traffickers make use of kind, motherly-looking ladies to lure young children or unsuspecting girls into their traps. As soon as the trust is gained, the fangs would come out.
It took me a while to visualize how this villain would look like. I do not think that the final product was very successful but at least, she looked a little ‘special’, with the peacock feather hat and magician outfit. I had drawn inspiration for this character from the ‘Witch of the Waste’ and her face-less attendants in Miyasaki’s timeless classic ‘Howl’s Moving Castle’, but decided in the end to give her a pretty face since a faceless woman may give young children nightmares. In the final battle scenes, I wanted to create an effect where destruction took place beautifully, so I took reference from the graceful, twisting movements of Flamenco dancers and enhanced the scene using marbling effects for the background. For the final scene where the ‘Witch’ dissipated, I actually had to turn to the wonderfully talented Italian sculptor Bellini’s ‘Rape of Persephone’ for help. Do check out the works of this amazing genius! As I’ve mentioned in my previous blogs, I’m an Art History enthusiast who enjoy using my works to transmit art history lessons when the opportunity comes along. Works by the masters provide me with lots of inspiration when composing my own works, and I always enjoy sharing them with my readers, especially children.
One of the artists whom I’m paying homage to in this book, in particular, was none other than my teacher and benefactor-the late Bartolomeu cid dos Santos. I met ‘Barto’ (as he was affectionately known then) when I was studying in The Slade School of Fine Art (UCL, London) from 1993-1997. As I was a BA student and printmaking was only offered to students in the MA course, I decided to approach Barto (who was then the Head of the Printmaking Department) to be given a chance to take up printmaking as my Major. Barto was a very big man who usually seemed rather intimidating when he looked down at you (though he was actually quite the opposite if you know him well). It was nerve-racking trying to ask a favour from him. Amazingly, he just said ‘ok’! Just like that, and I managed to spend three wonderful, unforgettable years in the all-MA department even though I was only a BA student, thought not without drawing antagonistic glares from many MA students (and tutors!) who felt that I was taking up precious space in that already crammed studio. But Barto was there to defend me. His occasional praises for my work were enough to silence everyone in the studio-a suggestion that I had made the mark and earned my right to stay there. I was fortunate to be under his tutelage during my university days as he happened to retire the same year as my graduation. Sadly, when he retired, everything went with him- from the ornate printing presses to the centuries-old craftsmanship, and of course the warm, family-like culture in that long rustic mezzanine studio.
Barto passed away in 2007. It was years later that I found out (when writing this book in fact). I was saddened to hear about his passing but I was already thousands of miles away back in my hometown. He was a fantastic printmaker during his time who made history and a lot of friends. He was a trendsetter and was considered one of the finest masters of his time, having pioneered and trailblazed the art of large-scale copper-plate etchings. Some of his most prominent works included a series of large-scale, haunting etchings on the theme of ‘Labyrinths’. I’m not sure where he drew his inspirations from but ‘Labyrinths’ by Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges happened to be one of his favourite books. During my time in The Slade, Barto was coming up with a new set of variations based on the ‘Portugese Man-of-War’- at the approximate rate of one new work every week. This was not a warship but a jellyfish. I’m not sure what the cultural significance of this creature was to him but it certainly gave Barto the opportunity to display his virtuosity on the copper plate. Perhaps one day I may find a suitable book idea to connect with his ‘jellyfish’ works, but in my latest ‘Theodore’ book, I wanted to pay homage to his ‘Labyrinth’ series. (Of course, I can never come close to the mastery and magnificence of Barto’s amazing series.)
The other works that I made reference to in this book included the Surrealist landscapes by Salvador Dali, in particular the haunting ‘Suburb of a Paranoiac Critical Town’ (1936)- one of my all-time favourite works. As a young art student, this painting left a very deep impression in me as it was like a scene coming straight out of a silent horror movie-the woman in the centre who’s holding up a bunch of grapes appeared to have totally lost her mind and was inviting you to enter her schizophrenic world. Other than her, the painting was dominated by nothing but emptiness, which was yet laden with so much presence and weight. This work, in my opinion, is one of the most haunting dreamscapes in all of Surrealism.
The upside-down labyrinth scene and the hall of mirrors were not so much inspired by Art History then by popular culture. The former was based on my memory of the 1986 Jim Henson film ‘Labyrinth’ starring David Bowie as the Goblin King and Jennifer Connelly as the sweet 15-year old Sarah on her quest to rescue her baby brother. I fondly remember the scene where she tried desperately to reach her baby brother, who would be crawling away from her instead in all the impossible angles (upside-down, side-ways etc.) without falling off! This scene was of course, in turn inspired by (viewers may not have realized) M.C. Escher’s famous works on impossible spaces like ‘Relativity’, ‘Concave and Convex’, ‘House of Stairs’ etc.
The inspiration for the hall of mirrors was much more recent, 2016 in fact. As you know by now, I’m a huge Marvel fan, and the 2016 movie ‘Dr Strange’ just blew my mind away with the special effects that were simply so mesmerizing and amazingly beautiful. I watched this movie again and again, and would not hesitate to call it a work of art- in motion! As a fan of tessellations and repeated patterns, you can understand why I like this movie so much. The geniuses who made this movie were able to create the most stunningly beautiful kaleidoscopic patterns out of ordinary, everyday scenes. My version is a far cry from the world of mirrors and reflections in the movie though… but I’m still trying.
Lastly, I would like to touch a little on the art in this book. If you are familiar with my earlier works, the art in this book is considered a breakthrough for me as I am finally venturing to try out other perspectives and angles instead of always sticking to the ‘frontal’ view. When I started doing children’s picture books, my role model (for the art) was Picasso’s works from his Rose period, in particular the work ‘Parade’ (1917). Following the great Spanish master’s example, I had tried to think of my frames as a ‘stage’ where I have the full control and could ‘arrange’ my characters in any way I like to bring out the story (as in a Neo-Classical mural.) The space would be shallow and there would be a parquet floor, and preferable a door somewhere where the characters could recluse ‘backstage’ when their part was over. This approach is very visible in my first two books- ‘A Very Special Cat’ and ‘A Hero’s Cape’. But along the way, I’m not sure why, I felt that more ‘drama’ was needed in my work, and this frontal type of composition could no longer serve me well. Hence I tried adopting a more ‘cinematic’ approach in my compositions, trying to capture my characters from unexpected or unusual angles that would accentuate that ‘moment’. I have also started to use a lot of flares, lighting effects and paint splatters to create even more drama and movement, to the point that sometimes I felt that I was overdoing it.
Nevertheless, as an artist, I don’t believe in staying stagnant. And forcing myself to try out new styles and techniques is the best way to grow. And in the process of trying, mistakes will guide you to the next level of mastery. So I’m quite glad that I have abandoned the old frontal approach and moved on to introduce more variety in my composition, though in my next work, I will no doubt be dialing back on all these special effects and aim towards something a bit more simple and ‘zen’.
If you have read so far, I must thank you for your patience and your interest in my work. I try to write a blog for each of my books when I complete them, as a record of the creative and thinking process that went behind them and also as a way of documenting my growth and development as a children’s book author, which I can slowly reminisce at the age of 80.