Entrevista a la ilustradora Elena Odriozola en Picturebook Makers

Elena: I have to confess that, although I find it a little embarrassing, I had never read Frankenstein until I was commissioned to illustrate the book. That’s what sometimes happens when you’ve seen movie adaptations and so many other images that are a part of our collective memory. You get the feeling that you already know the story, and then it’s harder to read it. Or at least that’s what happens to me. In any case, I have not seen any Frankenstein as fearsome as the one that I imagined.

I also have to confess that while I read the book, at times I was scared. The scariest part was the monster’s ‘watery eyes’, and his black lips and extremely white teeth. I pictured him as terrible – unimaginably terrible. So much so that it wasn’t even worth it to draw him. The mental image of those eyes would be scarier than anything I could draw. I was also impressed by the speeches – whole paragraphs full of such rich vocabulary. And there was something else that surprised me. Dr. Frankenstein must have dug up a basketball team to create his creature; unless he was wearing huge shoes like in the movie, you tell me how else the monster could be as tall as he is described in the book. Whatever the case, I was always right there with him.

A lot of editors wouldn’t have thought of me to illustrate this book, and I was really happy when Diego Moreno of Nórdica Libros offered it to me. To illustrate a book with such an ingrained iconography is always a challenge. And what I appreciated most was that they entrusted it to me without demanding a particular aesthetic. The usual practice is that editors think they already know what you’re going to give them, and this is something that’s always bothered me – and increasingly so as time goes on.

I think I’ve created something quite distinct from the story that’s told. Although it’s distinct from its characters and setting, I feel that it captures the essence of the book: the irresponsibility and the guilt it entails.

Once I was clear about what I wanted to convey, I got down to drawing.

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Frankenstein video. Fuente Youtube

Making off video. Fuente Youtube