Dear Reader,
Thank you for taking the time to look at my new book, The Boy and the Elephant. All new books are exciting, however, this one feels very special to me because it’s mine alone, and more than all the others, it is closest to representing who I am.
The Boy and the Elephant evolved from ideas I was developing for a series of murals for the high care children’s ward of the Canberra Hospital. In one sketch for ‘hide and seek’, I hid an elephant in the form of a tree, or a tree in the form of an elephant. I liked the idea, and was reminded of a picture book from my childhood called Anno’s Animals by Mitsumasa Anno. The drawing wasn’t used in the series of murals, but instead was saved and nurtured, and became the inspiration for a story of its own.
Slowly a story gathered shape, developed over a few years through many drawings, while working on other projects. At random moments, ideas and solutions occurred to me and eventually I had the book sketched out in storyboard form. As the book was developed in images only, I needed to visualise well to make the sequence of events understood.
As I worked on the art, I wondered whether the art alone could carry the story, but by the time the artwork for the book was completed, it had a gentle, quiet feel to it and I couldn’t imagine it having words at all.
I hope you like it.
Freya Blackwood
