Mija and Toque

My illustrated book and the process behind it

“Mija and Toque” is an idea for an illustrated book that has been on my mind since 2017. I’ve been developing the story very slowly, with some pauses here and there.

So far, I’ve written 10 episodes, some more developed than others. Writing 10 episodes allow me to create a clearer character development throughout the episodes. Every episode works on itself without the need of the others, but if someone would follow the series, they would see the character´s growth and change.

Mija and Toque Synopsis (aka what the story is about)

A girl named Mija and a skeleton named Toque travel together inside old 16 mm movies and have many adventures, like helping a frog to become a musician or working with space hamsters to steal food from planet Earth. They go to amazing places like ancient Egypt, the bottom of the ocean, a magic school, and other more. Mija and Toque learn, explore, and grow together. Mija will discover the truth about Toque and she will understand why he is this sweet-hearted but also raw-worth skeleton. They also need to keep the secret from Mija’s father and everyone else, but will they make it or will others join? Follow their adventures to discover more!

The Characters

Mija is a complex creature, but really, who isn’t? Her warm heart makes up for her stubbornness. She is smart, takes risks, and is always willing to help. Although Dad can’t spend a lot of time with her (a.k.a job), Mija tries to be understanding and finds company in Toque, school, and the movie adventures they live.

Toque is a sweet and naive skeleton. He has never lived outside his movie, so he hasn’t learned all the “human social rules”. That can make him seem raw and unfeeling. He is very curious about humans and everything in general, so he asks a million questions that aren´t very normal, making others question themselves and their beliefs.

Dad is a widowed man who works as a trashman. He tries his best to give Mija a good life, he is very patient and lovable with her. Being a trashman means waking up before sunrise and arriving very tired in the evenings. He and Mija have a “movie time” in the evenings to spend some time together, but Dad always falls asleep. He loves to use garbage to create new things, like a receptor for aliens or a new coffee machine.

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Now, without entering too much detail, here are the…

🗒️ Steps for Creating an Illustrated Book 🗒️

1. Do a brain dump of ideas, which means I write everything I can think about without any criticism or edits. Music helps to set my brain into a certain mood (depending on the genre), stimulating my ideas.
2. Re-read these ideas and go on with the ones that I think have more potential or the ones that I feel more attracted to.
3. Start writing on that idea, expanding it, searching for other characters and the plot. I edit it, re-read it, edit it, and so on, for 4 times (sometimes more).
4. Write the dialogue, trying to convey the character´s personality with it.
5. Re-read everything again and edit it again.
6. Start giving the story a structure for the book: what happens on what page. I check the number of pages between the events of the story and if the pace feels too slow or too fast.
7. Start sketching characters and backgrounds but only like stick figures and loose forms (that no one understands). This approach allows me to be very fast without entering into details. I seek for a good composition, leaving space for speech bubbles or anything else needed.
8. A round of more-developed sketches, adding a bit of detail like expressions and props for the backgrounds.
9. A third round of sketches, this time with the right proportions, objects in space, and other details like clothes. This is the last sketch before doing the clean-up so I take my time for this.
10. It’s time to clean up the line with my favorite brushes (favorite step).
11. Color. Depending on the story and the atmosphere, I will use a certain color palette and light.
12. Read it again! enjoy that the work is done and be proud of yourself.
13. Publishing time. Is it gonna be an online or offline publication? Self-published or with an editorial house? Spend some time with this decision, as the type of publication has many variants, like royalties, speed, control, and distribution.

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Here are some early sketches of Mija, Toque, and Dad. Sketching helps me a lot to develop ideas and put everything I have in my head onto paper (very quickly).

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My Week on Senses

👂 I´ve been listening to Mother´s Earth Plantasia. Composed by Mort Garson and released in 1976. Plantasia was an album made for plants to listen to. But hey, if it´s made for plants, it has to be good for every organism. Fun fact: people could only get the album if they bought a plant in a plant store called “Mother Earth” in L.A.

👀 This documentary from The Metropolitan Museum of Art is about the painter Van Gogh and his techniques. The documentary goes deep into the artist´s process and I could learn a lot from it.

👅 During my time in Colombia, I´ve been eating plenty of empanadas, they exist in every corner, making it the perfect breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Empanadas are a cornerstone of Latin American cuisine and every country has its own empanada style. All different but delicious.

👐 This week I´ve pet 5 dogs so far!

👃 The predominant smell of this week has been that of swimming pools. I spent 3 hours in the water chatting non-stop with my cousin until our fingers looked like raisins.

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Coming Up Next

Some of the next entries are gonna be wrapped as a series about this process and also about books! (one of my big loves) their formats, papers, cover materials, extensions, typography, forbidden books, and more.

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