Javier Sáez Castán

Spain

Javier Sáez Castán is a Spanish writer and illustrator who studied Fine Art at The Technical University of Valencia. He began his illustration career in advertising, before moving into children's publishing. Javier has created many books with publishers such as Ediciones Ékare, Ediciones SM and Fondo de Cultura Económica.

In this post, Javier talks about the remarkable ‘Animalario Universal del Profesor Revillod’, which was co-created with Miguel Murugarren and first published in Mexico by Fondo de Cultura Económica. This compendium features sixteen animals which can be combined to create 4096 different species with zoological descriptions.

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Javier: The ‘Animalario Universal del Profesor Revillod’ is a book that takes place in different stages and under very different conditions.

In the first stage, which we could call ‘larval’, Animalario was a children's game which I recreated using the cardboard from a box of shirts. Drawing exotic animals – unusual ones or simply monsters – is a common distraction among children. In my case, I discovered that I didn't have to come up with something new, but just let the animals mix with one another.

The inspiration for these drawings were the nineteenth century engravings of animals which illustrated the books belonging to my father. The game of creating characters from their different parts wasn't particularly new or original, but the use of this technique gave these animals a rare credibility: They looked like they came out of an old book; they enjoyed the authority of science; they looked authentic.

Then the animals were put into a drawer and entered a second stage, which we could call ‘lethargic’: a kind of hibernation which lasted twenty years. During that period, a lot of things happened in the world, but the layers of paper covering the animal cards preserved them remarkably well.

One fine day, the animals came back to life. They were in extraordinary health and shook off the dust without a second thought.

I met Miguel Murugarren, and together we worked on the project and decided to turn it into a book. Unfortunately, we lacked the scientific knowledge, and we wondered who might be able to lend us this support. Destiny put us in touch with Professor Revillod, not far from the Spanish-French border, and straight away we knew that he was the right man.

Months later, we travelled to the Revillod Institute in Basel. The professor welcomed us into his office and showed himself to be paternally willing to direct the project. As the icing on the cake, he personally showed us the collections: Those old books from my childhood seemed to come to life in front of the venerable displays...

The impact was immense. You could say that it changed our lives: feeling supported by this 130-year-old institution that took the project way beyond what we could ever have imagined ourselves. In this spirit, and without thinking for a second that we were the ‘authors’ of this book (the idea of this still makes me smile), I started to sketch out the first drafts. Immediately, the animals entered their third stage, which we could call ‘dynamic’: They grew and multiplied on the pages of the ‘Animalario Universal’ which Fondo de Cultura Económica would later publish.

And now, the animals have entered their ‘viral’ stage – the fourth one: They have discovered new readers and have spread all over the world, through the web. You are seeing them on this page; you are a witness.

19 January 2016

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Javier Sáez Castán

Spain

Animalario Universal del Profesor Revillod

Javier Sáez Castán & Miguel Murugarren

Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, 2003