Madalena Moniz

Madalena: The idea of creating an alphabet book about feelings came up during my final year at university in Bristol. The challenge was to create a different kind of alphabet book – unlike the usual kind. I developed the book for a university project and gave it the title: ‘Manu is feeling... from A to Z’.

The book was redone and published in May 2014 by Orfeu Negro, with the new title in Portuguese: ‘Hoje sinto-me... de A a Z’ (Today I feel... from A to Z).

It's an alphabet book about feelings, whose protagonist is a boy that has all the feelings from A to Z. The boy is the guiding thread of the book, and unites the different images with one another – but each page consists of an idea and concept isolated from the rest. Thus the reader can imagine a different story for each situation in which the boy is in, and interpret what leads him to have each of the feelings.

A: Audaz / Audacious

B: Baralhado / Confused

The ideas for the content of the book did not come up in an organised way. Sometimes I would think of a word and an image at the same time; other times I would have the idea for the image first and then I would try to find the perfect word to match it with; other times the opposite would happen. The objective was always to get to the most interesting relationship between the word and the image. The words chosen for each letter are adjectives that describe the boy's moods and are illustrated with metaphors and ideas that add meaning to the word.

E: Espacial / Spacial

I did a lot of experiments to get the ideal graphic interpretation for this book. The use of watercolour and Indian ink, as well as patterns, details and the detailed and accurate drawing, gives delicacy, emotion and lyrical intensity to the images – to be contemplated and absorbed.

The real challenge was to illustrate feelings – something you cannot see – and to do it in an interesting way. This demanded creativity, which was the main reason why I chose this subject.

N: Nervoso / Nervous

To give strength and consistency in its simplicity, the structure of each double-page spread is the same throughout the book: letter and word on the left, always in the same position and the same size, and the image that represents the feeling on the right, in a composition that fills the page.

P: Paciente / Patient

After deciding the materials to be used, the mood of the book as a whole, and having created the main character, I started building each page through small sketches. For each letter, many ideas for different words and images came up, which were altered and improved throughout the process, until reaching the most interesting and challenging result. This was the lengthiest process because, while some ideas came up one day and were immediately decided on, others took months. Before starting the final illustrations, I finalised the idea and composition of each double-page spread and made sketches of the whole book, to confirm that they would all work together in the right order.

For the final illustrations, I used smooth 300gsm watercolour paper, and painted with watercolour and Indian ink. Several pages (if not all) were done and redone several times until I reached a result that made me happy enough to consider it finished.

Q: Querido / Beloved

T: Torto / Twisted

Illustrations © Madalena Moniz. Post translated by Gengo and edited by dPICTUS.

Buy this picturebook

Hoje Sinto-me... / Today I feel...

Madalena Moniz

Orfeu Negro, Portugal, 2014

---

Powerful and lyrically intense, this ABC of feelings has a strong visual identity and explores complex relationships between words and images.

Each illustration conveys a strong emotional presence, and the adjectives chosen to represent each letter – Audacious, Beloved, Curious – are often described through a visual metaphor, avoiding the traditional approach to an alphabet book.

We can all play: How are you feeling today? From A to Z.

OPERA PRIMA SPECIAL MENTION: BOLOGNA RAGAZZI AWARDS 2015