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Mārtiņš Zutis
Latvia
Mārtiņš Zutis is an illustrator, animator, graphic designer and writer, currently studying for a Masters in Visual Communication at the Art Academy of Latvia. He’s a long-time contributor to kuš!, a comic art anthology which features artists from Latvia and beyond. Mārtiņš lives in Riga, the city where he was born and grew up.
In this post, Mārtiņš talks about the creation of his debut picturebook, ‘Nenotikušais atklājums’ (The Discovery That Never Was). This original and beautifully illustrated take on the traditional counting book is published in Latvia by Liels un mazs.
Mārtiņš: ‘Nenotikušais atklājums’ (The Discovery That Never Was) is my debut as a writer, and a counting book that tells a story about an old naturalist named Karl Darwing, who finds himself on the verge of discovery on a cold winter morning.
As Karl heads back to his house after checking his post box, he finds some trails in the snow. He follows them and finds out that the number of footprints grow arithmetically. Every time additional footprints are found, Karl proposes multiple theories about who is he tracking, not knowing it is actually him who left the trails in the snow.
For example, when he finds six footprints, he assumes it could be either a giant louse with six legs, or two three-legged creatures, or three two-legged ones. Ten footprints would make him think of two starfishes, five robbers or a ten-legged alien.
In this way, I wanted to show the reader that the numbers don't consist only of ones, but can be a result of other numbers multiplied and added. As with the unknown creatures leaving a number of trails in the snow, the only property numbers have for sure is the count, whereas the rest (their size, hairstyle, intentions, etc) can be imagined.
The time spent working on the book spanned over two years. The initial idea was submitted to the Picture Book Quadrennial in Riga, then it was developed into a dummy which was brought to the Bologna Children’s Book Fair. After this, it was completely redrawn and published in Latvian by Liels un mazs.
Although the initial drawings were rather dark and created using ink, the final version used a mix of digitally coloured ink and pencil drawings, using a limited colour palette. All the text in the book was handwritten in capital letters to make it more readable for those who are just starting to read. The book seems to be well-received by kids and parents as it encourages the former to come up with their own stories about various combinations of beings leaving trails in the snow.
Unfortunately, the book does not cover all of the natural numbers out there, identified by mathematicians. Karl Darwing has a very vivid imagination, and finding the trail of a tenth foot really scares him because it could be a ten-legged alien or bandits he's following. Saving himself from this infinitely great danger, he runs back home.
Illustrations © Mārtiņš Zutis.
Nenotikušais atklājums /
The Discovery That Never Was
Mārtiņš Zutis
Liels un mazs, Latvia, 2015
Naturalist Karl Darwing notices the footprints of a one-legged creature in the snow. As the naturalist attempts to follow the trail and make a discovery, he is surprised to find the number of footmarks increasing.
By the time Karl's guesses go as far as a ten-legged space alien or five bandits, he decides that the potential discovery is best given up for now. The reader can have the pleasure of getting to the bottom of things.
