At the request of the author Dominick Trudeau, the illustrator of Johannine origin François Guillet collaborated with him to create the drawings contained in his book When I Think of My Christmases!, published on November 6. This book encompasses many holiday traditions and memories around the world.
With this book which is aimed at both young and old, Dominick Trudeau addresses several subjects, including the origin of the advent calendar, the origin of starry lights in the tree, nativity scenes featuring a zebra and an elephant in place of the ox and the donkey, and the appearance of Christmas logs.
Other traditions more specific to certain countries are also mentioned, notably the famous candy paper nativity scene competition in Poland, the piñata Christmas in Mexico and the installation of ephemeral nativity scenes by the sea in French Polynesia.
Contact
Dominick Trudeau was looking for someone who could capture some of these traditions. This is how François Guillet entered the scene.
“It was a mutual friend, Robert L’Écuyer, who contacted me telling me that Dominick was looking for an illustrator. Robert thought of me thanks to my book Montreal from bell tower to bell tower in which I write about Montreal churches and I offer sketches of these churches. Dominick read the book. I sent him some examples of my illustrations and he accepted that I work on his book,” explains François Guillet.
Several techniques
At the request of Dominick Trudeau, the author and designer created black and white drawings so that children could color them. That said, François Guillet had carte blanche for drawing techniques.
“I used several techniques. I made sketches with lead pencils. I also added effects with ink diluted with water. I really enjoyed making more childish and humorous drawings that required less precision. It was a great challenge,” explains the man who was born on December 25.
François Guillet had a very limited time to complete his drawings, which added another level to the scale of the challenge. He began sketching in mid-August. He had until 1is October to put an end to 30 drawings.
Discover traditions
Obviously, to simplify his task, François Guillet had in his possession the texts of Dominick Trudeau.
“I have always loved the holiday season and my family’s traditions, but it was very interesting to discover other aspects of this universal holiday. While working on the designs, I discovered several fun traditions. I also learned that the first Christmas tree came from Sorel,” comments the man who enjoyed collaborating with Dominick Trudeau, renowned for his impressive collection of more than 700 nativity scenes from all over the world.
François Guillet is working on a brand new book project which will have funerary heritage as its main subject. Until then, the book When I think of my Christmases! is on sale online and in bookstores.
