One Two Many
Mark Thurman (1948 - ) Click here for more information about the artist
“You Wished For Something, And You Got It”
for One Two Many (Toronto: Penguin Books Canada, 1993).
Coloured pencils on textured paper
Gift of the artist
“I was inspired to write this story back in 1988 when, while visiting a school, I heard some kids talking. One said, ‘I don’t want to play with them—they’re not like us,’ and this got me thinking about how, actually, it would be very boring if everyone was the same.
The first draft, which was about a boy from the future who wakes up one morning next to his double, didn’t really work. When the editor commented on the story’s mythological quality, I researched Greek and Roman myths to see what I could find. This research gave a new direction to the story and inspired me to use all kinds of mythological-related elements in the illustrations; for example, the clothing, temples, columns, Corinthian capitals, background scenery, ancient ships, and the sea god Poseidon. I drew the illustrations with Prismacolor coloured pencils on a textured paper called Canson Mi-Teintes. My palette was limited to five shades of French grey plus black and white. I then used pink and yellow as glazes. I worked on each illustration for three to five days, and the entire process—from initial idea to published book – took five years.”
-Mark Thurman
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