Flavia Z. Drago's GUSTAVO, THE SHY GHOST

We have a new ghosty friend to love this Halloween. Meet Gustavo, The Shy Ghost! I love the more friendly side of Halloween, and Flavia Z. Drago nails it in this charming new book. She stopped by to tell us about it. e: Hi Flavia. What was your creative process/medium for Gustavo, The Shy Ghost? Can you walk us through it?
Flavia: The story came from a Tweet I wrote in 2016 when I was thinking about the reason behind ghosts wearing sheets. It must be because they are shy, I thought, and so the idea for a picture book was planted in my head. When I first started working, I wasn’t sure if I wanted Gustavo to be a boy disguised as a ghost who in the end takes off his sheet to show the others who he really is, or if Gustavo was going to be an actual ghost living in a world full of monsters. However, as soon as I started sketching, I discovered that as a real ghost, Gustavo could do all sorts of fun stuff, like walking through walls, making objects fly, and glowing in the dark. Also, as a ghost he was able to shape-shift into different forms, which really helped the story development, and in the end, he shows his true self to the others anyway.
      Once I figured out the story, I experimented with different color palettes and materials, like watercolors, gouache, ink, and pencil. In the end, I created black-and-white layers of pencil and ink and then colored the images using Photoshop. e: What was your path to publication?
Flavia: I grew up in Mexico, where I studied graphic design—basically because I copied my sister who studied it. I spent a lot of time looking at the things that she did for homework, like taking pictures, making stop-motion films, designing logotypes and posters, and I thought it looked fun. I loved my university days, but when I started working, I realized that what I truly wanted was to make children’s books, so I decided to save money and study illustration in Barcelona. When I came back to Mexico, I kept working as a designer for a few more years, and in 2012 I got a scholarship to study illustration in Paris, where I learned a lot. This opened a world of new possibilities, and when I again returned to Mexico, I finally started working as a full-time illustrator.      But I still wanted to write my own stories, so in 2016 I decided to get my master’s in children’s book illustration at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, where I finally explored all the ideas that I had been hoarding for years. Before graduating, I got an email from Deirdre McDermott, the art director at Walker Books in London, and while I was trying to convince them to give me an opportunity, I talked them through my idea for the ghost story. Walker Books and Candlewick Press really liked it, and so they gave me my first shot at picture-book making!       This might sound like it was really easy, but it took almost ten years, blood, sweat, and tears before I was ready to write and illustrate my own books. I got rejected many times, but finally I got a chance, for which I am very happy and grateful. e: Not at all, that sounds like a lot of hard (albeit fun) work! Is there a unique or funny story behind the creation of Gustavo, The Shy Ghost?
Flavia: My favorite spread is the one where Gustavo is looking from the balcony at the other monsters who are all on the playground. When I was in kindergarten, I was as shy as Gustavo is, so during lunch breaks I would sit next to the wall and I wonder how the other children were able to play and talk to one another so easily. It was a mystery to me.

I can also relate to the ice-cream spread, because there were times when my anxiety stopped me from talking to people, so I ended up missing a lot of opportunities. e: What do you think makes an illustration magical, what I call “heart art”—the sort that makes a reader want to come back to look again and again?
Flavia: There are many people who are capable of rendering reality in a drawing with precision. I often find this perfection a bit dull and empty. My favorite artists are the ones who create without (apparently) overthinking, like most children do!
      Perhaps this is why I admire a lot of artists who never had any kind of formal training, like Clementine Hunter, the Black self-taught artist who depicted life on the plantations; Alfred Wallis, a fisherman who painted seascapes because he didn’t want his memories to disappear; or Henry Darger, a janitor who worked endless hours on his collages that portrayed his fears, anxieties, and hopes, and whose work was discovered only after he died. I think that each one of them reflected through their art on the things that were meaningful in their lives in a very honest way, and this matters more to me than the ability to draw or paint perfectly.
      I think that what makes an illustration magical is not the perfection of the drawing, but the ability to tell a personal story that connects with others. e: How do you advertise yourself (or do you)?
Flavia: I guess that if I had to advertise myself as an illustrator, I would say that I get a lot of inspiration and references from fairy tales (the original gruesome ones), monsters, weird creatures, horror movies, old engravings, and paintings from the Middle Ages.
      You can find my portfolio on my website (https://www.flaviazdrago.com/), and on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/flavia_zdrago/). I like to share my illustration process, and newest projects, and on my Twitter (https://twitter.com/Diafla). I mostly share silly thoughts in Spanish. For project enquiries you can contact me through my agent Claire Cartey (claire@holroydecartey.com) from Holroyde Cartey (https://www.holroydecartey.com/flavia-zorilla-drago.html). e: What is your favorite or the most challenging part of being a creator?
Flavia: Being a creator is incredibly rewarding, but I must admit that sometimes it can be difficult not to compare your own work with that of your peers. As an artist, I need to keep reminding myself constantly that each one of us is different and that we all have our strengths, and that it’s better to reframe the weaknesses as challenges. e: Is there something in particular about this story you hope readers will take away with them, perhaps something that isn’t immediately obvious?
Flavia: I would like for my readers to pay attention to the detail, as I have left a lot of references about music, art, cinema, and literature. On a more personal note, in the cemetery scenes there are four names in the tombstones (Tuto, Chuta, Rolando, and Lupe) in memory of my grandparents. After all, the Day of the Dead is about remembering our loved ones. I also really love where Gustavo is hiding under the dust jacket, and I hope that the readers will notice it. e: What are you working on next, or what would be your dream project?
Flavia: To be honest, I am currently working on my dream project: creating stories about monsters. I am working on a book about a family of witches who are experts in the Dark Arts of Patisserie, which features one of the characters from Gustavo, the Shy Ghost.

e: Ooooo - sounds GREAT! Can't wait to see it. In the mean time, Readers, check out this cute read-aloud of GUSTAVO, THE SHY GHOST on Youtube (click the image below). GUSTAVO, THE SHY GHOST. Copyright © 2020 by Flavia Z. Drago. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Candlewick Press, Somerville, MA on behalf of Walker Books, London.