A Tale of Shrews and Solenodons is a fairy tale by Tonya Shipulina, published by Abrikobooks Publishing, Russia in 2019.
Illustrated by me, lettering by Alexander Utkin
In one small town, shrews and solenodons live. These creatures are not so different from each other. However, shrews are recognized as respectable citizens, while the others are being ashamed of and despised.
One respectable shrew Aunt Rohli follows the rules in everything and acts “as it's supposed to be”. But a series of amazing events suddenly turns her life upside down. Or maybe the other way around?
While working on illustrations for this book it was crucial for me to convey the bright, colourful atmosphere of Shrew's town as well as dull and grey feeling of the place where Solenodons dwelled. The contrast between those moods was very important, so I used bright, vivid colours for one scenes, and greyish colours for the others.
I spent a lot of time on character development and sketching. Each of the characters, though it might look similar to others, also possess its own unique personality, which I tried to express with its body shape, face and clothing.
Tonya Shipulina, in a form of a fun, fairy tale story openly talks about serious issues in our society. I believe that this book is the first choice if you want to teach your children about tolerance and equality. We are all different, we are all equal!
