SUDAN'S HORN
Written By Yun Dai Illustrated By Xingming Li
The book’s cover design delivers a trick that transform an old rhino into a young one. Both of whom are drawn in beautiful landscapes with luring sunsets, boundless snowfields and starry skies. At the end of the book, readers see a lonely rhino that is disappearing. Sitting in the snow, it looks up with a bitter smile.
The design symbolizes the evolution of species on planet earth. With the worsening of natural environment, more and more species are in danger. We should act on it before it’s too late.
To the Sudan, who left us forever on 19 March 2018. This announces the imminent extinction of the northern white rhinoceros species.
This is the last male northern white rhinoceros in the world. His name is Sudan.
But he didn’t always have a name. When he was little, his mum told him: “Rhinos don’t need names. Show your horn, and the others will know who you are!”
At that time, the little rhino didn’t have a proper horn yet, and he couldn’t even see properly. His mum would lower her own horn to pat his back, telling him where to go. She would also use her horn to dig out juicy grass roots for dinner.
However, if a lion attacked, her loving horn would turn into a lethal weapon in the blink of an eye.
The little rhino thought, “I would love to have a horn like that!”
One day, the little rhino saw his reflection in a puddle after a mud bath. He’s a handsome three-year-old now, and his horn had grown a lot!
Just then, a loud “bang!” came from a distance. The little rhino was so scared that he rushed into the bushes, lying low.
After a long while, he ventured out and saw his mum lying on the ground. Her horn was missing.
The little rhino walked around his mum again and again, until the savanna was painted orange by the setting sun, but she didn’t wake up.
The little rhino stayed with his mum for a couple of days until he heard an engine roaring from the sky.
A helicopter! He was so scared that he started to run.
But he was soon hit by a tranquillizer gun and gradually lost consciousness.
The little rhino woke up to find himself in a very strange place.
There was no mum here.
It was very dark, and he couldn’t see any stars.
There was grass around him, but he couldn’t smell the soil.
His belly was pressing against some cold floor.And his ear was pierced, with a tag dangling on it.
Then the door opened.
Someone murmured, "Sudan! Sudan!"
A keeper walked up to the little rhino, knelt down, and said, "We found you in a place called Sudan in Africa, so we’ll call you that from now on. It’s very dangerous for you to stay there, because some people are killing rhinos for their horns. You are in Czech now, and this place is called a 'zoo'.You are safe here. I will take good care of you."
The keeper’s name was Jan. He handed Sudan a carrot. Sudan was so hungry that he munched on it immediately. The carrot was kind of hard to chew, but it tasted sweet.
As time passed, Sudan’s horn became sharp and pointy, just like mum’s.
Winter came, and one day, it started to snow when he was on a walk.
The ground looked very soft when covered in snow, which reminded him of the savanna in the raining season, when the ground got all soft and muddy. Sudan loved playing in the mud. He was so excited that he started running around.
Oh, no!
Sudan slipped and his horn got stuck in the fences! As Sudan tried to pull away, his horn snapped with a "CRACK"!
When children saw Sudan with the broken horn, they were confused, "is this really a rhino?"
Sudan felt sad. He thought he would never become a great rhino like his mum without the horn.
Sudan's life spans three regions: Sudan (childhood) - Czech Republic (youth) - Kenya (old age).
The first part is Sudan's childhood. I use a warm orange-red tone to express it. Orange represents warm maternal love and red represents the brutality of poachers. The scene in which Sudan's mother was shot is not bloodstained. Instead, I use the reflection of the sun in the water and a large number of red clouds to metaphorize it.
The second part is the Royal Palace Zoo in the Czech Republic, which has the longest life in Sudan. I use blue tone to show it. Because the Czech winter is very cold, although Sudan is protected here, but also slowly lost themselves. I think only blue can show its sadness of losing self and freedom.
The third part is the old age of Sudan. The dry wind and bright sunshine in Kenya shocked me greatly. In my mind, Africa is a bright color, but when I go to the field, I find that the color there is low contrast, low purity. Lie comfortably in the grass and bask too lazy feeling is what we want, so use a light yellow-green tone to show.
And the last page is my own imagination: the pink sunset is the color of dreams, conveying Sudan's long-cherished wish to be a real rhino. We can't bear to end with the fact that Sudan is dying out. This beautiful color is my final compensation to Sudan.
Drawing process video
Thank you
