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MAKING WILDFUL

Like all great adventures, it began with a call from the world.

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I was walking my regular route to the fallen oak on the hill. It was a little later this time and the chatter of the woods had been hushed under a veil of cool, silvery light.

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Directly ahead, I could make out a hazy smudge of white in the middle of the path before me. Was it moving? I stopped and squinted. It was coming towards me. Fast. I could make out two black stripes running the length of its long, flat head. It hadn't seen me. I gazed at its stocky grey limbs and wide paws in a hasty trot. Just as I shuddered at the thought of it running into my legs, its small black eyes caught my gaze and it stopped suddenly, letting out a piercing hiss through its white fangs before bolting into the undergrowth.

 

I stood in shock. The air felt alive; heart pounding. What just happened? Then, against the inky silence of the woods, I heard the faint rustle of leaves and the crack of a twig. What now? I saw movement in the undergrowth. Those black and white stripes passing between the shadows, but as I looked on, the tiny button nose and miniature stripes of a cub followed intently. My senses tingled as I watched them gently pick their way into the darkness.

 

The magic of that moment has never left me and I yearned to capture that feeling somehow. This was the seed for ‘Wildful’ to be born.

 

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From 'Wildful', a graphic novel by Kengo Kurimoto

After the encounter, the idea mulled for a long time, both consciously and subconsciously drawing from my life experiences.

The ramshackle gate at the entrance into the woods is based on a real one from my childhood. At the edge of the housing estate, we would squeeze underneath it and make our way into a derelict site with a thin strip of woodlands down a slope. It felt like another world to us and would spend many hours totally immersed.
 

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When researching the book, I met Rob and Joanna. They introduced me to the world of Nature awareness and animal tracking and taught me how to listen to the Wild. I remember them pointing out that the small birds were agitated and alarming, “Probably a bird of prey approaching…” and sure enough, a buzzard glided by.

With these skills, my experience deepened. At the time, I had a studio, a five mile walk away through the woods, and I would trek back and forth in any weather, day or night with Pepper my dog beside me.

 

Walking the same route each day gave me the opportunity to really learn the bird calls, the flowers, the trees and when I arrived at my studio, I would draw what I saw. Over time, I could feel a change in myself. I had always loved Nature, but this felt different; it felt like the whole world was alive.

My mother was a big inspiration for both Poppy’s Mum and Gran characters in the book. Just like Gran, she had an innate love of the natural world that was infectious. She loved seeing the winter trees without their leaves, so she could appreciate the shape of the branches. She would collect rocks and display them proudly as ornaments.

But just like Poppy’s Mum, she would also suffer from bouts of depression and later dementia. I would always make sure to take her out into the woods and we would sit and listen. Every time, without fail, I would see a change in her mood as her attention moved outward into the beauty of the world. Despite the suffering, these were some of the best times I ever had with my mum.

She passed a few years ago and I found myself finding solace in the Wild. It helps.

Everybody should have access to it. It doesn't need to be a huge, pristine forest. Just like the scruffy woods behind the ramshackle gate, somewhere nearby that you can access regularly. A city park, or just walking down the street, to stop and listen, pay attention to the beauty of the world.

But it can’t be denied that Wildness needs space. To be surrounded by it, even if a tiny patch of land, has a whole lot more to savor. I would love to see the creation of more Wild oasis’s so they can be walked to from home and enjoyed all the time.

Through local action or legislation; transform unloved spaces or provide an oasis with every building development. From a strip of flowers to a city wood. Connect them together with green routes for wildlife to roam safely.

 

And with it, will come the birds and the birdsong.

Model of Rob from 'Wildful', a graphic novel by Kengo Kurimoto

I made a model of each character to better understand them. It turned out the model was useful to draw those difficult angles from too...

Modelling for 'Wildful', a graphic novel by Kengo Kurimoto

And there's always myself for photo reference. The things we do for our art!

Early drawing from 'Wildful', a graphic novel by Kengo Kurimoto

The pen stage drawn in black biro

From 'Wildful', a graphic novel by Kengo Kurimoto

The ink stage adding shade and contrast to the world

From 'Wildful', a graphic novel by Kengo Kurimoto

In a story of the senses, how do I draw sounds like birdsong? How does the song of each bird differ? What would the whole Dawn Chorus look like?

The pages from 'Wildful', a graphic novel by Kengo Kurimoto

Here are the original drawings laid out on the floor of my studio. I couldn't fit them all in. I'd love to see them all displayed on a gallery wall some day...

Better still, I'd love to make Wildful into an animated feature. Please contact me if you can help with making this a reality!

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