The Search for our Cosmic Neighbours, written and illustrated by Chloe Savage and published by Walker Books, is the third book in the Hidden Wonders series. In this latest adventure , readers swap the depths below us for the ones above, as we follow Commander Julia and her team as they travel through Space in quest for an answer to the everlasting question: are we alone in this universe? After many years of travelling, and when Julia is just about to give up all hope, they finally come across the answer, and the truth is beyond any of the crew’s wildest dreams.
This latest book in the series retains all the wonderful ingredients of the previous two tomes – the combination of STEM and magic realism, the focus on female leadership, and the feelings that come with undertaking something difficult and unchartered: diligence, dedication, doubt, resilience.
Here we swap the red and blue hues for yellows and pinks, the depth of the ocean for the never-ending sky and towering mountains on a freshly discovered planet. Chloe Savage’s artwork is incredibly minutious, a perfect blend of fantastical and fact, which renders her work absolutely enthralling. Her cutaways are incredibly accomplished and so perfect for readers to pore over.
Like the other two books in the series, The Search for Our Cosmic Neighbours delivers all the right ingredients for a story: entertainment, wonderment and a dash of peril. Beyond the incredible artwork and story, there is also the humanness of her characters and the fragility that comes with that; however brave they might be, there is always a moment of hesitation, insecurity before hard work is rewarded. It’s the perfect mix for a truly wonderful series.
I am so delighted that Chloe Savage agreed to answer a few questions about the series to coincide with the publication of The Search for Our Cosmic Neighbours.
Hi Chloe, thank you so much for agreeing to answer a few questions about The Search for Our Cosmic Neighbours. The previous books in the Hidden Wonders series were also about a “search”, was this always going to be a series?
I hoped it would be, because I had so many ideas! I’ve been really lucky that Walker have let me explore all these different women’s adventures.
Can you tell us about your creative process for the artwork? Do you work traditionally/digitally? What materials do you use?
I work traditionally, mostly in watercolour, but there are some parts which need an acrylic ink underlay for texture. My process starts with pencil scribbles with text, then I will make a rough painting on cheap lining paper. Then there is an inevitable process of changes and development. The final art is painted on Saunders Waterford HP high white, its great paper, it takes the paint well and is a perfect neutral base.
After the work is photographed, I go in with Photoshop to remove accidental splodges, fluff, and with the Cosmic Neighbours art, my favourite paintbrush finally fell apart, so I spent some time removing broken black bristles from the scans!
Your stories include an element of magical realism, with fantastical creatures but also exploration voyages, whether underwater or in space, which feel very realistic. Did you research the inside of ships (space and water bound) used in explorations? (As a child I was a huge fan of Jean-Jacques Cousteau and I imagine that’s how they lived!)
I always do a huge amount of research, from books, radio, YouTube content, anything I can get my hands on. I immerse myself in the research, then I put it all away, and what then comes is an imaginative response to the things I can remember.
One of the things I love about the series is the size of the books, and how you use it not only to convey the depth of the ocean for example but also how it illustrates feelings and how insignificant we feel sometimes. Was this a conscious choice from the beginning?
Very much so. I am afraid of open deep water, and I wanted to give a feeling of how far and deep down the ocean is. In Cosmic Neighbours, we do the opposite, the sky dominates, the mountains tower, and we remain very very small.
Your books include the most incredible cutaways. Was this something that you always wanted to include? Could you talk us through the process of creating the cutaway for the spaceship in “The Search for Our Cosmic Neighbours”?
I love cutaways, there was always going to be cutaways in each of the books. It’s a monster job. All the details are deliberate, and the labour of actually painting everything takes a long time.
The first step is deciding the feel of it. In Jellyfish the boat was old and cold, in Carmella it was slick and new, and in Cosmic Neighbours the rocket needed to feel claustrophobic. I like things to work and make sense. For example, in the rocket, the gym wheel turns a generator to power the batteries, the water system recycles and waters the vertical farm. It’s fiction, but it could be real.
Real world astronauts study crystal structures and fungi in zero gravity, so this gives the work for the astronauts. You’ll see that on the Space Creatures planet — there are space mushrooms and crystal caves, because I like the idea that all the matter in the universe is made from the same stuff, and it ties the two species together. Like all my illustrations, they begin life as scribbles with pieces of text — little moments of activity that will form part of the whole.
The rocket is gently anthropomorphised, a mother ship, she has solar sails which behave like arms, and she is a character in herself.
The pencil roughs are hugely important for the cut-throughs, so that there is a clear plan before I start painting, and it helps keep continuity between the cut-throughs. Then it’s a case of patience, detail and letting the paint dry fully between layers.
If you could draw a cutaway illustration of anything (building, ship etc.), what would it be and why?
A theatre. And hopefully I will get to do it very soon.
And finally, have you any future projects that are able/allowed to tell us about?
There are a few secret things coming… But at the moment I am painting the final art for the next book in the Hidden Wonders series. It’s a book about interdependent relationships, set in a rainforest, with a terribly guilty Chameleon, and it’s deliciously wonderfully green.
Thank you so much for your time, Chloe!
The Search for Our Cosmic Neighbours is publisher by Walker Books and is out on now. You can buy from all good bookshops or can be purchased via Bookshop.org, which benefits independent bookshops:
All artwork © Chloe Savage
Source: Review copy kindly provided by the publisher
