We invited Billy Partridge, author and illustrator of Hupo and the Wonder Thief, to tell us about wonder: where he finds delight and inspiration, and how he encourages his inner child to come out and play! Read on for his wonderfully thoughtful answers!
Wonder is wonderful, isn’t it?
It can be so easy to lose that child-like fascination with the world and its many mysteries as we grow, and so I love to indulge in the things that most excite that ever-present part of my brain. It’s true, little Billy from the mid-noughties is still alive and well inside my head, and I’m often happy to let him take control while I take a back seat and do boring stuff like cleaning and reading the news. When little Billy is doing his thing, the world really does seem like a new place, one filled with endlessly beautiful imagery and the promise of something more just around the corner. When I work, whether that be writing or drawing, I usually unleash him upon the world; running off to distant lands that don’t exist, walking the steps of crumbling castles and swimming deep below the waves.
So how do I get the inner child to come out? Well, like many other artists, I tend to spend a lot of my time exploring the very real world that surrounds us all. I’m never as happy as when I’m lost in a woodland where the trees twist and twirl, or high on a fell with the wind and rain lashing at my face (someone’s gotta do it!). There exists in the natural world a real potential for magic, for forces far beyond our control which hint at the possibility of more. Perhaps, I like to imagine, there are creatures hiding amongst the branches that I cannot see, or voices in the wind that we just can’t understand. With the thoughts come stories, and with the stories, you guessed it, WONDER! For this very reason, I wanted to place a good chunk of Hupo and the Wonder Thief in a woodland as a kind of homage to my love of these places, evoking all the necessary spookiness and mystery that draws me to them.
Of course a lot of the wonder I find in the world comes from the creative output of other humans, too. I’ve been keenly interested in how people are able to make stories and imagery from absolutely nothing ever since I was a child. I grew up on a healthy diet of mythology and folklore from various books on my shelves, and always felt enthralled by how the stories and the characters they contained were in many ways so familiar despite their fantastical nature. Hupo is also of this mindset, and in many ways reflects my own continual sense of wonder at how stories are able to completely transport us beyond the confines of our realities. While his favourites come from Humdingo, mine ranged from Harry Potter to the Odyssey, ‘How To Catch a Star’ to the tales of Edgar Allen Poe, here, there and everywhere!
If I’m to really sum up where wonder truly lies, my answer, rather unhelpfully, really would be everywhere. Everything is a little bit wonderful when you really take the time to look at it. So, next time you’re strolling down the street, stop for a moment and let that inner child take the reins – you might just see something new.
Thank you, Billy!
Hupo and the Wonder Thief
Billy Partridge
Hupo is on a mission to restore dreams and wonder to his home once again, before the Wallower destroys everything in this story about being yourself even if you’re told you’re “too much” and finding joy in the darkest of places.
Hupo and the Aletha love to amble through the bustling streets of their city, talking to shopkeepers and recounting tales of their favourite adventurer, the Great Humdingo —much to the annoyance of everyone around them. But when mysterious, zombifying mists creep into town and the Aletha is captured by a sinister force in the mountains, Hupo’s on a mission to set everything to rights… But can he hold onto who he is when everything around him seems so terrible?
Creator Billy Partridge whisks us into his magical tale with whimsical artwork and a story about imagination, adventure, and courage to be yourself, even if you have a big personality.
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