An inside look at Queen Celine

As someone fascinated by storytelling, I read a lot about this thing people call ‘character design’. There are so many theories and methods about how to do it, and how to do it well. But, just as parents can’t ‘build’ or ‘design’ their children into who they want them to be, ‘characters’ like Queen Celine aren’t designed or built, they’re found.

You know what your friends would say

Most of us have a group of friends who are closer to us than others. People we know really well. The sort of people where, in a particular situation, you’d know how they would react. You just know.

For example, I know that if I ever went to a pizza restaurant with one of my really good friends, she’d order a margarita pizza and sparkling water. She likes plain and simple things. She relishes in the details and finds delight in the subtle differences between them. She has a ‘basil intensity’ scale for all the margarita pizzas she’s ever tried. Crazy, perhaps, but true.

On the other hand, I have another friend who I know would order the most outrageous thing on the menu. Maybe it’s a meat pie calzone or something ridiculous like that. She lives on the extreme. She loves trying something new all the time. She loves to Instagram her crazy life and tries to show people all over the world that she’s the one having the most fun right now.

I know how these friends of mine would act in a specific situation because I know them. I’ve spent time with them. I’ve gone on long walks and chats with them. I’ve seen how they’ve reacted in other situations. I know Margarita also likes quiet nights in and jazz music. I know Meat Pie Calzone loves loud bars and dancing ’til dawn.

Well, for me, this same process applies when I’m finding the protagonists and supporting cast for the stories I tell.

Meeting Queen Celine for the first time

I met the first version of Queen Celine on a beach in Greece in 2016. She was a 3-year-old French toddler covered head-to-toe in sun protection and swimming accessories. I don’t know her name, her family, nothing. She was just a random child on the beach. She ran along the hard wet send at the shoreline almost faster than her legs could carry her. It was a moment so full of joy that I just had to capture it in my sketch book.

Over the coming months, a child with such enthusiasm, such vitality, joy and confidence in herself grew in my brain. It’s as if this little girl on the beach in Greece planted a seed, and my subconscious raised her.

Back at home, I found myself doodling this little girl. And as I doodled, I got to know her. It wasn’t me who decided she would be a ruler of sea creatures; it was her. She showed up with a crown one day. And a loyal following of crabs.

Introducing Celine to someone else

It was in 2017 that someone else finally met Celine. That person would be the editor of Celine’s book who, like me, was swept away by Celine’s naive authority and joyous confidence. She took one look at these very early sketches of Celine and asked, “Who’s this little girl?”

In the same way that it’s easy for me to introduce my human friends to other human friends because I know them so well; Celine was no different. I was able to use words to describe detail that illuminated Celine beyond what I had put on the page in sketches. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but I knew what Celine liked, and what she didn’t like, I knew who she was. I didn’t make Celine say anything; she made me say it about her.

Getting to know Celine better

The early sketches were all about Celine’s joy. All about her energy. All about how infalliable she would be in the face of any danger. But, people aren’t like that. No one is happy all the time. Sometimes, things go wrong, and Queen Celine was no exception.

So I put Celine in situations that made her uncomfortable, that made her cry, that made her mad or obstinate. And, just like every child, she had a unique way of dealing with these situations.

These drawings weren’t anything to do with the final book because many of them didn’t make it in. In fact, at this stage, there was no book. This stage was about finding out, deep down, who Celine really was and whether she even had a story worth sharing.

Seeing Celine in full colour

Once Celine stamped her authority on our hearts, it was time to dress her.

Parents think they get to choose what they dress their child in; are they going to be cute and cuddly, or chic and elegant today? But Celine, like any child, has her own taste. She has her favourite clothes and her most disliked ones. Dressing Celine wasn’t about me selecting; it was about me offering her a selection of clothes to try on and seeing how she reacted.

She isn’t rich or well-to-do. Certainly not posh. But, her fashion-sense is clearly influenced by her French roots; Blue and red is classic, of course. But she is also young. She has not yet developed that elegant, chic look that we associate with older Parisian women. So, her final clothing choices were made up of elements of Parisian-chic, but with a little lack of refinement (In case you’re wondering, blue bucket hats and flippers are not Parisian chic).

Celine found me

I wish I could take credit for ‘inventing’ Celine; for making considered decisions that are supposed to have evoked certain emotions in the reader and communicate specific feelings. But Celine found me. All I did was ask her some questions, and really listen to her.

Order your copy of Queen Celine

Just like meeting a friend at school or work for the first time, once you begin to take notice of what they do, and listen to what they say, you get to know the person inside out. You get to know them to the point where you can predict what they’ll do next; what food they’ll order, and what they’ll say to make you feel better when you’re sad.

Celine is a friend of mine. I can’t wait for you to meet her, I think you’ll get along.

Want more Queen Celine?

Visit Queen Celine’s Kingdom Online for free Teachers’ Resources, videos of the making of Queen Celine and more.