¡°Thank you, honey ¡ª it¡¯s beautiful. Let¡¯s put it up on the fridge.¡± A typical reaction to a child showing a parent their latest drawing, yes? Well, Thomas Romain has taken that a step further.
Family Traits: The Fantastic Bestiary of a Father and his Sons, by Itsuki, Ryunosuke & Thomas Romain.
112 pages
UDON ENTERTAINMENT, Picture Book.
¡°Family Traits: The Fantastic Bestiary of a Father and his Sons¡± is a collection of watercolor illustrations by Romain, a Tokyo-based animator, and his sons¡¯ drawings that inspired them.
The vibrant world of Itsuki and Ryunosuke, with its cursed princes, almighty gods and those who dwell somewhere between is a joy to explore, and their dad¡¯s respect and love for them is apparent from the beginning, with their names appearing before his on the cover.
As Romain writes in the foreword, ¡°My role is that of a translator who interprets these children¡¯s drawings so that an untrained eye may appreciate their full flavor.¡± It¡¯s not about just churning out one slick piece after another, but discovering a backstory for each addition to the mythos.
Ironically, a major disappointment is that the translated text accompaniments are head-tiltingly wooden. The raw information is there, but the phrasing mutes the trio¡¯s personalities ¡ª something particularly noticeable when compared to the book¡¯s Japanese version or the family¡¯s amiable YouTube videos.
That aside, it¡¯s a beautiful culmination of what began as a way for Romain to share his love of art with his kids that blossomed into an ongoing project celebrating family and the creative potential of children.
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