(But first, a little bit of backstory) An enchanting short story scribbled down in a well-worn notebook titled The man from the moon was the motivating force for creating The Moonling picture storybook. This tattered notebook belonged to our late grandmother and the discovery of it was made by her daughter regretfully only after her mother’s passing.
We wanted the moon to have an effect on The Moonling and this plays a significant role in the story.
Why we chose a little creature of stone for The Moonling’s character development rather than a more humanoid figure.
In our never forgotten grandmother’s short story, the man from the moon was able to turn himself invisible and sadly that just didn’t work for us but the last thing we wanted to do was meddle with her character too much. So we deliberated on this for some time and then it hit us – A little pile of stones would work perfectly for his appearance because not only could he blend in easily with all of the rocks the astronauts collected (of his home planet) but also here on earth he would have no problem exploring his surroundings undetected. So in a sense, he still had the ability to be unnoticed. It’s more of a disguise than invisibility really.
We wanted The Moonling to have the same characteristic features as the moon. He’s made of the same rocks after all. We wanted the moon to have an effect on The Moonling and this plays a significant role in the story.
The SURFACE OF THE MOON : created FROM old chipboard, leftover spackle, paper mache, building sand from the neighborhood and dilapidated acrylic paint.