The Spanish illustrator who wrote the letter cards for ‘Frankenstein’

The illustrator Tomás Hijo, from the Spanish city of Salamanca, admits he doesn’t have a good grasp of time. Perhaps that’s why he designed such precise 19th-century-style letter cards: the ones Frankenstein —in Guillermo del Toro’s new film — uses to learn new words. “The images are done like linocuts,” Hijo explains, “a technique that involves creating a relief on the surface.” In the era in which the film is set, “they would most likely have been made of wood and printed using a press.”

This isn’t the first time that the illustrations or prints by this 51-year-old artist have appeared in a movie by the Mexican filmmaker. “It’s wonderful how he seeks out a specific artist for each role in a film,” he says. In his case, his work led him to become Guillermo del Toro’s “card and print specialist.”

The connection between the two began almost by chance, through an art gallery in Hollywood that organized exhibitions dedicated to icons of popular culture (he struggles to pinpoint the year). “By a twist of fate, I ended up collaborating with one of them,” the illustrator recalls. There, amidst tributes to Mario Bros. and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, an exhibition dedicated to the work of the Mexican director, Guillermo del Toro: In Service Of Monsters, was mounted. For that occasion, Hijo created an engraving inspired by Pan’s Labyrinth (2006), a fictional piece he invented himself as if it were an old board game manufactured in Valencia during the Spanish Civil War. The imaginary story ended with the “supposed bombing of the factory and with Del Toro finding the game and using it as inspiration for his film.”

The story was so convincing that the filmmaker himself bought the piece for his personal collection. “From then on, he started following me on social media,” Hijo recounts. “He even shared some of my work, which thrilled me because he’s one of my favorite directors. I’ve followed him very closely since The Devil’s Backbone (2001),” he says, confessing that it was a horror film that made a huge impression on him. “For me, Del Toro is an incredible influence.” Since that exhibition, they began exchanging messages and commissions. First, the director asked him to design his bookplate — a stamp placed inside a book to identify its owner — and other engravings.

Later, they met again in Paris, where the idea for the Tarot del Toro was born, a project based on the Mexican director’s cinematic universe that solidified their collaboration. Then, in Nightmare Alley (2021), other Tarot cards designed by Hijo became an essential element of the plot. “Del Toro didn’t want it to be a commercial deck,” Hijo recalls over the phone, “so we designed one specifically for this film.” These works were enough for the three-time Oscar winner — twice for Best Director and Best Picture for The Shape of Water (2017) and once for Best Animated Feature for Pinocchio (2023) — to say about the Spaniard: “Tomás Hijo is, in my opinion, one of the great modern printmakers. His work is vital and modern, yet rooted in a great tradition.”

That’s why, when the new Frankenstein project emerged, Hijo received another commission: to design the letter cards with which the creature learns certain words by observing a grandfather teaching his granddaughter. “The instructions were very precise,” he says, “they had to be round cards, each with a letter of the [German] alphabet and an associated icon.” On the back, he added the image of a green man, a nod to the forest spirit that runs throughout the sequence. “Guillermo told me exactly which letter I should illustrate and what element to accompany it, and from there I developed all the graphics.”

The level of detail was such that they even considered how the character, with reduced vision, would recognize each card. “We wondered how he would identify the letters without seeing well,” he explains. “The solution was to make indentations along the outline, which you can see in the film, and which allow him to recognize each card by touch.” This obsession with visual and narrative coherence is one of the reasons why Hijo feels such a strong connection with the director. “He looks for a specific artist for each task. He doesn’t delegate everything to an in-house team, but rather selects someone he believes is ideal for the job.”

In addition to his film work, Hijo has published numerous illustrated books and this year released his own edition of Frankenstein with the publisher Minotauro (part of the Planeta group). “This is my Frankenstein year,” he says, “because between the film and the book — by Mary W. Shelley — I’ve been able to immerse myself in this wonderful story.” His professional trajectory is almost a collage: “I studied journalism, but I never practiced it. I dedicated myself to drawing. I started with school books and children’s stories, until little by little I moved into the realm of fantasy, horror, and science fiction. That’s where I feel most comfortable,” he explains.

The illustrator can’t contain his enthusiasm. Moments before the call with this newspaper — which he was taking from Ávila, where he was scheduled to present the illustrated book The Soft Stone (Random House), which he created with film director Rodrigo Cortés — he posted on social media: “Thanks for having me on board, Guillermo!”

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