Le Petit Prince (tr. “The Little Prince“) is a philosophical story about love, loss and the absurdity of adults. It was written by French aviator and writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry and was published in 1943. The book was translated into 300 languages which makes it one of the most translated books in history, second to only the Bible.

I ran a poll on my Discord server, asking which children’s book to pick for my February theme. When my community decided that this would be it, I was elated! I love the seemingly clumsy illustrations of this classic story that follows a young prince who travels from planet to planet, meeting various characters and learning important life lessons along the way.

L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.

“It is only with the heart that one can see rightly;
what is essential is invisible to the eye.“

This is the context and translation of the quote that I picked for this month, which is of course interjected by the internationally celebrated day of love; Valentine’s Day. In the story the little prince learns that love requires sacrifice and compromise, but that it is ultimately worth it. In my eyes this made the quote a fitting reminder of what the book teaches us.

The illustrations that I replicated in my journal are all painted in watercolour. The title page is the only original composition, all the others are mostly identical replicas from de Saint-Exupéry’s original illustrations. Some of the nuance was unfortunately lost after scanning, such as the rosy skin colour of the prince’s image above.

I decided to create walls of text out of the actual story by removing all of the white space from it. I then changed the font to a more decorative one called Little Days. After printing it out I tore parts of the pages to paste into my journal to add interest to them. While I didn’t plan it that way, I serendipitously managed to stay somewhat on theme with some of the text in relation to the imagery on each page. I’m very happy with how it looks and that the story is now a literal part of my journal.

I love how well this journal is able to hold water for my painting, which allows me to create characteristic watercolour paintings, layered to increase the depth and intricacy of its colours. An example can be seen here on the asteroid. While I’m having to get used to the smaller size of the notebook again, I’m very happy with how much freedom it gives me to be creative in my preferred medium.

My handwriting still leaves a lot to be desired, but I do feel that my practice is starting to slowly pay off. I’m still highly critical of how this looks and I have no idea how others have learned to create beautiful bouncy handwritten scripts, but maybe I’ll get there too… eventually.

The melancholy ending of the book has left a bittersweet memory in my mind. The little prince finally returns to his little astroid to be reunited with the object of his greatest affection, but his departure is framed with the heartbreaking loss of saying goodbye to a loved one.

If I ever find myself venturing through this loveliest and saddest landscape in the world I shall wait for a time, exactly under the star. Then, if a little man appears who laughs, who has golden hair and who refuses to answer questions, I will know who he is. If this should happen, I will send word that he has come back.

Au revoir, notre petit prince. Merci de nous avoir permis d’apprendre de tes aventures et d’avoir fait partie de ma vie. 🖤

Translation:

Good bye, our little prince. Thank you for allowing us to learn from your adventures and for being part of my life. 🖤