Envisioning Arrakis

Earlier this summer, The Folio Society announced its Fall Collection, and as in years past, it's a nice, varied stack of titles. The new volumes this time around include reads from Cormac McCarthy, Agatha Christie, Albert Einstein, and one that I've been looking forward to, Frank Herbert, in the form of Children of Dune.

Dune has been a big part of The Folio Society's plans in the last decade: the publisher launched Herbert's classic in 2015 and with it, kicked off a flood of high-end science fiction classics.

That first edition of Dune set a high bar what Folio has released in the years since: it features some beautiful artwork from Sam Weber, comes on excellent paper and includes an introduction from critic Michael Dirda and an afterword by Herbert's son Brian.

It's been a couple of years since that first book came out, and I thrilled when Folio published the second installment of the series, Dune: Messiah, last year. They seem to have put the work in to ensure that this follow up is on par with the first book, tapping artist Hilary Clarcq to illustrate both editions. Based in Colorado, Clarcq works primarily in oil on panel, and earned her degree in English and Fine Art from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

I had a chance to chat with Clarcq recently about her work on the Dune novels. Here's our conversation:

To start, can you tell me about your background? When did you realize that you wanted to become an artist?

I’ve been making art since I can remember. But even though I have a degree in Fine Art and English, I didn’t go to an art school or have an art career in mind until much later. In fact, I really had no idea what to do when I graduated. I worked as a waitress for a while and then found my way to graphic design.

Ultimately, design wasn’t a good fit, but it took a while for me to identify why and then have the confidence to shift to illustration and gallery work from there. A turning point was learning how to paint in oils around 2017. Something “clicked” for me with oils, and it’s become my favorite medium.

Were there any particular artists or works of art that inspired you and your style?

I think my art style is in a constant slow state of change in response to zeitgeist, personal taste, and personal growth. So, if you ask me next year, my response might be different. But I’ve lately been inspired by film and photography, and in particular, the way that lighting can create vastly different moods. It’s exciting to find moments in a book where I can exploit the lighting or composition to underscore a narrative, character, or emotion as a director would.

One thing that draws me to painting vs other artistic mediums is the ability for the mark-making itself to contribute meaning. For example, a viewer will absorb a different message if the artist’s hand is visible or hidden, or if an area is highly detailed vs loosely suggested. That aspect of painting fascinates me, especially because I see so much room for myself to grow in that area.

I'm always curious about how the work you're imagining impacted you: were you a fan of the books Dune prior to this assignment? What did you come away with from the books when you first read them?

I first read books 1-3 about 20 years ago, and the remaining books a while later. Science fiction and fantasy have been my favorite genres since childhood, and I loved Dune for the story and characters straight away. But in addition to a captivating world and plot, Herbert gives us intriguing philosophical concepts. My favorite science fiction is a kind of mirror on reality, but with enough distance that you gain new perspective on your own world.

Taking the concept of Abomination as one example: I can’t say I’ve experienced an overwhelming flood of genetic memory as Alia does in Children of Dune. But inner voices fighting for dominance of my psyche? I think we all know that feeling to some degree. So when Ghanima comments about Alia’s condition, I consider how it might apply to my own reality: “Alia denied what she was and became that which she most feared. The past-within cannot be relegated to the unconscious.”

That’s just one example of many where Herbert reflects on our world using seemingly far-out concepts. With my most favorite books like Dune, my partner and I will have conversations that start from something specific in the text but spin off in all sorts of directions from there — and I love that.

Dune was one of the first big science fiction books that Folio did, illustrated by Sam Weber. His paintings are a mix of fairly realistic portraits and scenes, and your illustrations feel congruent, but not identical. What was the process like to follow up on Dune and to both keep some continuity and your own style?

In large part, the credit for congruity goes to the Art Director, Sheri Gee, for recognizing a shared sensibility between my work and Sam’s illustrations for Dune. Sam is one of my favorite artists, and I’d mentioned that to Sheri during a prior Folio assignment. I was intimidated to take the project, but Sheri encouraged me by saying something like, “Don’t stress over continuity. Just do you, and it will naturally come together.” This was wonderful advice and an incredible level of trust, and it made me even more determined to give the project my all.

That said, we did consider two overarching aspects to preserve continuity. The first was maintaining the design elements from Dune, such as the monochromatic cover with a dominant focal element and single accent color, the linear landscape for the slipcase, and the black and white chapter headings. The second component was making sure that the costumes, settings, and props felt like they all came from the same world. I stayed away from recognizable close-ups of most of the characters we see in the Dune illustrations, which prevented disparities in that regard.

In some ways, the pre-existing framework was a relief and gave me time to focus elsewhere. One fun thing was doing callbacks to images from the first book. For example, Alia’s veil on the cover of Dune: Messiah ties back to Sam’s final illustration in Dune, which also depicts Alia wearing a veil. In Children of Dune, I riffed on Sam’s version of the Baron’s smiling face, and also gave Alia a large ring similar to the rings in Sam’s version, hinting at the Baron’s growing influence on her.

While it did require special care and attention to persevere continuity, the project challenged me in the right kind of ways and didn’t feel restrictive.

Tell me a bit about your process: how do you go about selecting, designing, and illustrating any given scene?

While reading, I record passages that jump out to me, such as an iconic moment, a unique lighting opportunity, or a scene that captures something significant about a character. I also keep a document with any important physical descriptions that I come across throughout the book.

Along with the above, I note recurring themes to use as inspiration for elements like the cover and slipcase, which aren’t specific scenes. In Dune: Messiah, for example, Herbert frequently uses water-related imagery to describe the desert landscape, prescience, and more. This overall theme inspired the slipcase, which hints at Arrakis' transformation into a water-rich paradise, but also the political and religious wave sweeping the empire.

The next step is to narrow the list of options down based on the best pacing, variety, and what excites me most. I test potential compositions through tiny sketches. Recently, I’ve started jumping to 3D software at this point. I create rough 3D objects for the characters and setting, and I can then move around the scene to try different camera angles. After a sketch has been approved, I use a combination of 3D maquettes and photography to collect reference, paying close attention to details from the text. Last I move to the oil painting, making any final edits or revisions digitally.

You provided the illustrations for both Dune: Messiah and Children of Dune. What did you come away with in the first book that you were able to implement in the second?

With the second book, I had a little more time and a lot more confidence. I also had a solid foundation of research and reference built up. All of that allowed me to let loose a bit and try a few ideas that I wasn’t certain would work.

The Dune novels famously get ... weird the further you go, and your art in Children of Dune begins to stray into some surreal elements. How did you approach some of the more psychedelic scenes?  

I mentioned being inspired by film and photography, but I also think illustration has a special capacity to reach “beyond the real” and impart layered meanings in a way that strict realism cannot. I’m quite drawn to scenes with ambiguity, where a character is teetering on a figurative precipice, or where we as readers might be uncertain how to feel. Herbert often presents multiple faces of the same concept, whether it’s charismatic leaders, the trap of prescience, or the Golden Path. For all these reasons, it seemed important to include scenes that invited a darker, nuanced look at the superhuman “gifts” of the Atreides.

My approach for these surreal scenes is pretty intuitive and non-linear. I use digital collage to move towards a composition that feels right (before painting the final in oils). With Leto and the sandtrout, for example, the passage that jumped out to me is, “Leto…lay naked upon the sand, his gloved arm outstretched into the path of migrating sandtrout.” This line led me to draw Leto laying down in a savior-martyr pose (recalling Christ on the cross), but I eventually landed on an off-kilter version that makes the heroic aspect feel less certain. The surreal scenes were some of the most satisfying to illustrate because I wasn’t exactly sure how the compositions would unfold.

What are you working on at the moment that we should look forward to?

Unfortunately, I can’t share most of what I’m working on at the moment! But I look forward to sharing on social media when I’m able. So stay tuned there, or via the mailing list on my website.