The first step of the creative process was the selection of the tale. I wrote a list of the ones I knew and re-read most of them: tales by the Grimm Brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, Jean de La Fontaine, Charles Perrault, Giambattista Basile, etc. And I also read some books about the interpretation of the traditional narrative. The aim was to find a story I liked, with not too many characters so I would have enough time to design and to draw them.

While I was re-reading the story about “The Beauty and the Beast” I remembered many details I had forgotten, like the presents the daughters ask their father to bring them or the ring that magically brings Beauty back home. All this reminded me about my childhood and the feelings the original story aroused in me, so I made up my mind and chose that tale. I gathered information about the original version by Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve (1695-1755) and about the shortened revision written by the French aristocrat Jean-Marie Le Prince du Beaumont (1711-1780), whose version has remained as the most-known.

I decided to adapt a bit the story to the present days and conceptions, so I gave Beauty a more active role: she’s the one that decides to go to the Beast’s castle in her father’s place, she picks the rose from the Beast’s garden and accepts the consequences of her own deeds. The character from the original version represented pity, self-sacrifice and obedience. I wanted her to be self-confident and go-ahead, after nowadays western women.