Peek Inside “The Hunger Games Illustrated Edition”: 'It Felt a Little Daunting' Says Artist Nico Delort (Exclusive)

The illustrated edition of Suzanne Collins’ 2008 dystopian novel will be published on Oct. 1 — see an exclusive first look here

The illustrated edition of Suzanne Collins’ beloved 2008 novel, The Hunger Games, is almost here.

The Hunger Games: Illustrated Edition, out Oct. 1 from Scholastic, features over 30 illustrations created by artist Nico Delort. The drawings will illuminate Collins’ bestselling young adult trilogy in a new way, in a project that resonates especially with the author.

“Certain illustrations made an indelible impression on me growing up, and the images are forever linked to books I love, including John Tenniel’s classic drawings for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Fritz Eichenberg’s wood engravings for Wuthering Heights,” Collins said in a statement shared with PEOPLE. “I’m thrilled with Nico Delort’s striking black-and-white scratchboard artwork for The Hunger Games and feel it will have the same lasting influence on a new generation of Panem readers.”

Delort, a Canadian and French illustrator, has worked as a freelance illustrator for 15 years. They have created book and magazine illustrations, as well as movie posters, and gained recognition for their elaborate and intricate black and white drawings, per their bio. Read on for an exclusive Q&A with Delort about the process of bringing The Hunger Games: Illustrated Edition to life.

What was your reaction when you were first asked if you wanted to illustrate The Hunger Games?
I was both very excited and very nervous. A project of this magnitude doesn't happen very often and it felt a little daunting at first, but before we even started actually working on it, I had tons of ideas running through my head already.

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Had you read the book before?
I had read the series when it originally came out and had even sketched out a cover for the first book.

How did you make the world of Panem your own? Was it difficult to break from the already-known visuals, or do you have a usual process for this since you have illustrated posters from so many well-known films?
I haven't seen the movies since they were first released, but many of the visuals in them are now so iconic and ingrained in popular culture it was hard not to be influenced unconsciously.

That being said, I made it a point not to rewatch them so my ideas would come from the text only. What I do love about the illustrating process is that if you give the same text to 10 different illustrators you'll end up with 10 different interpretations. Obviously, there has to be a high degree of faithfulness to the text, but you'll also find some degree of artistic license here and there, where the visuals don't necessarily match the text one-to-one, because sometimes it just can’t.

Ultimately, illustration is very much akin to translating a text from one language to another. You have to make choices — what do you leave in, what do you leave out. Your experiences and cultural background will shape how you visualize or interpret things.

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If you translate word-for-word, you might end up with something that sounds or looks inorganic and stilted. Some things that are easy to draw are not so easy to put into words, and conversely, some things are easy to write but much more complex to translate into an illustration. So first and foremost, I try to capture the intent and the emotion it will elicit in the reader and how it makes sense within the language of illustration.

Which piece of art took the longest to draw?
Definitely chapter 18 (Katniss mourns Rue). I wanted to do the scene justice and give it the gravitas it deserves. It's one of the most defining moments of the story and definitely not the easiest one to visualize and draw. It had to be an illustration that would make readers pause, while at the same time being understated and showing respect and reverence for Rue.

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Can you talk specifically about etching Katniss’s iconic braid in many of the illustrations?
Katniss had to be instantly recognizable from any angle, in any lighting, and the braid helped a lot in that aspect. I would also like to note I gave Katniss a little strand of hair in the front so she could easily be recognizable when her braid wasn't visible.

Your use of details such as the Katniss roots in the chapter headers and arrowheads in the beginning and endpapers is subtly beautiful and a creative nod to the series. How did this come about?
Plants and their symbolism feature quite prominently in the series, through the characters' names and throughout the story (Katniss's mother using medicinal plants as a healer, the flowers for Rue's mourning, the nightlock berries, Snow’s roses, etc.), so I wanted to find a way to integrate that in the more decorative elements of the books.

The idea of using the Katniss leaves as an arrowhead came about when I was designing the wallpaper for chapter 3, in which the pattern is supposed to evoke a bow and arrow. The art director then thought it would make a great pattern for the endpapers as well, so I reworked it into a seamless pattern and also reworked the arrowhead part in the little motif for the chapter headers.

The frames for the part openers were also a collaborative effort, and each part features a flower after which a character is named. Part 1 is Primrose, Part 2 is Rue, and Part 3 is Katniss, and for the title page, the design is loosely based on belladonna (nightshade).

Can you talk about your decision to include small aviary details such as the mockingjay flying above the Cornucopia in your bird’s-eye view illustration, the mockingjays watching over Katniss as she mourns Rue and the mockingjays flying above Katniss and Peeta as they hold the berries?
Birds are obviously a recurring motif in the Hunger Games series, Katniss as the Mockingjay of course, but also the jabberjays in Catching Fire and more recently in The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes.

Related: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes: The Biggest Differences Between the Book and Movie

In my illustrations, the birds have a dual purpose, both visual and narrative. Visually, they bring some life to the menacing world of the arena, sometimes acting as counterpoints to balance out compositions, liven up backgrounds (as in the Thresh illustration), or add depth (as in Cornucopia illustration).

Narratively, they foreshadow future events of the series and are always associated with Katniss and the Rebellion. They first appear at the Cornucopia, Katniss's “first steps” into this hyper-violent world. The second apparition is when Katniss mourns Rue, probably the most traumatizing moment of the games. A flock of them soars to the skies as Thresh spares Katniss, foreshadowing the uprisings and finally, appear as a couple at the very end, when Katniss and Peeta decide to upend the entire premise of the games, branding themselves enemies of the Capitol and setting in motion the events of Catching Fire.

What is your studio like, and did you do anything to re-immerse yourself in the world of Panem as you began each drawing?
I'm fortunate to have a very nice space in my house where I've made my studio, but it’s been a work-in-progress for as long as I’ve been here, so right now it’s just a big desk, a couple bookshelves with too many tchotchkes and a cozy little space next to the radiator for my dog. I live in a little cul-de-sac in Paris with barely any traffic during the day, so it's very quiet. Within walking distance are a lake and forest where I go to do my bird photography. While I was sketching out the first thumbnails for the book, I went there to find some inspiration and take in the atmosphere of the woods.

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The Hunger Games: Illustrated Edition is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold.

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