Problema 1 · Inglés PAU La Rioja Ordinaria 2026

The Spanish illustrator who wrote the letter cards for 'Frankenstein'

Tomás Hijo's carefully crafted work features in Guillermo del Toro's new film, Frankenstein. In the film, the creature learns new words through specially designed letter cards created by Hijo in a 19th-century style. The cards look like linocut prints — a way of making images by cutting shapes into a material — and reflect the artist's meticulous visual approach. This appearance is part of a collaboration between the director and the artist that goes back much further.

It is not the first time that Hijo's illustrations or prints have appeared in a film by the Mexican filmmaker. Their professional connection started almost by chance through a Hollywood art gallery that organised exhibitions devoted to figures from popular culture. One of these exhibitions, Guillermo del Toro: In Service of Monsters, included an engraving by Hijo inspired by del Toro's film: Pan's Labyrinth (2006). Hijo himself invented this fictional piece as if it were an old board game manufactured in Valencia during the Spanish Civil War. Del Toro bought this work for his personal collection.

Since that exhibition, they began exchanging messages and commissions. First, the director asked him to design his bookplate, which is 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.

Because of all this previous work together, Hijo received another request when the new Frankenstein film started to develop. Del Toro wanted him to design the letter cards used by the creature to learn words while 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, Hijo added a "green man", a figure connected to nature in European folklore, a nod to the forest spirit that runs throughout the film sequence. The artist even considered the creature's limited vision. To help him recognise each card by touch, Hijo added small marks around the edges. 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", Hijo explains.

Hijo has published many illustrated books. In 2025, he released his own edition of Frankenstein with the publisher Minotauro. His career has taken many turns. Although he studied journalism, he never worked as a journalist. Instead, he began drawing for school textbooks and children's stories. Step by step, he moved into fantasy, horror, and science fiction, which is the area where he feels most comfortable.

1. Answer the following questions about the text IN YOUR OWN WORDS. (2 points; 1 each)

a)

What were the main stages in the development of Hijo and del Toro's collaboration from the exhibition in Hollywood to their later collaboration on Frankenstein ?

b)

Why does Hijo feel a strong connection with the director, according to the text?