The Magic & the Magician
Ziraldo was a Brazilian author, painter, comics creator, and journalist. His contribution to children’s literature in Brazil is a vibrant tapestry woven with creativity, cultural richness, and an unmistakable artistic flair. His distinctive style, characterized by bold lines, vivid colors, and expressive characters, often used the essence of Brazilian folklore and everyday life with a whimsical touch.
His books, which have sold about ten million copies and been translated into many languages, have also been adapted for theater and cinema. Even during Brazil’s military regime (1964-1985), Ziraldo’s versatility and brilliance shone through the country’s press despite censorship and adversity.
With boundless creativity, he blended traditional tales with contemporary themes, creating timeless appeal. His warm, charismatic personality permeates his work, turning learning into a journey filled with laughter and wonder. Over the decades, Ziraldo has left an indelible mark on literature, cartoon art, and the press, becoming a beloved cultural icon.
His stories entertain and educate, instilling values and sparking imagination. Through his art and narratives, Ziraldo has inspired countless young minds, leaving a legacy that continues to shape Brazil’s future generations.
Among his notable achievements is “O Menino Maluquinho” (“The Nutty Boy” – 1980), which inspired theater and television adaptations and recently appeared on the US Netflix catalog. His illustrations burst with energy, combining playful humor and keen detail, drawing readers into enchanting worlds. His characters, marked by exaggerated features and dynamic poses, make readers feel part of the adventure.
“The Nutty Boy” was the first book I have ever owned, a Christmas gift from my parents.
Ziraldo passed away peacefully a little over a month ago, on April 6th at age 91, at his home in Rio de Janeiro.
I still have a copy of that first book.
The Project
In 2022, the National Historical Museum commemorated its centenary with an exhibition celebrating Ziraldo’s profound impact on art and the realm of children’s imagination: “Terra à Vista e Pé na Lua“
For this project, I chose to work with the promotion poster used for this exhibition, featuring a very cool sample of his artwork, made specially for that event. It was a great illustration that showcases his easily recognizable signature fonts and style, while containing the emblematic graphics of his artwork.
I will walk through the process, steps, challenges, and results from localizing a flat image from Brazilian Portuguese into English. Using tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, my goal was to localize the poster while preserving his artwork and reproducing his signature fonts, ensuring the style and design remained faithful to the original.
The main challenges involved successfully recreating those patterns, properly using Adobe Suite tools for localization workflow, among other useful tools, and finally achieving an appealing, well-executed result.
The Tools
For this project I used the following tools:
- What the Font? & Font Squirrel – Font research
- Font Forge – Font reproduction and adaptation
- Adobe Photoshop – Image treatment for localization: Creation of text layers
- Adobe Illustrator – Text Scripting for extraction & adjustment of reintegrated of translation
- Gilad Text Script – Text extraction, tmx file generation, and translation reintegration
- Phrase – Translation Brazilian Portuguese > English
The Workflow
This was the workflow to achieve my goal:
Steps 1 & 2: Font Research & Font Reproduction
By utilizing What the Font and Font Squirrel, I was able to choose, download and install 4 appropriate fonts based on the fonts identified in the original image. However, the pinnacle of this endeavor lay in accurately replicating Ziraldo’s distinctive signature fonts showcased on the poster.
While I discovered a promising contender in Ad Lib, it presented my first challenges in this project:
- It offered only one weight option: regular
- Modification for certain letters was necessary to mimic the singular cartoonish font used in the original poster.
I turned to Font Forge for that task and made the adjustments I judged necessary to improve them to my satisfaction. A task that proved to require focus and patience.
Step 3: Creating Text Layers in Adobe Photoshop
I chose Photoshop for the task of treating this image, creating all my text layers, and background overlay. After handling the more “traditional” typeface, it was time to use my new, adapted font and see how it would fit over the original one!
The exhibition title, “Terra à Vista e Pé na Lua,” presented another unique challenge: incorporating path text within a circular shape. To achieve this, I researched for a good method and proceeded to create a new object layer that matched the precise dimensions of the original circle.
Steps 4 & 5: Text Extraction in Adobe Illustrator & Translation
After the creation of all text layers, I used a text script for Adobe Illustrator to extract all the texts and prepare my xml file for CAT tool translation. Then I proceeded by creating a translation project in Phrase and translating from Portuguese into English.
Although not a technological challenge, the exhibition title presented an intriguing idiomatic play on words that deserved attention. As a linguist, I enjoyed finding a creative transcreation that not only provided accurate localization but also seamlessly integrated into the image without causing crazy disruptions.
Step 6 & 7: Translation Integration and Adjustments in Illustrator
Incorporating the translation back into the Adobe Illustrator proved to be a straightforward process, leaving only a few final adjustments remaining. This involved ensuring the new text, predominantly in the form of point texts, seamlessly integrated with the graphics, addressing spacing issues, and fine-tuning font sizes and expansions.
FINAL RESULTS
While there were certainly some roadblocks, including multiple attempts at various steps, repetition of tasks for better results, adjustments in methods, and extensive research on using Adobe tools and fonts, I believe I successfully localized Ziraldo’s exhibition promotion poster. Combining creativity, visual effects, art, and technology has been both challenging and satisfying to me. I look forward to continuing my education with these and other impressive localization tools to refine my skills. Although Ziraldo may have left us, his priceless contribution to the arts will endure for many generations. As part of the group of children (and adults!) who benefited from and enjoyed his work, and as a proud Brazilian, this project was as educational as it was a pleasure. I hope you enjoyed seeing a sample of it and learning about this amazing artist. Long live Ziraldo’s legacy!
Copyright Disclaimer: under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education, and research. This project is a proof-of-concept, and as such does not represent nor infringe on the creator(s) in any way.