Process for Luminous
Written by Julia Kuo
Pub. November 22
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One April night several years ago, I found myself stumbling through a moonlit forest in eastern Taiwan. My family was staying at an aborigine-run hotel in Taroko Gorge and we had signed up for a nighttime hike. Our guides gestured to a dim glow on the ground and we all crowded in to peer at an otherwise nondescript piece of wood. I couldn’t quite follow the mix of Mandarin and Taiwanese they were using to explain the glow, but it soon dawned on me: I was looking at foxfire! I’d read about this type of bioluminescence before and had no idea I’d find it in Taiwan. It turns out that foxfire can be found across the US, from the coastal beaches of Washington to the Appalachian forests in Virginia.
The phenomenon of bioluminescence has intrigued me ever since I saw glowworms in Te Anau, New Zealand. I felt like my eyes were deceiving me; was I sitting under a vast and starry sky, or was I actually looking at insect larvae dangling from the roof of a cave? I wasn’t the only confused creature; this sticky illusion traps moths and other insects seeking the night sky. Over the years, I kept an eye out for other accessible bioluminescent displays. I’ve since kayaked among dinoflagellates and found a new appreciation in summer firefly displays.
I felt inspired to write and draw about this phenomenon, creating an animated video with journalist Justin Glanville and a bioluminescence-inspired gallery show with illustrator Emily Dove. These pieces eventually found their way to editor Kallie George at Greystone Books. I’d previous worked with Kallie on Everyone Eats, and I’d been admiring Greystone for their thoughtful, beautiful children’s books. And so now we are happy to share a bit of this luminous magic with you!
The color palette for this book is minimal, as the emphasis is on the glow. We experimented with a couple hues for the base color; it needed to be dark enough to help the glow pop, but not so dark that it would be hard to see on a printed page.
Many bioluminescent organisms produce blue-green light, so this book uses one blue-green ink to indicate bioluminescence for almost all of the organisms mentioned. In reality, bioluminescence can appear in other colors, such as green, red, and yellow.
I had the privilege of working with Dr. Steven Haddock, a leading marine biologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. His advice and fact-checking tips were invaluable, from explaining the current goal of bioluminescence researchers (understanding the “why” of these glows) to learning how to sift through the many images available on bioluminescent creatures (if it’s grey or pink, it’s a photo of a dead specimen!). Working with him was easily one of my favorite parts of this process.
I’ve also gained an appreciation for the Monterey Bay Aquarium and MBARI’s important role in researching bioluminescence - and helping a broader audience to understand it. In April 2022, the Monterey Bay Aquarium opened a $15 million exhibit on the world's first large-scale exhibition of deep-sea life: “Into the Deep: Exploring our Undiscovered Ocean”!
Gearing up for bioluminescent kayaking at Point Reyes National Seashore in 2015!