Return to Robinson Island: Illustrations
There are many details that go into writing a book. A writer has a vision of what characters look like and how they act. Below are early drawings and sketches of specific scenes in the book as TJ Hoisington envisioned them. These are a few of the final images that were included in Return to Robinson Island.
Ernest Robinson testifying against his former Captian - Captain Charlie.
Ernest Robinson saying 'goodbye' to
Elizabeth Cole and Sir Montrose.
Swiss Family Robinson enjoying the majestic blue lagoon on Robinson Island.
The Robinson sons sumble across treasure.
The entire Swiss Family Robinson, Sir Montrose, and friends in the treehouse living room.
Ernest Robinson and Captain Charlie fighting.
*Illustrations by Stanislaf Plonish .
Creation of Robinson Island
The four images below reflect the four stages of illustrating Robinson Island.
Image #1:
This image is taken from the Swiss Family Robinson Wikipedia page. As you can see this image depicts only a small
portion of the island.
Image #3
This hand-drawn image by TJ Hoisington begins to develop the character and specific locations contained in the original Swiss Family Robinson story by
Johann David Wyss.
Image #2
A full image of Robinson Island does not exist, so TJ Hoisington began to piece together and draw the island by hand
as he envisioned it.
Image #4
Above is the final illustration of
Robinson Island.
Not Used - Sketches and Drawings
These illustrations were NOT be used.
The Robinson’s establishment, with all its various structures, is called Falconhurst. In Return to Robinson, there are two treehouses that are connected by a rope bridge. Fritz and Jenny Robinson and their children live in the separate tree house that is not shown. Also, these drawings DON'T truly illustrate the enormous and elegant tree houses the Robinsons lived in.
These two pictures depict the arrival of Ernest Robinson and his best friend, John Bennett. Ernest hadn’t been back to the island for a few years, and he brought along his best friend.
Ernest Robinson is sitting in courtroom witness chair in Portsmouth, England, courthouse. The older bound man is Captain Charlie who has been court-marshaled. Captain Charlie was once a highly esteemed Lord of the Realm and Ernest's captain and long mentor.
Captain Charlie is the antagonist and Ernest Robinson protagonist. Captain Charlie, the once highly esteemed Captain, and his first Lieutenant, Ernest Robinson. In 2003, when TJ Hoisington began writing Return to Robinson Island, TJ imagined Ernest looking like actor Jim Caviezel. These pictures didn’t turn out as TJ had imagined.