Existing ruins of Portilla castle are found on top of a rocky elevation one-hour away from Vitoria-Gasteiz, North of Spain. The XI castle reached our time quite deteriorated by the centuries and old conflicts. Sustained interactions with archaeologists in charge of the excavations allowed me to recreate its original aspect. I was also inspired by the marvelous illustrations of illustrators cooperative Dbòlit.

Medieval clothing was an important research topic for this illustration. I was inspired by medieval painting and artifacts that reached our time in good conditions of conservation. The feedback from archaeologists was also important to identify what colors were worn in the XIII century.

Picturing a vegetable garden also implied research about what type of vegetables and fruit trees could be cultivated in this region, time and period of the year (summer). For example, all new-world vegetables could not be present giving that Europeans had no ventured to the Americas yet.