My Role I took on multiple responsibilities throughout this project, ensuring a cohesive and visually engaging final product.
Specific Roles
Character Designer – Developed distinct character designs that reflected different stages of our lives.Illustrator – Created all interior and cover illustrations, ensuring consistency in style and tone.Storyboard Artist – Planned page layouts and visual storytelling through sketches and compositions.Colorist – Applied final color schemes using digital techniques to enhance the illustrations.Typography & Lettering Designer – Designed and formatted the text for readability and aesthetic appeal.Art Director – Ensured a cohesive artistic vision across all elements of the book.The Creative Process Research & Concept Development To establish the visual style, I researched various children's book illustrators and artistic approaches, ultimately blending elements from multiple inspirations to develop a rough, hand-drawn aesthetic reminiscent of actual children's drawings. This approach reinforced the book's lighthearted and personal tone.
Sketching & Storyboarding I began by creating loose concept sketches for each spread, focusing on key elements such as characters, settings, and interactions. Character design was particularly crucial, as I needed to depict different life stages while maintaining visual consistency. The storyboarding phase allowed me to refine compositions and ensure a smooth narrative flow.
Final Illustrations The final illustrations were created using Procreate, utilizing digital brushes that emulated traditional mediums such as watercolor, graphite pencil, and crayon. This choice reinforced the nostalgic and handmade feel of the book while maintaining the flexibility and precision of digital tools.
Challenges & Solutions One of the biggest challenges was the lack of direct collaboration or feedback from the author, as the project was a surprise gift. Without external input, I relied on my personal experiences and deep understanding of the story’s moments, characters, and settings to guide the creative process. This required careful decision-making to ensure the illustrations captured the intended emotions and humor of the book.
Outcome & Impact The book was received with overwhelming enthusiasm, particularly by my friend and author, Elias Abou-Assaly. Additionally, the project garnered interest from local storytellers seeking illustrators for their own works. This experience reinforced my ability to handle full-scale book illustration projects and opened new opportunities for future collaborations.
Interested in bringing your story to life? Let’s collaborate! [contact me]