A commissioned children’s book illustration written by Suann Kiser published by Shutterfly.
Story Overview
Have you ever wondered who you would be if you lived in a different country? Through engaging verse and exquisite illustrations, this book takes your child on a journey around the globe to discover the foods they would eat, the music they might enjoy, and what their favorite activities would be if they lived someplace else. With a map of the world and an extensive glossary of words from other cultures, this story is sure to instill a lifelong desire to explore.
The Brief
Generally, they wanted it to be colorful, playful yet still informative of each culture shared per country. The wanted to create a sense of connection to other children and celebrate everyday similarities and differences that exist between cultures around the world. Since this is a personalized children’s book, all characters would be customizable (hair style and color, skin color and gender).
Age range is 3-7 years old
The Process
Each page was a different country with a lot of different cultural facts and information. I didn’t want to be too overwhelming with what was written per line, so I sketched one scene instead where there are a few subtle elements involving what was written in the story. I also worked on the character design of the main character. I sketched all spreads on rough thumbnails first in one page so I can see how it would look as whole making sure the scenes looked dynamic. I also included all the text per page so I can visualize how the illustrations will look around it and so I’ll know the spaces to leave blank.
Once approved, I started with the color studies, again on thumbnails making sure the pages still looked cohesive without looking too similar.
The front and back of the book includes metallic accents.
