Caleb is New in Town
As an illustrator, I strongly believe in the concept of utility. I want everything I create to be able to help someone in some way or to be made for the greater good. In this project, my goal was to make something that contained a narrative with either an explicit or implicit beneficial function. People tend to resonate with things better when that thing is offering a story they can relate to.
Throughout my life, I have often noticed that some people struggle with connecting with others, bonding, and constructing meaningful friendships. I wanted my book to provide methods to help people overcome that hurdle. I decided to make something in the form of a children’s book directed at an audience of kindergarteners to second graders because I believe the sooner people have the tools to make friends with others, the better.
The protagonist of my story is an anthropomorphic cat-boy by the name of Caleb, and the story follows him on his walk to his first day at a new school in a town he had just moved to. Luckily for Caleb, he comes across every student in his new class who each has their own problem that Caleb is more than happy to help them with. In doing so, Caleb gains affinity with all of his new classmates before the school day even begins. What I am trying to show is that doing even one act of kindness for someone, even if they are a total stranger, can be a great way to start a friendship with that person.
My goal for the illustrations was to keep it somewhat simple while amping up the cuteness by giving the animals big, colorful eyes. I designed the colors to stand out but also complement each other and the background illustrations are a bit more textured, cool, and slightly muted so they don’t compete with the character illustrations. I tried to keep the color values basic while utilizing as many of them as possible. I was urged to make the type in the book hand-drawn but I don’t trust the readability of my own handwriting so I used the font Gooddog New which has a hand-done look to it while being very legible.
To go along with my book, I decided to add the element of a toy, so I created a four-inch-tall figurine of Caleb that is included along with the book. I remember during my childhood, any time something came with a toy I could play with, whether that be a Burger King kid’s meal toy of Pikachu, a PVC figurine of Scrooge McDuck at the bottom of a cereal box, or a dinosaur book that came with phosphorescent figures of different dinosaur species, my neurons would be activated and my dopamine would spike. I designed the toy in a 3D rendering program and then printed it using a 3D printer. I made sure to cover it in at least 3 coats of primer before painting it with acrylic paint and Posca paint pens and then finally sealing the paint with 3 layers of decoupage. I also designed and printed a box that the Caleb figure can fit inside that is affixed to the cover of his book. This was a fun process, and I spent a lot of time and effort demonstrating my abilities working with both 2D and 3D design.
I felt the process of writing, illustrating, and designing my book went along smoothly, and I enjoyed every minute I put into it. It was a project that I felt good about which gave me the motivation to work through it. I used what I learned in the past about hierarchy, focal points, and layout to help me complete this project. I also implemented a bit of color theory and scale to help my illustrations look as appealing as possible. Using these techniques and receiving from many perspectives was critical in creating something that I and others felt great about. My overall hope is that other people with similar ideas for their projects can inspired by my work. My biggest hope is that this story could be a great asset to young readers who are looking for ways to make friends.
