My Parent's House, Home Sweet Home Book Illustrations
Once commissioned to illustrate a children’s book, I developed storyboards, character designs, and 35 final illustrations—adapting mid-process to a more photorealistic style—gaining valuable experience in the children’s book and publishing industry before the book’s release in August 2025.
During the Fall of 2024, Madeline Eberhardt and Sabina M Turner, two sisters and book authors, reached out to me after seeing my portfolio and offered me the position of illustrating a new book they were in the process of finalizing.
The book, My Parents' House, Home Sweet Home, published by Palmetto Publishing, is a touching story of perseverance, faith, and the power of love and family. James, a hardworking man, and Mae, a nurturing homemaker, begin their journey in a small shanty cottage overlooking the dangerous Gravel Pit. Despite the challenges they face, they rely on their faith and resilience to overcome obstacles. Follow James and Mae's journey to their dream home. Through moments of tragedy and triumph, resourcefulness and joy, James and Mae's story reflects strength of the human spirit and unwavering love that binds a family together. Their journey is a testament to survival, sacrifice, and the belief that, with faith and determination, dreams can come true.
After​ creating an agreement between the three of us, I first began the process by going through the story with the Authors and creating story boards for the pages 1. And a style guide that laid out what the characters would primarily look like 2. ​​
1, Annotated Story Boards​​
2, Proposed Style Guide
​Once both materials received the "green light" I translated the storyboards into rough sketches of the one pagers 3 and spreads 4, making sure to comply with the pages margins and creases. This ensured that the Authors could see the page flow and how the illustrations would enhance their story.​​​​​
3, One Pager Sketch​​
4, Spread Sketch​​
Again, once receiving the "green light" on the sketches, I moved to the final stage of the illustration process, the final renderings. In this phase there was a slight change in direction as the Authors no longer wanted to continue with the stylized characters and instead wanted illustrations that leaned closer to the side of 'photo realism'. This did pose as a challenge, as it heavily increased the time I spent on each page and spread, and also meant that I had to revisit past, completed drawings and upgrade them to the newer style. Nevertheless, I was able to pivot and ultimately finish all 35 illustrations 5&6.​​​​​
5, Final One Pager Render​​
6, Final Spread Render​​
Overall, I learned a lot from this experience and what it is like to work in the children's book and publishing industry. After the completion of the drawings, the book was published August 2025, and can be found and bought on Amazon 7.
7, Published Book (Book Cover Designed by Palmetto)