A difficult day

Inspiration

A friend suggested this competition to me and I only had 5 days left to do it. I thought this was a great idea and a wonderful way to give back to the world. And as a story artist myself, I knew this had to be done. So I contacted a mutual friend Lauren, who loves story-telling and loves working with rhymes which I knew was perfect for this. Lauren was on board immediately and within a couple hours had sent the completed story after a little discussion. She had voice recorded it and while listening I had a big smile on my face. I was both blown away by the speed at which she wrote it and all the heart and information that it had in conveying its message.

What it does

This book is aimed at the young children of South Africa as well as the world, to help them understand some of the challenges that they are facing in dealing with staying at home during lock-down in the current COVID-19 crisis. It is there to help them understand that what they feel at times is perfectly normal and that there are ways and means to cope and stay connected as a community.

How I built it

After an initial video call detailing a rough idea for the story, Lauren got back to me with the finished script. I then used Photoshop to layout out the roughs and final pictures. Once everything was near completion, there as a bit of last minute feedback for changes before handing over.

Challenges I ran into

The short time frame because of the late entry was definitely the biggest challenge. I was also planning to go for a painted feel to make up for time, but ended up ditching that as the quality was not what I was happy with at all. So I stuck to the method I am more comfortable with, even though I knew it would take longer.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Hitting the deadline. Definitely the quickest book I have ever worked on and it was great collaborating with Lauren again. I think she knocked that story out of the park. Plus I enjoy working on projects that can help inspire people especially children. And its great to give back in a time where so many people all over are stepping up to help each other where they can.

What I learned

Its challenging to do a story under such a tight deadline but with a little planning with regards to whats feasible, its possible to finish a project like this. Plus I knew this was gonna be something magical when I heard Lauren's story for the first time.

What's next for A difficult day

We are going to do a video version of it, with Lauren's audio accompanying the visuals in a very simple animated way.

Built With

• photoshop