Maxwell Mask and the Story of Covid-19

• 

  Maxwell Mask and the Story of Covid-19

Inspiration: The story of Maxwell Mask was inspired by children's love of enchantment and magic. When difficult concepts are explained gently, with colorful friends, they are less scary. Maxwell Mask and the Story of Covid-19 personifies the medical equipment that children may be seeing in the media and at the doctor's office. In the story, the equipment becomes colorful characters, who explain Covid-19 and how it has changed our lives.

What it does: Maxwell Mask and the Story of Covid-19 provides an explanation of Covid-19, the changes we have seen, and how people are working to keep everyone safe. The reader follows the playful journey of Maxwell Mask through the doctor's office. They meet other friendly characters along the way, and learn along with Max in a fun, non-threatening manner.

How I built it: I've always enjoyed personifying non-human objects, so I created a group of medical equipment characters and created a story around them. Once I had my characters, I wrote the story, then used the Procreate app to illustrate.

Challenges I ran into: The first draft of my story was very clinical, with lots of technical explanations and very little fun. I scrapped that story quickly and came up with one filled with enchantment and fun, in addition to facts.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of: I'm most proud of finding a way to explain our current situation to children without causing more fear or anxiety. I'm proud of the fact that the story and illustrations are entertaining and will keep children reading.

What I learned: I learned that difficult facts can be made easier to explain when they are presented in a gentle way.

What's next for Maxwell Mask and the Story of Covid-19: As Covid-19 progresses, there are many changes. This can be confusing for children. Maxwell Mask and his friends can be used to explain challenges and information as it becomes available in the future.

Built With

• ios
• procreate