About
This is an illustration project for a community health program where I sketched and designed all of the characters, and implemented them into story imagery used as a supplement to educational content. There were 2 other illustrators working in tandem with me on this project up to December 2022. After that, it became a solo endeavor.
All of the illustrations are currently being used as content for learning modules in an online course helping community health workers learn more about how they can be sensitive towards people from different backgrounds than themselves. The logo mark is being utilized as the face of the overall project, and in any presentations given on the project.
Overall, the images increased retention in the program, and allowed the community health workers taking the course to resonate and empathize with the characters and want to learn more about them by continuing through all the modules.
Timeline
December 2021 - March 2023
Programs Used
Photoshop • Illustrator
Skills & Practices
Logo Design • Research • Image editing • Character Design • Storybook Illustration • Team Leadership
Given
Story script
What I Designed
Logo mark, characters, and all imagery.
A Gallery of Finished Story Imagery
These images are a brief glimpse into all of the work I and the rest of my team have done on the project for both families in every module, there are stories that consist of 6 to 7 key scenes. Ultimately, that means that 10 to 12 images are made per module, and there are 8 modules total. In total, there were more than 90 scenes drawn.
Ideation to Final
For every image, I went through rounds of discussions and feedback with writers and educators to define the most important points of each scene that needed to be depicted. Then I went ahead and refined all the imagery, presenting progress and receiving feedback along the way until the art was completed.
Simple Questionare Illustrations
For some parts of the content, there were questionares that required simple accomodating imagery as context. I created these mini illustrations for that part of the modules.
Characters
Latinx Family
This family was designed in order to create a story that is in Spanish. The characters here are all designed to be a part of an ordinary, intergenerational family. From left to right, they are named Pedro, Rosa, Esperanza, Sophia, Maria, Roberto, and their dog Benito.
African American Family
This is also a multigenerational family. In this case however, my clients wanted them to also be interracial. From left to right, they are Sparky, Brian, Ava, Kayla, Charlie, Tina, Nia, and Reggie. The younger children wear brighter, fuller colors than any of the older counterparts.
Community Health Workers
These workers are made to be involved with each families communities. Their nametape from left to right read as Sean, Thaila, and Yasmin.
Character Sketches/Ideas
These are some other ideas I had for characters that weren't utilized in the long run.
Initial Sketchbook Ideas and Concepts
A collection of some of the sketchbook pages I used in the initial character design stage.
Final Logo Design
Colored & Black/White
This is the logo that I was tasked with making to represent the project. It is supposed to represent equity, with three people of different backgrounds coming together and reaching towards a common goal. One figure uses their body alone, another stands on top of a rock, and the last uses a replacement limb. The work they are putting into reach their goal of health and prosperity (the heart) is done with the foundational help of the Community Health Workers.
The colors red and blue were chosen since they are common colors used to represent the African American and Latinx communities. The blue and orange are a homage to the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, which is the school that the learning program is funded under.
Logo Sketches & Iterations
These are a few of the other versions of the logo I made before coming to an agreement on the final version with my supervisor.
"This project has been a HUGE learning curve for me. Throughout the duration ,I learned a lot about communication, as well as other technical drawing skills (perspective, background drawing, etc.) This was the first time I had ever drawn so many characters repeatedly throughout a story, and it was a challenge for sure. But the results so far have been well received, and I'm excited to help create more stories in the future. Thank you so much for looking at my work."
-C.P.