The Wilderness Guide

The Wilderness Guide is a self-help book, specifically designed for The Hole in the Wall Gang, a Connecticut-based camp that serves seriously ill children and teenagers. This book was specifically created to emulate a program called The Hero's Journey, where teens up at the camp go on a weeklong journey, exploring both self and terrain. 

Dr. Carly Kawanishi, a Colorado-based psychiatrist, developed the book as a tool to connect campers to the introspection and sense of exploration that happens up at camp. This project was especially poignant given its timing: the pandemic was just beginning, which made sending immunocompromised kids up to camp an impossibility. 

I was commissioned to help develop the art direction and illustrate the book. We wanted to create as immersive a book as possible, simulating the feeling of stepping into a new scene and discovering new scenes. The art is meant to envelop the reader, and help set the tone for the introspective questions Dr. Kawanishi developed for the book. 

To the right are the main setting illustrations, which featured as spreads in between journal prompts, thought-provoking reflections, and spaces to draw and take notes. From these illustrations, I also developed spot illustrations that featured throughout the prompt pages.