The Earthsavers
Book design & art direction by Bek Millhouse
Client: Pono NYC
I spent most of my 2017 summer on the stoop in Harlem,
designing a stupendous book full of superheroes.
Meet the Earthsaver Superheroes! The characters were conceived by each of my students and play a vital role in their story of saving the Earth from the effects of over-drilling the Earth's surface. (From left to right: Stone, Kai, Honey-Lime, Blur, Flame and Dr. Kale.)
The Earthsavers is a 54 page, 8 chapter book with full-color illustrations;
written and illustrated by students ages 7 - 10.
Double-page spreads were designed to offer the children a space to color in should they wish to add their own personal touch. Solid pages of color were paired with predominantly black and white illustrations.
I worked with the children to develop their initial sketches into comic-style drawings. Each image was recreated using graphic pens, scanned into Photoshop, cleaned up and then transferred into Illustrator applying live-trace and color.
Finally, all of the illustrations were dropped into InDesign. This is a typical, mid-book scene in my Harlem studio. There were about 120 illustrations to process and
apply to the 8.5 x 11" layout. I really LOVE the creativity involved in book design!
The drawings by the children are so fresh and full of youthful energy.
I was so excited to see the proof copy. Many hours were then spent with my client editing the layout until everyone involved was happy and it was finally time to publish!
The Earthsavers is currently available on Amazon. I hope you enjoy checking it out!
For design inquiries: bekmillhouse@gmail.com
