A Voyage to Virus Land — Illustrations for a fun and educational children’s book about COVID-19
A Voyage to Virus Land is a children’s book that takes you on a trip deep inside the human body to learn about COVID-19. In the summer of 2020, I collaborated with author and medical student Matt Daly to publish this book so that younger kids can better understand the COVID-19 pandemic. In 3 months, I illustrated and designed 46 pages just in time for kids all over to learn about the global pandemic.
A Voyage to Virus Land is now available for purchase on Amazon
June – August 2024
Scope
Illustration, Book Design
Illustrator: Valentin Nguyen
Book Designer: Valentin Nguyen
Author: Matt Daly
PROTAGONIST — The Protagonist is the tour guide that you follow along with throughout the book. This character directly references the reader as they travel throughout the human body.
SCIENTIST — The Scientist is the narrator who teaches you about all the mask-wearing and hand-washing etiquettes you need to know when living in a pandemic. She helps guide the reader to follow the virus through the human body while educating the protagonist and reader about how the virus affects the body.
SHRINK-O-METER EXPRESS — The Shrink-o-meter Express is the machine that shrinks you to microscopic form and blasts off the reader into the human body. Pretty awesome!
A jam-packed summer of illustrating.
I spent anywhere between three days to three weeks illustrating each page. The biggest challenge was making the illustrations within a tight timeline. These two key strategies helped make my process more efficient:
First, I always communicated with the team about where my bandwidth was at every stage of the process. Illustrating uses a lot of energy, and it’s important to take breaks!
Second, I embraced the practice of sketching freely regardless of how messy my initial drafts were. Embracing imperfections provided me with the space to discover new techniques and concepts.