The Precious Little Snowflake
Children's Book Illustrations
Each year, Beekman 1802 hires an illustration artist to reimagine their story, The Precious Little Snowflake, written by Brent Ridge & Josh Kilmer-Purcell. For the 2019 version, I had the joy of bringing the pages to life with whimsical jewel-toned characters and geometric backgrounds.
Pick up your own copy of the Limited Edition book at beekman1802.com.
THE STORY
24 illustrated pages
Limited Edition, 2019
Printed by Beekman 1802
The Precious Little Snowflake tells the story of a tiny 6-armed snowflake who seeks to make the world a more beautiful place. The story follows her journey down to earth to blanket the world in a beautiful layer of snow.
See my original storyboard and project overview below.
Original sketches / storyboard
ILLUSTRATION SPECS
Drawn in Procreate and Adobe Photoshop
Manuscript built in Adobe inDesign
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
I spent a long time developing the main character, as she was going to appear on the cover of the book and needed to stand out and set the tone for the entirety of the story.
I used iridescent, jewel-toned, faceted pattern elements to create the characters. I began with strictly geometric shapes before opting more organic, swirly forms that I would later echo in the page backgrounds.
After developing and refining the main character, I created an assortment of expressions and built out a catalogue of positions for each page of the book.
SECONDARY CHARACTERS
"Hundreds" of snowflakes appear in the book, and so it was important for me to create enough secondary characters to fill the pages and give the impression of complete uniqueness. In all, I illustrated 12 secondary characters (with faces) and over 50 tertiary linework snowflakes.
BACKGROUND ILLUSTRATION
In the beginning of the book, small linework elements act as moving particles, swirling through the galaxy. Later, as the snowflakes grow up and begin to take form, the swirls become more hard-edged and start to act as clouds and decorative elements. The backgrounds move from dark to light throughout the story, as the uncertain becomes certain, and snow blankets the ground.
"2019 Limited Edition "The Precious Little Snowflake" is a heartwarming children's tale about a snowflake finding its place in the world. This whimsical story teaches children how even if you are only a speck of dust, you can still enchant the world. Each year, our story is reimagined by a new artist and this 2019 version is illustrated by Maggie Enterrios. Original story from Brent Ridge & Josh Kilmer-Purcell. " - Beekman1802.com
Thank you!
Purchase your own copy of The Precious Little Snowflake at beekman1802.com.