What Made You Choose this Topic?
Inspired by my own road trip this past summer, I wanted to create a road trip travel guide that can be kept in your car glove compartment and used as a tool throughout the trip. This book includes planning tips, a map to sketch your route on, a list of car games, journaling prompts, roadside attractions and food suggestions from the 5 regions of America, and more!
Is the a Method to the Page Organization?
I ordered the pages in a typical sequence of events during a road trip, starting with a log to document important trip information, tips on before getting started, and a little note to encourage exploring and straying from your plan if you feel like it. These pages are followed by a planning page with a packing list, a space to write down all the towns and states you traveled through, and a game page while you start your trip. Next up comes the sleeping and camping spreads, followed by a little page about tips for getting coffee in the morning! Later in the book comes a page about eating, showering, and finally, a log to write about your favorite person you met on the trip as a way to reflect on the experience.
Did You Really Build This Book?
Oh yeah! And it took forever! That being said, it was such a rewarding process. Whenever I get the chance, I love making physical art. It's something that I really missed out on during the Pandemic since the facilities at school were all closed. Most of my projects have moved to a digital space, but for this book I knew I wanted to have the physical product at the end. The most challenging aspects of printing this book were figuring out how to execute the fold out pages, mini books, di-cut pages, and actually binding the book at the end. It took a LOT of trial and error, but I'm super happy with the result.
Do You Have a Favorite Page?
I have to say my favorite two spreads are the owl home spreads. Since many people visit National Parks on road trips, I made sure to include a section of my travel guide about Leave No Trace practices. When you're at a National Park, you're in an animal's home! The owl page is a cute reminder of this fact, showing the owl's little treehouse. I had so much fun imagining what the inside of an owl's home would look like.
How Did You Illustrate this Book?
Through the magic of Procreate, I have time lapse videos for all of my illustrations. Procreate, an iPad app for drawing, was the biggest help during this process. The app made it super easy to bring my ideas to life. Check out these videos to watch my illustrations evolve from start to finish!