There’s something interesting that happens when you finish a book.
You close the cover.
The story is technically over.
But sometimes, it doesn’t feel over at all.
You might still be thinking about a character. Or remember a particular image.
A color.
A little detail in the background.
The feeling you had while looking at a certain page
I think that’s one of the things I love most about illustrated stories
The words may tell us what is happening, but the images often give us somewhere to stay.
And that has been especially true for me while creating Nelly and the Night Sky.
Building Nelly’s World
When I first began developing Nelly’s visual world, I knew I wanted the night sky to feel like more than a backdrop.
I didn’t want the darkness to feel frightening.
I wanted it to feel expansive. Quiet. Comforting.
A place where Nelly could look up and feel connected to something bigger than herself.
That meant spending a lot of time thinking about color, light, texture, and atmosphere.
Deep blues.
Soft light.
Stars scattered across the sky.
Little moments of brightness against the darkness. Those choices become part of the emotional language of the story, and as I continued creating the artwork, I started noticing something else. Some of the illustrations didn’t feel like they belonged only to the story.
They had a life of their own.
When an illustration becomes more than an illustration.
I think this happens when an image carries a feeling beyond the moment it was created for. A character can make you smile even when you don’t know the entire story behind them.
A landscape can make you want to step into it.
A pattern can remind you of a place, a memory, or a feeling. That’s something I’ve always been interested in as an artist and designer.
My background in design has taught me to think about artwork not only as something you look at, but as something that can become part of the spaces and objects around us.
A piece of artwork might live on a wall. A character might become a greeting card. An illustration might become a pattern for fabric or stationery. A Collection of images might even eventually become something completely different from where it began. And that’s been an exciting part of developing the visual world of Nelly and the Night Sky
A little piece of Nelly’s World;
I’ve started imagining what it might feel like to bring little pieces of Nelly’s world into everyday spaces
Maybe it’s a print hanging in a child’s room.
Maybe it’s a card sent to someone you love.
Maybe it’s a pattern on a blanket, backpack, or lunchbox.
Maybe it’s simply an illustration that makes someone pause for a moment.
I am not interested in putting artwork on things just for the sake of putting artwork on things. The more interesting question to me is “can the feeling behind the image travel with it?”
That’s what I am exploring, because the characters and artwork I’ve created for Nelly aren’t just decorative elements. They are part of a larger visual world; one built around connection, imagination, comfort, and wonder.
From character to collection. This is also where my years of working in design and illustration naturally come into the picture. I love seeing how one idea can grow. A Character begins as a drawing. That character becomes part of the story. Then other characters, shapes, colors, textures, and environments began to emerge.
Eventually, those individuals pieces can become a visual language, and a visual language can become a collection.
That’s something I’ve been exploring with the artwork surrounding Nelly and the Night Sky; how the world I’ve created for the book might continue to grow beyond its original pages.
It’s a different way of thinking about the illustrations in children’s books.
Not just:
What does the page need?
But also: what world am I creating?
The Next chapter?
After more than 25 years working in art and design, creating Nelly and the Night Sky has felt like the beginning of an important new chapter for me.
I’ve always loved creating images, but picture books have given me a way to continue the storytelling in a different way, bringing together the things I care about most
Story.
Art.
Emotion.
Imagination.
Connection.
I’m currently seeking literary representation for Nelly and the Night Sky, and I’m looking forward to finding the right agent to help bring Nelly’s story to more readers and families.
At the same time, I’m continuing to explore the artwork beyond the book; the characters, patterns, and the possibilities that have grown from Nelly’s world.
And maybe that’s the beautiful thing about creating,
You start with one idea.
You follow it.
You see where it leads.
And sometimes, it takes you somewhere you didn’t expect.
Maybe a story doesn’t really end on the last page, maybe the story ends there, but the feeling doesn’t have to. Maybe a character stays with us. Maybe an image becomes part of someone’s room. Maybe a color reminds us of a moment. Maybe a little piece d a story finds its way into someone’s everyday life.
That’s what I am thinking about as I continue developing Nelly’s world.
The story may live in a book, but the feeling can live anywhere.
With love and color, Jules,