Leading the way is OUT! I remember getting the contract from Candlewick a few months ago and having to pinch myself. I printed out a copy and hung it on my bulletin board so I would know it was real! Candlewick was one of my dream clients when I switched to full time freelance. It was such an honor that I got to work with them when I hadn’t even been in business a full year!

I was tasked to design the cover as well as create concepts for each of the powerful attributes that would be used to describe each figure in the book. Sort of like little badges that the women had earned by displaying the trait. When I received my copy of the book, a few days later they sent me LITERAL badges with the designs on them! So cool!

Needless to say, everyone at Candlewick were total rockstars to work with. Super kind and helpful with great feedback. When I handed in the first round of finals they had no revisions! Which has NEVER happened to me!

In my previous life as a logo designer, I used Adobe Illustrator daily to make graphic, minimal designs to tell the story of the company. As an illustrator you have a few more variables to work with but its essentially the same stuff! As much as I love painting I always really enjoy making graphic works and using Illustrator. I love the problem solving aspect and when Im using illustrator, I love getting a good playlist going and letting my fingers dance over the hotkeys. I get into the same a state of flow doing graphic design as I do Illustrating. Such a good feeling. I’m so thankful that I have 2 years of professional GD under my belt. I learned so much about process, shape, business, deadlines and many more valuable skills. I would say to any new illustrator fresh out of art school, theres no shame in not illustrating your first few years out of school! Even when Illustrating you have to design before you can paint! Wherever you are in your journey you can learn something new everyday and apply it to illustration.

Below are some of the sketches I did for the buttons. When I use to make logos, my first step was always to look up descriptive words and synonyms that helped me brainstorm about the identity and voice of the company. I jotted those on my sketch sheet and added a color scheme so I could start to visualize how value would effect the composition. Once they chose the sketches they wanted to see finalized, it was on to Illustrator!

Im so glad I got to work on this project. Its been a blast and its cool to have collaborated with such great folks! so far almost all of the books I’ve had the privilege to work on have had to do with women’s empowerment in some way. It has given me so much purpose as an artist to be a part of telling such inspiring stories. I hope this leads to many new generations of women in politics! Your voice is power!

You can check out Theresa’s other work on her site theresahowell.com as well as her instagram and Twitter.

The portraits inside were done by Kylie Erwin and you can check out more awesome portraits on her site https://www.kylieakia.com/