Maria Mercer and Professor Robert Barrett, Illustration Faculty
Of the 25.8 million children and adults with diabetes in America, only about 5% of those are diagnosed as Type 1.1 Type 1 diabetes is a lifelong disease managed, but not cured, through insulin therapy via injections or an insulin pump. Diagnosed mainly in children and adolescents under 20, Type 1 diabetes is an overwhelming change in the lives of those diagnosed and their families. It is from personally dealing with Type 1 that I came up with the idea of the HOPE project. Knowing how difficult and overwhelming the transition from normal to diabetic life is, I realized it was important to share my knowledge by providing newly diagnosed families with the experiences, opinions, and solutions that I have developed over the years. In the end, the point was to make the transition more bearable and less lonely.
In the original proposal for the ORCA, the project was anticipated as having two books written and illustrated by me. The intention was for these two books to be handed to newly diagnosed families as a package; one book is specifically geared for the child diagnosed, and the other for the child’s parents. Though I initially thought I would have to write both books, a twist of events lead me to author Rick Walton. A couple years ago Rick, along with co-author Kristyn Crow, wrote a story for young children diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and began looking for an illustrator, without success. After reading the children’s book, I thought it fit beautifully into the HOPE project and thus adopted it as the children’s story. I was utterly thrilled at this opportunity as the most important aspect for me had been the illustrating, not the writing. As an illustrator, being able to work with Rick has been an incredible career building experience. As a highly published children’s book author, Rick has experience with the publishing industry that I am only just becoming acquainted with. This opportunity to work with Rick could literally kick start my career as an illustrator.
The illustrations for the book required several waves of improvement and research before arriving at the final design. As all the characters are animals, I had to work in humanizing them, and in doing so had to reference a number of animal anatomy books as well as books on color, lighting, and composition. Unfortunately, reading can’t improve one’s abilities past a certain point, only action does. In the beginning, one of the greatest challenges for me as an illustrator was choosing the right style to execute my drawings. Every artist has a specific style, and mine is very dramatic, usually with elaborate settings and clothing, dramatic lighting, and lots of detail. With a book geared toward such a young audience (roughly five years old), drama and detail are not ideal for gaining their attention. For this age group, simplifying the shapes and using brighter colors and settings are a better choice. The trick in designing children’s stories is finding a way to utilize my personal artistic style and preferences while maintaining simplicity. After trial and error, I achieved this by changing the setting. The initial proposal for the illustrations was a home setting which would not normally have several diabetic children together. However, after much thought and experimentation, I came up with the idea to change the setting of the story to a support group meeting for parents and children. Set around Halloween, it allows the children to dress up in various styles and periods of clothing. This shift in setting not only better suited my personal preferences, it also allowed for an interesting and amusing dynamic between the children.
It took several attempts at different sketches before I was satisfied with the end compositions, but I feel I have finally reached a happy medium. Though still unfinished, these illustrations have come a long way and hold great promise for my future as a children’s book illustrator. The parent’s book has required far more in-depth research than the illustrations due to the content. While providing personal experiences and tips for day to day life (e.g. the benefits to carrying packets of fruit snacks vs. juice boxes for low blood sugars), I also wanted to provide easy-to-understand explanations of exactly what was happening in their child’s body and why. The book covers such topics as the meaning of Hemoglobin A1C, high and low blood sugars, how food affects blood sugars, and why drinking water is vital with high blood glucose. Amongst the several topics discussed, it also touches on the emotional effects of a diagnosis, both on the parents and child.
The research for the parent’s book proved to be quite an eye opening experience, and I am not referring to the medical aspect. Upon searching for parents to help me with this project, the best source I came across was an entire blogosphere made predominately of moms talking about life with children who have Type 1 diabetes. It was from these blogs that I found most of my extra parental help and viewpoints. By contacting these parents with Type 1 children, I discovered an invaluable resource of experience to add to the book. They gave me their insights on the emotional impact of diabetes, what they learned via trial and error about living with the disease, and more. It was incredible to see how these women had overcome such an overwhelming situation with very little help in the long run from doctors. When it comes down to it, a doctor can only help so much before the patient is sent home to fend for themselves. Most of what is learned about food, dealing with blood sugars, etc, is done alone as parent and child. Alas, I also came up against one nearly insurmountable issue: people not responding, even when they excitedly assured me they would love to help. Of the 15-20 people I contacted, only a few wrote back with the information and stories I needed. It has been a huge issue getting people to share their viewpoints. Inspite of the set-backs, reading these women’s blogs has brought a fuller understanding of what it felt like for parents—including my own—to be changed by diabetes. The changing for me as a diabetic happened in a much gentler way, the memories vague due to youth. Discovering the intense emotional impact parents suffer at having a child diagnosed has certainly been the most sobering, yet in many ways the most rewarding, part of this adventure.
