The Story Behind the Story.

 

by Jodie Campbell

 

When it comes to a children's book, illustrations are what bring the story to life. The appealing colors, the adorable characters, the vibrant scenery. When I decided to publish my story, I made choosing the perfect illustrator my priority. 

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I hired Alexey Chystikov to illustrate There Was a Zookeeper in the fall of 2022. He had an excellent reputation as an illustrator on an international freelance website. I knew he lived in Ukraine, but little did I know that teaming up with him on the journey to publish my first children’s book would make the journey such an emotional one.

 

At the beginning, all contact between us was made through the freelance website. A contract was signed. Deadlines were set. Illustrations began! All was going well as he submitted sketches, two pages at a time, for approval. And once approved, he began the final color work on those pages.

 

Six weeks into our working relationship, Kyiv was struck by Russian missiles and many regions throughout Ukraine were without power for several days. That incident brought it all home. Here was this young man just trying to make a living in a country under constant attack. From that day on I removed all deadlines so that Alexey could continue working on the book without pressure, as the situation in Ukraine allowed. His and his family’s safety was paramount.

 

We soon began communicating via email and Zoom calls. Each illustration that I received took on more meaning than the illustrations at the beginning. I now knew him personally. I knew the struggle he was going through living in Ukraine. I knew at times he had to work around power outages and air raid sirens. Some days I was sure his mind was a thousand miles away from my book. Other days it was my book that allowed his mind to travel a thousand miles away from the war. It allowed him to create a colorful world with adorable characters that I knew would one day bring smiles to the faces of children everywhere. 

 

I committed to finishing my book with him as my illustrator. Working with Alexey has touched my heart and opened my mind to a conflict a half a world away.

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You can see news stories about Jodie and Alexey here. 

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If you can offer support to Ukrainians refugees during this time, please do so.