Be Uniquely You
Written by: Karyn Dawkins
Published by: Self-published/ Salt & Light Press
Book Design by: Tamara Dever, TLC Book Design
Release date: May 6, 2026
For this cute book, Karyn had pretty specific ideas about what she wanted for illustrations and we did mostly single full page illustrations and spot illustrations for this book. There were no main characters besides the grandmother so when I did the Character Designs, I just did Grandma and then a couple of the children who are in the book, to get a feel for how they would be rendered. Karyn wanted as many ethnicities shown as possible so I tried to include a variety of children, with only the cover characters appearing inside on one of the pages. Since the topic was a more serious one, I tried to bring in a playful personality to the characters to engage the younger aged reader. I think I succeeded because one father told me that his daughter “carries this book around everywhere!” I find it very fun to draw a variety of outfit details and I try to imagine stories about each character!
I helped Karyn with the Activity Page at the end— it involves figuring out what the reader thinks they are being called to do later in life and then tucking that away to read at a later date. God doesn’t make mistakes and He has a plan for everyone’s life, if they choose to follow it!
Karyn said that I captured what she envisioned in these pictures and that was exactly my aim!
I came up with the front and back cover art and design and then Tam from TLC Book Design created the Title art and used the extra illustration files I provided to do the cute extra pages for the book!
Be Uniquely You can be purchased online at Amazon and anywhere books are sold, in hardcover and paperback.
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