Building a Concept: Character

For my first ever children’s book concept, I was assigned the poem “Colour of my Dreams” by Peter Dixon.

We follow the narrative of a child who expresses themselves really well creatively, who creates magic and wonder with their hands, who feels judged and misunderstood by their classmates and teachers because they just don’t get it.

• I love the character I created for this initially, with their blue jumpsuit and yellow raincoat that protected their clothing from all the color and paint — a smart choice by her parent who probably understood their creative spirit.

• But as I updated this character and scenes for my current style, I decided to have a hand block element on their clothing, dungarees instead of a jumpsuit and no raincoat! They might get messy, thats okay!

• The memory mobile captures some of their interests and experiences through the poem

Though I didn’t have a learning disability, I deeply resonated with parts of their story. As a child, I did really well in the arts. I preferred my daydreams and the worlds I built in my mind to the paragraphs on paragraphs of content we were meant to memorize for our tests and exams.

Funnily enough, I never stopped being curious. I really loved and still love learning. I just needed to do it in a different way than the standardised approach at the many schools I attended.

I did have some brilliant teachers who knew how to reach kids like me. They opened the space up for dialogue and experiential learning, or just really took time and care. I thrived in those settings. But the more painful experiences with the teachers that couldn’t be bothered with someone like me eclipsed everything good. They hacked away at my sense of self and left me feeling quite… stupid.

It didn’t stop me trying, but I still get really anxious when I think about exams and school. I remember the crushing feeling of studying so hard, only to go blank the moment I faced an empty answer sheet.

Years later, when my professor assigned me this poem as the basis for my first children’s book, I reached back into those childhood memories. I illustrated as little Suri would — exploring how she too believed in herself despite the weight of negative experiences. In doing so, I healed a part of my own heart.

I wanted to capture that essence through color and craft, through all the things that made me “not great” at school. Through the pure joy I experienced making things with my hands.