WILDSAM HAWAI’I ILLUSTRATION

I was asked to illustrate the Wildsam Field Guide to my home, Hawai’i. I wanted to convey how lush life in Hawai’i is. It’s a place of deep connection, to nature, to family and to oneself. The use of layering and connecting lines help portray the relationship between subject and landscape. Each island map is based off of the topography and creates a unique island thumbprint. The final project included the 5 panel cover, island maps, portraits and full page illustrations to accompany the essays.

”Until 1,700 years ago, the small curve of islands we know as Hawai`i existed in pure isolation. On that day, when the first voyagers from Polynesia slid their dugout canoes up the sandy shores, they found an archipelago of rainforests and sea cliffs preserved in what’s easy to imagine as paradise. The place was pristine and original, changed only by lava, wind and waves. And from there forward, for more than a thousand years, an alchemy of people and place grew into a kingdom of `ohana.”