A House Divided

Project Overview

A House Divided by Erin Lough and Mave Lough Duke captures the electric, good-natured tension of one of college football’s most passionate rivalries — the Iron Bowl between Auburn and Alabama — through the eyes of a family who supports both teams. When mascots Aubie and Big Al surprise the household, the living room erupts into the kind of spirited competition that is all fun when the people involved genuinely love each other. The authors write with the warmth of people who have actually lived in a divided-loyalty household, and the result is a sports book that is really about family.

The illustration challenge was giving both mascots equal visual energy and personality — neither Aubie nor Big Al could look like the underdog, because the whole point of the story is that both teams and both fans deserve to cheer loudly and equally.

Role

The illustration challenge was giving both mascots equal visual energy and personality. Neither Aubie nor Big Al could look like the underdog, since the whole point of the story is that both teams and both fans deserve to cheer loudly and equally.

Full illustration across the book covered character design for Aubie, Big Al, and the divided-loyalty family, sports mascot character design with equal energy and presence, transformation of a domestic living room into a game-day environment, and print-ready file preparation.

Character Design

Before a single page is illustrated, I develop the main characters in full — defining their proportions, expressions, and personality. This is the foundation that keeps your characters recognizable and consistent across every scene, every lighting condition, and every emotional moment in the project.

Process

Every project follows this same structured path, so you always know where we are and what comes next. You review and approve at the sketch stage and the line art stage — nothing moves to color until you’re happy. By the time the final spread is rendered, there are no surprises.