Magic Wishing Rock

Project Overview

Magic Wishing Rock by Edie Delp is a gentle fantasy picture book built around one of childhood’s most enduring questions: if you had one wish, what would it be? When Bella and her loyal dog Walker encounter a very special friend on what begins as an ordinary day in the park, Bella is given exactly that opportunity — one wish, chosen carefully. Edie Delp writes with a warmth that keeps the story feeling intimate rather than epic, focusing on the value of dreaming and believing rather than the mechanics of magic.

The illustration challenge was making the magical encounter feel genuinely wondrous without overwhelming the quieter emotional core of the story — the park setting needed to feel both familiar and subtly transformed, so that readers experienced the same gentle surprise Bella does when the ordinary day becomes something more.

Role

The illustration challenge was making the magical encounter feel genuinely wondrous without overwhelming the story’s quieter emotional core. The park setting needed to feel both familiar and subtly transformed, so readers experienced the same gentle surprise Bella does when an ordinary day becomes something more.

Full illustration across the book covered character design for Bella, Walker the dog, and the magical friend, transition from everyday to magical environment illustration, visual warmth and wonder in a park setting, 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.