Lexi’s Special Tooth Fairy

Project Overview

Lexi’s Special Tooth Fairy by Ann Morris is inspired by a real moment between the author and her granddaughter — which gives the story the particular warmth that only lived experience can produce. When Lexi loses her tooth while away from home, the familiar ritual is suddenly in jeopardy, and Grandma steps in with a solution that honours the tradition while creating a new memory all its own. Ann Morris writes with the easy, affectionate voice of someone who has actually had this conversation, and the result feels genuine rather than constructed.

The illustration challenge was capturing the specific emotional texture of a grandparent-grandchild relationship — not generic warmth, but the particular closeness and creative problem-solving that defines those bonds, visible in every shared glance and gentle gesture across the page.

Role

The illustration challenge was capturing the specific emotional texture of a grandparent-grandchild relationship, not generic warmth, but the particular closeness and creative problem-solving that defines those bonds, visible in every shared glance and gentle gesture across the page.

Full illustration across the book covered character design for Lexi and Grandma, grandparent-grandchild relationship portraiture, tooth fairy magic and childhood wonder illustration, and print-ready file preparation for Mascot Books.

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.