Karis & Brook Stories: The Costume Party – A Story About Food Allergies

Project Overview

Karis & Brook Stories: The Costume Party by A.B. Namy uses a child’s natural curiosity as the engine for a story about empathy and safety. When Brook notices that his new friend Allie can’t enjoy peanut butter because of her allergy, he turns to his grandfather with questions — and gets answers that not only help him understand food allergies but ultimately save the town’s annual costume party from a peanut mishap. Namy builds the lesson through the series’ guiding principles of Encounter, Educate, and Encourage, making the educational content feel organic rather than instructional.

The illustration challenge was making food allergy awareness feel genuinely exciting rather than cautionary — the costume party setting gave every spread a visual energy and colour that kept the story feeling celebratory even while handling a topic that can feel anxiety-inducing for children who live with allergies every day.

Role

A.B. Namy’s series is built on a pedagogical structure — Encounter, Educate, Encourage — but the illustration’s job was to make sure none of that ever felt like a lesson. The costume party setting gave every spread a built-in visual energy: bright costumes, festive environments, a cast of children that had to feel like a real community rather than props for the story’s message.

From developing Brook and the supporting cast through to print-ready files, I worked across the full 38-page illustration, making sure the educational thread stayed embedded in scenes that were genuinely fun to look at — and that Allie never felt defined by her allergy, just accurately included in a world that’s learning to make room for her.

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.