Different but Special

Project Overview

Different but Special by Susan Vanriel-Smith follows Nicholas, a young boy on the autism spectrum, through the everyday moments that make up his life — his particular preferences, his distinctive ways of engaging with the world, the obstacles he faces, and the beautiful discoveries that come from experiencing life as he does. The story never frames Nicholas’s neurodiversity as a problem to be solved, but as a different way of being that draws his family closer and enriches everyone around him.

The illustration challenge was capturing the specificity of Nicholas’s experience without generalizing or reducing it — his joy, his comfort objects, his sensory responses all needed to feel particular and real, not symbolic. Every expression and environment required careful attention to what this specific child finds comforting, overwhelming, or wonderful.

Role

Susan’s story asks something demanding of the illustration: every spread had to capture what it feels like to be Nicholas specifically — not a generalized representation of autism, but the particular texture of this child’s experience. His comfort objects, his sensory responses, his joy and his overwhelm all had to feel true rather than illustrative. The author provided photo references, which grounded the character work in something real from the start.

From developing Nicholas’s character sheet through to print-ready files, I worked across the full 40-page illustration, making sure every environment and every expression served his story — and that the warmth of his family came through in every spread that included them.

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.