The Kimono Affair is part of my ongoing series, Stories Through Place, in which I create fictional book covers inspired by destinations around the world. Each illustration explores the atmosphere, culture, and emotional promise of a place, imagining the story before it has been written.
For this piece, I wanted to capture the magic of a spring evening in Japan. My goal was to create a scene that feels literary, mysterious, and cinematic. Using a rich, dark color palette illuminated by glowing lanterns and vibrant cherry blossoms, I explored the contrast between stillness and movement.
Original illustration
The project continued beyond the illustration itself. I created a collection of marketing mockups to explore how the artwork could live within a contemporary publishing campaign. Together, these pieces demonstrate my approach to visual storytelling and my interest in creating immersive, narrative-driven illustrations.
I loved exploring how a single image can spark someone’s imagination before they’ve read the first page! Seeing the illustration in context helped me evaluate not only the artwork itself, but also how it could connect with readers and communicate the mood of the story at first glance.
A marketing mockup with the books on a front table display in a Barnes & Noble store.
Publisher-style campaign with hardcover, Kindle version, audiobook cover, social media ad, and “Book of the Month” promotional images.
Animated scene
Early sketches and color exploration
Closeup Details
