My Imagination Book
Written and Illustrated by Juan Marco
(Juan M. Montes)
2012 Nathan Cummings Foundation / Art Center Book Publication
Published by Designmatters
My Imagination Book, a 50 page coloring + drawing book for children ages 6-7, takes the reader on a journey of imaginative scenarios in which the characters they meet have all lost their weapons.
This book asks its readers, “Can you give them something more playful than guns so that they can have some fun?” Each vignette invites a non-violent and whimsical replacement for the missing weapons, encouraging children to participate in a re-imagining of a kinder, more good-natured and creative world, a world without guns.
"Jason, The Kid with Magical Powers"
Illustrated for 2014 Weekly Writing Workshop Children's Story
I was asked by the program directors of the Weekly Writing Workshop (a Los Angeles program that provides middle school students with creative writing education and college mentorship) to create an illustration inspired by one of the students' stories for their printed book. The story is about a boy who is afraid of the dark and has to sleep in a tanning bed until he realizes that he grows superpowers at night.
Animated to replicate stop-motion using After Effects.