The Eternal Box

For Ripple Foundation's 2023 Kids Write 4 Kids Contest, I had the exciting opportunity to work with Founder and Publisher Ivy Wong to design the cover for the two finalists: Taym Saffar and Roy Oborne. Kids Write 4 Kids (KW4K) hosts a Canada-wide creative writing contest for students in grade 4-8. The winning stories are published, and all proceeds are donated to the winner's charity of choice. The charity selected by the 2023 contest winners is the Canadian Cancer Society.

The book is available on Amazon Kindle / Paperback, Apple iBookstore, Google Play, and Barnes & Noble

For more information about "The Eternal Box", visit www.kidswrite4kids.ripplefoundation.ca

Wrap around cover design: A white box sits on top of the earth, wires and small boxes surround it

same picture above, with the words: The Eternal Box

Image of the two winners

CBC Kids News Article: "Roy Oborne, left, from Yukon, and Taym Saffar, from New Brunswick, are this year’s winners of a national writing contest called the Kids Write 4 Kids. (Images submitted by Christine Oborne, Farah Saffar)" www.cbc.ca/kidsnews

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Sketch Process

A scene of an older girl looking back at a young girl, climbing out of a box

Pictured at the bottom is young Selda, exiting the box for the first time, worry and awe on her faceas she climbs out. Looking back at her younger self (and away from the earth) is the older version of Selda with a jaded and contemplative expression. The purple light produced by the box acts as a spotlight. The alternate back cover design shows young Selda looking back at the Earth from a scene early on in the story.

An image of a young girl stands beside a tall person in a lab coat

This concept focused more on the two characters that started it all: Young Selda and Siham. The scientist has an overbearing grasp on the shoulder of the main character, as they stand on the form of the box. Chalkboard-like sketches surround them. It’s exploring the moment where Siham explains the box to Selda. The scientist has a position of power by height and raised furthermore by the box and what it has to offer.

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Sketches Part 2

The design for the story slowly became more figurative, focusing on the vast feeling of emptiness and space. The design of a tesseract was implemented through feedback, eventually fusing it with a futuristic box design for the final cover.

An image of a Box with the shape of a tesseract in it floats in empty space, leaving behind a trail of stars and sparkles

A simple design of the box in space, emphasizing the vast and empty background of space.

A dynamic image of a tesseract shaped box soaring to the bottom right of the screen, followed by spaceships and comets

The box acts as a comet, the comets, spaceships, and stars following it. The fanfare surrounds it in busy abstract strands. Represents how the box 'hits' or takes over the planet.

The bottom corner of the illustration is the planet Earth surrounded or trapped in a box.

The Earth and its inhabitants metaphorically getting taken over or absorbed with the box, surrounded by the vast emptiness of space.

The bottom half of the cover is largely earth, with stars shooting out of small boxes.

The boxes populate the Earth, the dreams, lifetimes, and thoughts of the boxes' inhabitants shoot out like stars. On the back cover, the concept of time is addressed with a large celestial clock, ticking on as it's chained to its earthly counterpart.