Script

For my book, I felt like there wasn’t exactly one fixed draft script. I felt like there were so many versions of it. At first, I would take the initial script that everyone had worked on and created, and I would sit with my big notebook and just read through it, imagining how everything would look, word for word. I was basically transferring the script from words into visuals to see and understand everything better. It worked well in the beginning, but after a while, I felt like it wasn’t fully myself.

After the second and third feedback sessions, I made sure that I fully understood the story and that everything was translating well visually. Later on, I started looking for something that could symbolize Hope’s story. It took me a while to figure out what that could be, but eventually, I decided on a mountain.

And from the mountain came the idea of using stairs to bridge both worlds in the story. From there, the story script finally started to come together, and I felt like, yes, this is it.

The mountain has different levels, and the higher you go, the thinner the air gets and the harder it becomes to breathe. I felt like this was the perfect way to symbolize Hope’s journey with Borderline. The different levels represented the multiple parts of her life, as shown throughout the book. With each event, she would carry a lasting effect from it, slowly leading her further and further up the mountain, with the air getting thinner and it becoming harder for her to breathe.

But it was important to me not to go too deep into the character and forget that, no matter what Hope, or anyone in life, goes through, hope is always there.

I was inspired by my own life, my beliefs, and my love for God to make Him present in the book. We sometimes get too caught up when life gets hard that we forget to have faith and to lean on someone else for help with our problems. Even if we have a very small amount of faith, as small as aseed, it can still be enough. It can move mountains.

In Hope’s story, when she reaches the top of the mountain, you can see that things are getting darker and darker, and there seems to be no escape. Yet, out of nowhere, a golden dove appears in the sky. The sky opens up with light, and a big voice tells her that she is so loved, and that it is not her time yet.

This was such a powerful moment for me in the book.

Sometimes, in those really hard moments, we don’t need a huge speech filled with reasons and explanations. All it takes is to tell someone who is struggling, “You are so loved, and you are not alone.”

That’s all they might need in that moment: to feel loved, understood, and reminded that they are not alone. It’s one

of my favorite scenes in the book.

The ending of the book took a lot of drafts and changes, but in the end, it was finally done and written beautifully. For me, I love books that summarize the story and connect everything together at the end. It feels like tying a bow at the end of a gift, where everything comes together perfectly. Not your typical book ending, but more like a reminder or a little story at the end that stays with you and touches your heart. That’s what I wanted to do with this one. I didn’t want to create a normal ending. Hope’s story is something that everyone can relate to in their own way, even if we all come from different backgrounds and have different experiences. But what is the one thing that connects us all? The heart.

So, at the end, as Hope walks down the mountain, the Voice tells her a little story about the heart. What if someone’s heart was drowning in tears, battling a cold war with anxiety’s soldiers, or blocked by the

thorns of confusion? Who do I go to?

A beautiful reminder to everyone who feels so much with their heart

Inspiration

For this book, I had a few main sources of inspiration that shaped what I wanted the book to feel like. I knew from the beginning that I would   create it digitally, but Istill wanted it to have texture, depth, color, and a physical feeling.

I wanted the reader to feel immersed in Hope’s world to feel the sharpness of the mountains, the different textures, and even the feeling of her experiences at school.

One of my first inspirations was Jane, the Fox and me. I was fascinated by the beauty of the book’s layout and the way the story progresses visually. It starts off very dull, almost completely black and white, with a graphite-like feeling. Then, small touches of color begin to appear, starting with the fox, and slowly, more and more color comes back into the book as the story progresses.

I was also mesmerized by the facial expressions and the way the pencil drawings were made. The different thicknesses, sharpness, and softness of the pencil lines gave so much emotion to the characters. Sometimes the drawings were so simple, yet they were still able to communicate so much. That was the feeling I wanted to bring into For To Hope, For Hope.

Statement

The objective of To Hope, For Hope is to use visual storytelling and metaphor to represent the invisible emotional experience of living with borderline patterns, creating empathy and understanding while showing that healing is an ongoing journey rather than a simple resolution.

storyboard

Like I said before, the storyboards kept changing and being updated every week as I gained a better understanding of Hope’s full story.

This was the first draft, whereI was reading the script that everyone was following and translating the words into visuals.

created using graphite pencils on sketchbook.

World Building

Following the story helped shape the environment, textures, sky, stairs, mountains, and land. Each texture has its own place in the story and can’t really be mixed with another. This helps differentiate between the         different environments and allows the reader to see and feel which      environment and emotion we are in at each point of the story.

School :  The first part of the story takes place at school, and graphite pencil dominates all the scenes in this section.I felt that starting the book with pencil and graphite was fitting because it gives it a diary-like and personal feeling. It feels raw and emotional, almost as if Hope is writing her own story. The style is simple but filled with expressions and has a slightly dramatic feel to it. It captures everything you would expect from a teenager going through their school years the emotions, experiences, and moments that shape them.

Mountain:  In the mountain part of the story, you can see that we start early on with green fields, almost as if we are just beginning to climb the mountain. The walk is manageable at first, but it is not easy. As the story continues, Hope’s journey through life gets harder and harder, and this is represented through her climbing higher and higher up the mountain.

There is also a huge contrast in the textures and colors throughout this part of the story. We start with soft, flowing green fields and gradually move toward higher altitudes, darker blue colors, sharper mountains, and rougher brush textures. As Hope continues to climb, the environment   becomes harsher, reflecting how her journey is becoming more difficult.

Spiritual Encounter:  When the spiritual encounter happens in the story, it creates the biggest contrast and makes the moment feel even more     impactful. It comes at the darkest point in the story, just moments before Hope makes a decision that she cannot take back.

For this part, the colors had to be golden yellow and vibrant shades of light yellow, reflecting a sense of holiness and light. Through the brushstrokes and textures, I wanted it to feel like something sacred. It does not belong to the land, the school, or the mountains. It feels like it is coming from above, outside of Hope’s world. The scene is filled with golden and white doves, with golden shades spreading through the clouds in the sky. I wanted it to feel like the beautiful beginning of another life and another heart for Hope.

Sometimes, when we reach such dark moments in our lives, we wish we could just restart everything. I think this was Hope’s moment for a fresh start an opportunity to live again, but this time differently, and not alone like before.

Emotions:  When dealing with emotions artistically, I relate them a lot to watercolor. I love the way watercolor moves, blends, and changes         depending on the textures and colors around it. It gives me this feeling of blurriness and messiness, but at the same time, something deep and fragile, almost like soaked paper covered in tears.

Anytime Hope is feeling something deeply, or when emotions are the main focus of a scene, watercolor takes over the artwork. It becomes the main texture and allows the emotions to feel more present and             expressive.