HEART Values:
An Illustrated Journey with a Primary School
In 2024, I was commissioned to visualise the core values of Cadbury Heath Primary School and went on a collaborative illustration journey to create new characters to be depicted throughout the school!
The school’s core “HEART” values are:
Honesty
Empathy
Ambition
Resilience
Teamwork
My creative journey to represent these values began with a cast of fun animal characters that best represented these qualities, along with inspirational relevant quotes. In collaboration with the school Principal and through workshops with the children, we eventually came up with the idea of a pair of squirrels. My challenge was to develop these characters and find ways to depict them clearly demonstrating each core value as a single illustration.
The finished illustrations were printed and exhibited around the school and on classroom achievement boards. The banner illustration is a watercolour of the characters (named Chuck and Emmy) that I painted as a gift to the children of the school. It is now framed in the main corridor!
Ambition: Initial concept board - ink, pencil and Photoshop. Ideas for animal characters to represent the value, along with appropriate quotes and research on justification for choices
Empathy: Initial concept board - ink, pencil and Photoshop. Ideas for animal characters to represent the value, along with appropriate quotes and research on justification for choices
Honesty: Initial concept board - ink, pencil and Photoshop. Ideas for animal characters to represent the value, along with appropriate quotes and research on justification for choices
Resilience: Initial concept board - ink, pencil and Photoshop. Ideas for animal characters to represent the value, along with appropriate quotes and research on justification for choices
Teamwork: Initial concept board - ink, pencil and Photoshop. Ideas for animal characters to represent the value, along with appropriate quotes and research on justification for choices