THE HERO WITHIN
Over the course of the two years I worked at RSE, I was involved with CalMHSA in the designing of multiple mental health campaigns. For the Hero Within project, RSE was hired by CalMHSA and LACDMH (Los Angeles Department of Mental Health) to bring to life the idea of a book/graphic novel for children entering the foster system. The publication would feature different ‘heroes’ the children could identify with, in the hopes that it could help ease the burden of understanding the foster process and dealing with new emotions. Along with my copywriter partner, I worked to conceptualize an engaging storyline that would be accompanied by a strong, relevant art style, aimed to capture the experiences of our audience.
ART DIRECTION
STORYTELLING
CONCEPTING
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
CONTRACTOR/VENDER MANAGEMENT
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT
As I lead our efforts, it was important to work with Mr. Mauk to establish comfortable guardrails for his art, in which we could provide iterative feedback on his direction but be mindful to not step on his creativity. To test if our superhero universe resonated with the children we were aiming to help, the team took an early slice of the book to inner-city Los Angeles, where we presented it to 3 different groups of children at various schools, ranging in age and socioeconomic classes. We engaged with the children in round robin discussions about their likes and dislikes and whether the story resonated within them.
The graphic novel was ultimately published physically and distributed throughout the LACDMH organization. The result of this project was a body of work often touted by individuals who were raised in the foster system as a fantastic companion to the unsure times of entering foster care.
OUTCOME & CONCLUSION
The result of this project was a meaningful and relatable graphic novel. My intuition, empathy, and unique resources for vendors/contractors, as well as my ability to give effective direction and feedback, were able to collaborate and produce an effective and life-changing tool.
The book has since received feedback from persons who lived in foster care has applauded the novel, saying that it would have been a useful tool for them and that it must be helping children today.
