Cooking with My Dad the Chef is not your ordinary cookbook! I had an incredibly time creating comic book panels and illustrated sidebars for this cookbook by Verveine and Ken Oringer.
In this middle-grade cookbook, 13-year-old Verveine Oringer (along with her dad, chef and restaurateur Ken Oringer) share kid-tested and kid-approved recipes that are doable, delicious, and also happen to be gluten free. With the help of her dad the chef, Verveine and Ken found ways to create approachable recipes that feel a little fancy but are perfect for young chefs! From Miso Banana Bread for breakfast to Chicken Milanese for dinner—plus a chapter of advanced, chef-y recipes thoughtfully explained by Ken—this book will take young chefs on a culinary journey.
COOKING WITH MY DAD THE CHEF
Timeline : August 2022 - November 2022
Role : Illustrator
The comic book, with a narrative by Chad Chenail, focused on Verveine, the daughter of Chef Ken. Verveine hopes to follow in her dad’s footsteps to become a chef, and throughout the book, learns techniques, recipes, and even the science of cooking on her journey.
Each of the 6 comic openers accompanied a table of contents for the chapter. They also needed to clearly carry on the narrative of the story established in the front of the book.
Each chapter also included an illustrated recipe sidebar.
The process started with rough sketches, to line art, to finally adding color and final refinements. In order to keep the comics from pulling too much focus from the recipe steps and food photography, we restricted the amount of color in each panel.
We went through many rounds before landing on the final illustration style. It was a careful balance between being appealing to kids and adults, realism and playfulness, and what would work at a smaller scale in the book.
The book cover was designed by John Torres and Courtney Lentz. Once we had selected a final photo, I illustrated the pasta maker and ingredients on top. Illustration and comics are used heavily throughout the book, so it was important to bring that element and the whimsy it involved into the cover.
SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS
I worked on a marketing campaign for initial promotion of the book. I created a series of Instagram slide and individual posts for audiences to get to know both the Oringers and the cookbook. I wanted the ads to reflect the style of the book while being easily read on social media.
