Steep & Sleuth presents...
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd

Steep & Sleuth was my MIAD Senior Thesis project: a proposed book subscription service that paired quality teas with mystery novels. Each box came with a custom limited edition printing of the title and a tin of tea, along with other themed goodies, such as mugs, stickers, posters, and bookmarks.This initial run showcased Agatha Christie’s 1926 classic,
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, which follows a village doctor, James Sheppard, as he investigates the titular Ackroyd's death with the help of famed detective Hercule Poirot. The story was paired with a classic English Breakfast tea made from leaves grown in Cornwall.

Book Jacket Design

Measured to fit my own personal copy of The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, the dust jacket went through many revision stages in the tight sketch phase before a final direction was chosen. The completed design focused on Ackroyd's candlestick telephone and the tangled web it weaves from cover to cover.

Box & Pattern Design

I developed a series of two patterns for the Steep & Sleuth mailer box, and took a third scrapped pattern to finish for custom endpapers inside the hardcover. I took inspiration from 1920s wallpaper patterns, giving them a modern twist focused on the combined theme of tea and murder mysteries.Inside

Map Poster

Fernly Park, Ackroyd's home estate, is the main setting for the mystery. This map showcases the first floor, with the room placement and Study furniture layout mirroring rudimentary maps featured in most printings of the novel. Additionally included are portraits of my interpretations of the main cast.

Tea Package Design

Paired with

Mug Design

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Neva Swell Saves Dorsa Bay is the working title for my illustrated YA novel about community, anxiety, and finding out that your dog is actually a reverse-werewolf who runs a local cryptid book club.
I started work in 2024 as part of a creative project development class in university. Though I'm only in the early stages of writing, I've developed a large body of illustration work for the project.

Neva is a 15-year-old girl living in Dorsa Bay, WA: a coastal tourist town which draws folks around the world with its rumors of cryptids and monsters. Though she often pretends she's not afraid of the local folklore, she's proud of her home town and loves to help out where she can. She works part-time at her family's candy store and keeps a tight (if shaky) leash on her escape artist dachshund, Churro.

Neva's life is upended when a large coastal rock raises out of the ocean and reveals itself to be the shell of a giant crab monster. The monster smashes through the Swell's store and second-floor apartment, displacing Neva's family. Even worse, Churro has run away in the chaos. As news stations and tourists from across the nation appear to catch footage of the giant crab, no one has time to help Neva find her best friend... except for Vanessa Helsing, an internet-famous monster hunter who agrees to find Churro, fund the candy store's repairs, and kill the crab monster in exchange for the Swell's local experience.

Two nights after the crab attack, a mysterious, well-spoken young boy appears at Neva's temporary home, claiming to be—Churro?! Apparently, while he's a normal dog by day, by the light of the moon, he turns into the world's most horrific beast: a human. He's "terribly sorry" he didn't tell her before, but he needs her help: monster hunters are close to finding Dorsa Bay's hidden cryptid community, and they need a trustworthy human to aid their escape. Now Neva must live a double life, hunting monsters by day with Vanessa and saving them by night with Churro.

Ravenskeep Concepts

Ravenskeep is a story concept driven by Norse mythology, created as part of a concept art class in 2024. I was tasked with creating a character, environment, and prop for this world, and ended up with a chosen mortal raven trainer, a Midgard vacation home for Odin, and a somewhat-disgusting magic telescope!

Vulfpeck "Sleepify" Tour Map

11" x 17"; digital; 2024

A fan-made map of Vulfpeck's 2014 Sleepify Tour.

The Pink Lady Cocktail Spread

11" x 8.5" spread; digital & watercolor; 2024

The Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design contributed illustrated cocktail books as freebies at the 2024 ICON12 Illustration Conference, using spreads designed by the Junior class. These designs needed to have an illustrated wordmark, historic recipe, and a full-page illustration using MIAD's colors (magenta, red, orange, and blue). I was fortunate enough to be one of the 16 students selected for the final booklet.

The Pink Lady is a Prohibition-era cocktail. Though some debate remains about its specific namesake and origins, its bright pink, grenadine-fueled color is unquestionable. I created an anthropomorphic Pink Lady to represent the drink, taking inspiration from American 1920s fashion. The wordmark on left is a modern twist on '20s sign lettering.

Saint George's School Fundraising Illustrations

8.5" x 11" full page illustrations; digital & watercolor; 2024

Saint George's School (Spokane, WA) hired me to create three full page illustrations to use in fundraising efforts for the 2024-2025 school year.I used their motto, "Inspiring scholars, athletes, and artists to serve and lead others", as direction for the set. They also requested to see a student from each of their three schools: Lower (K-5), Middle (6-8), and Upper (9-12).

"Ride & Wrench"
Trek Collaboration

24" x 36"; digital; 2023

This piece was one of 20 finalist poster designs in a collaboration between Trek Bikes and the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design. Each third-year illustration student was asked to make a promotional poster for a Trek sponsored bike ride, which their creative team would later add clarifying information to. I was assigned the theme "Ride & Wrench," a dual ride and bike maintenance event targeted towards new and younger riders.

Jelly Sammie

Vectorized Typeface; 2023

Jelly Sammie is a hand-rendered, 3D typeface. Its wobbly, bottom-heavy forms were inspired by its namesake. It is best used off the baseline and with bright, vibrant colors.

Inoptimum Security

21.5" x 9.5" wrap-around dust jacket; digital; 2024

Inoptimum Security is a (fake) Young Adult sci-fi novel about a group of interstellar art thieves. I wrote up a fictional summary, set of reviews, and author blurb to set into an illustrated dust jacket. I hand-rendered the title and subtitles in sketchy, quirky letters to emphasize the funny, fast-paced nature of the book. The trail of the main flying saucer spins out across the front cover, highlighting the author's name on the spine and the summary on the back cover.

As part of ideating for this project, I designed the four main characters: three aliens and the protagonist, a poor, abducted human security guard named Rico. They are visible in the flying saucer on the front cover. I designed each to be visually distinct at a distance while still sharing similar colors (blue and green, as well as red and yellow for the alien characters).

Everdark: Eternal Eclipse

10" x 8"; digital; 2024

An interior map for a hypothetical YA fantasy:"After an unfortunate series of asteroid strikes, the spin of the planet Terra synced with the Sun, creating hemispheres of permanent day and night. This sucked fang for everyone involved--except for the Vampires of Everdark, the ghoulish fiends who thrive in the eternal eclipse beneath the Moon."