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Anni Betts Creates Illustration For Lampoc Bookmobile

Mar 29, 2016

When the Californian city of Lampoc’s very first female mayor, Charlotte Benton, passed away, her wish to build a public library for the town was to be fulfilled with the help of a trust she had set up years before. Some time into the project’s development, the city finally decided that Charlotte’s funds would be better used for the creation of a bookmobile; that way it would be easier to reach out to children that lived in the area and get them to read more.

Jim Palam, who had been chosen as the designer for the traveling library, decided to turn to Altpick-member Anni Betts for the illustrative part of the project. His concept, which was based on the classic children’s book Charlotte’s Web (a tribute to Charlotte Benton), turned out to be quite familiar to Anni, who explains:

“When I was in first grade (or thereabouts?) I illustrated the whole story of Charlotte’s Web on a big long scroll of paper for a school project, a scroll that my mom still has in a drawer somewhere today. I’m sure those drawings would look pretty hilarious now, but I think that project set the stage for my love of illustration, and in a way working on this bookmobile felt like coming full circle!”

Take a look below for both a close-up of the illustration itself and the full design as seen on the bus. The backdrop, says Ann, with its colorful fields of flowers and sloping mountains, is a nod to Lampoc’s flower-growing industry.

Copyright Anni Betts
Copyright Anni Betts
Copyright Anni Betts