Artist Jess Campbell's work appears in children's book seven years after producing it

Jeff Barron, Lancaster Eagle-Gazette
·2 min read

LANCASTER — It took seven years, but artist Jess Campbell's work finally appeared in print.

X Church Care and Outreach Pastor Steve Rauch asked her back then if she would provide the illustrations for a children's book he wanted to write. He just recently published the book, "The Three Little People Pigs."

The book is based off the popular children's classic, "The Three Little Pigs." The big bad wolf represents the devil who is after the three people pigs in Rauch's book.

"This was one of the backburner projects," he said. "That's why it took me like 15 years to actually pull this deal off. I got the illustrator, Jess Campbell, to illustrate it then held those for a while."

X Church Care and Outreach Pastor Steve Rauch and artist Jess Campbell look over the children's book Rauch wrote and Campbell illustrated. The book is called "The Three Little People Pigs."
X Church Care and Outreach Pastor Steve Rauch and artist Jess Campbell look over the children's book Rauch wrote and Campbell illustrated. The book is called "The Three Little People Pigs."

Rauch's wife, Stacey, then volunteered to put his words and Campbell's illustrations into a book form.

"It looks wonderful," Campbell said of the finished product. "Steve and his wife did great putting it together. It looks wonderful. I was amazed."

She said her focus was to bring out Rauch's story with her art.

"Bring out what Steve's point of view was," Campbell said. "Just interpreting what he wanted. And I think what he wanted and what I wanted came out great."

She said there are around 10 or 12 pieces of her work in the book and that it took her only about a week to produce them all. She used color pencils for the illustrations.

"It doesn't take me long to draw at all," Campbell said.

Artist Jess Campbell shows off some of her work featured in the new children's book X Church Care and Outreach Pastor Steve Rauch wrote. The book is called "The Three Little People Pigs."
Artist Jess Campbell shows off some of her work featured in the new children's book X Church Care and Outreach Pastor Steve Rauch wrote. The book is called "The Three Little People Pigs."

She would draw in her barn with her horse, Indigo, nearby and called the barn her quiet place.

Campbell said she started drawing as a child and realized she was good when her parents commented about her work.

Rauch said the biggest challenge in writing a children's book is coming up with the illustrations.

"I can't draw a straight line with a ruler," he said. "I can't draw a stick person you'd recognize. I'm a terrible artist. I have this concept in my mind, but I have no ability to transport that to a canvas or a piece of paper or anything."

But Campbell certainly does, as her work in the book proves.

"So I had the opportunity to meet Jess Campbell through a series of events and I heard about her artistic ability," Rauch said. "I talked to her about the concept of the book and I asked her if she'd be willing to do some illustrations and she said she would. The illustrations were not good - they were great. They were tremendous."

Rauch has authored three books. "The Three Little People Pigs" is his second children's book. All of his books can be purchased at amazon.com.

jbarron@gannett.com

740-681-4340

Twitter: @JeffDBarron

This article originally appeared on Lancaster Eagle-Gazette: Local artist's work featured in children's book based on classic tale