And Then You Die of Dysentery

Client: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Art Director: Kate Napolitano and Christopher Moisan
Recognition: American Illustration 38 (2019)

This is a series of pixel art illustrations and 8-bit typography that Jude created for a humorous book about life lessons learned from playing the Oregon Trail video game as a child.

Project Goals

Comedian Lauren Reeves needed pixel art illustrations for her humorous book about the lessons in “adulting” she learned from playing the Oregon Trail video game as a young girl.

Project Realization

The 8-bit illustrations were used on each spread of Reeves’ book alongside her game-inspired musings, as well as social media posts promoting the book.

Creative Process

Having also played the Oregon Trail in his youth, Jude not only understood the visual aesthetic that the author wanted, he was also aware of the dark sense of humor that the illustrations should communicate.