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The Very Long String: New artist Jess Wojcicki’s first illustrated children’s book

Leicester-based designer Jess Wojcicki is recharging her creativity by entering the world of children’s illustration. She is launching her first book on Crowdfunder, with part of the print run going to children’s charities.

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Young child with brown hair wearing an orange striped top and blue shorts, holding aloft a giant oversized blue pencil while standing on a blue line

For many artists, change is essential to keeping things fresh. After graduating from Nottingham Trent with a degree in Graphic Design, Jess Wojcicki went to London to work in the hustle-and-bustle world of film, television, and theatre. Creating props, she was progressing well in the industry, but her work-life balance left something to be desired. So, she moved back to the East Midlands to fulfil a long-held desire to create and publish an illustrated picture book.

The Very Long String is the book’s title, and it actually began as a self-directed student project. Re-artworking the book image-by-image, Jess is now releasing it via Crowdfunder with the pre-release limited run of 500 copies at £23 each. The book will come signed with a personal note from the artist. By ordering, customers will help fund the production and distribution of the bookshop edition and contribute to the social causes Jess is supporting.

Illustration from The Very Long String showing a girl in an orange dress following a wavy line through a natural landscape with stones and plants
The Very Long String book cover featuring hand-drawn text with three illustrated children connected by a flowing string against a cream background
Spread from The Very Long String showing an illustrated girl in a red coat following a long string through a minimalist forest with bare trees, accompanied by text reading "so far and further and further until she found herself in a forest
Illustrated girl with blonde curly hair wearing a red dress, holding a very long string and appearing to take flight or jump into the air

The story is beautifully simple. A little girl finds a bundle of string, unravels it, then holds one end and goes off on an adventure. Just when she thinks… Well, we won’t spoil it for you. However, Jess trained as a graphic designer, so it’s not surprising that the narrative – simple though it may be – has a powerful and meaningful concept behind it.

Jess explains: “Much of my research at the time was around mother-daughter relationships. My mum has always instilled ‘talking’ into me and my brother as kids. When I was little, I’d sit on the floor in the kitchen with my bunny and talk to her all the time. Flash forward to university, and she was always on the other end of the phone. It was that golden creative lightbulb moment of, ‘Hey, I’ve got it!’ How do I translate a supportive relationship into a children’s book? I took the idea of a telephone line and translated it into a simple string concept.”

A small figure in a red dress holds a very long string that extends across the page with leaves floating around it against a cream background
A hand-drawn illustration of a young blonde girl in a blue dress running through grass whilst holding a red flower, from Jess Wojcicki's children's book The Very Long String
Rough sketch of a young girl in a striped shirt sitting and holding string, alongside handwritten notes on the page
A young girl holding a bundle of string stands in shallow water, with a tangled ball of string visible on the left side of the illustration

Naturally, the little girl character is based on Jess as a child – complete with wild, curly blonde hair. Originally, she was a scribble of pen and watercolour, but now Jess is redrawing the story using Procreate, sketching the basic forms, scribbling and splattering in layers of texture, and playing with negative space to establish her own unique visual language.

“I’m obsessed with what space on a page can offer, empty backgrounds playing around with sizes and distances. When the character feels all alone, she’s suddenly very small, vulnerable and isolated on a page. Adding jungles and chaos removes the impact for me. Children’s books are often so over-stimulating, and a few parents have said that they like them; it’s calming and simple,” says Jess.

Two children with dark curly hair, one peeking out from inside a wooden box on the left, the other sitting with a blonde child on the right in an illustration from The Very Long String
Three illustrated children holding or interacting with yellow objects and natural elements, with black curly hair against a cream background

Book publishing today is rarely about one standalone story – booksellers are looking for a franchise. Jess is already on the case and has envisaged three toys based on the characters. She has also started drawing a sister publication entitled The Very Big Box, which will explore themes of grief and loss.

For Jess, the aim is wider than simply to establish herself as a children’s illustrator. As part of self-publishing, she will donate printed copies of The Very Long String to hospitals, including the cancer ward at Leeds Children’s Hospital. Jess volunteers for the charity Embrace, providing emotional support to children who are the victims or witnesses of violent crime. It will provide copies to its toy bank and its counsellors.

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