BTS: The Making of ‘The Candlemaker’

Writing ‘The Candlemaker’ was nothing like anything I had ever written before. I felt led to write a story that could endure, that could be remembered, if not word for word then in memory and nostalgia, something that when a child is all grown up and thumbing through the mental images of their childhood, the imagery of ‘The Candlemaker’ will be one of fondness and inspiration.

The first draft of ‘The Candlemaker’ was written in 2023 and while the theme and morals of the story would persist to the version we know now, my vision for the story was far from what I would feel confident in. I came back to it at the end of the 2025 NFL regular season, spending late nights working at my craft.

The Vision

Children’s books are one of the most imaginative and freeing mediums for storytelling available. For this fun story, I had the privilege of developing character designs, settings, and an art style that was inviting and demonstrative of what I was trying to express. It was as much fun as it was a long process.

I worked through expression, posture, and gesture for each page

The text on every page is also hand-written in a font that I developed myself. I used a square tip fountain pen to style each letter in the alphabet into their newly developed capital and lower-case composition. There’s something undeniably beautiful about the written word that typewrite just couldn’t replace. Have a look at a part of how I developed the font below.

Having used Old English as a sort of starting point, I call this font ‘New English’

The Story Within the Story

‘The Candlemaker’ came to me as an allegory. For me, it was an allegory for God’s unconditional love, The Candlemaker himself representing God and the candles representing all of us. It is my belief that all of us are God’s children, and the wacky shapes and colors of all the candles represent how God’s love transcends our preconceived notions of race and gender. All of us, no matter who you are or the mistakes you’ve made, were born worthy of love. This love is given freely and without discrimination.

No matter the intent of the artist, art takes to the interpretation of the beholder. When this story is in your hands, I control nothing of what it means to you. In this, the story is set free. Whether you’re a parent, teacher, or mentor, my hope is that this story inspires not only your children but you as well, to be one who gives such unconditional love to all the little ones who need it.