Anabela Tasevska
SNow illustrations
Children’s author-illustrator creating educational, whimsical artwork for
picture books, activity books, and wildlife conservation projects.
A darkly whimsical illustrated fable about panic, sensitivity, and learning that the feelings we fear most are the ones we must walk through.
For anyone who feels a little too much...
I Have A Lot Of Feelings is a story I first imagined two years ago, though the dream of creating my own book has been with me for much longer.
I used to be an overly sensitive child (and I’m still a sensitive adult). Learning how to sit with my emotions instead of being ashamed of them took time, patience, and a lot of trial and error. That experience lives inside this book.
The story follows Clark, a small forest spirit who feels everything intensely and slowly learns to stop hiding from overwhelming emotions. Through my own experience with panic attacks, anxiety, and agoraphobia, I wanted to mirror that journey.
The story explores panic, avoidance, and the quiet shift toward acceptance. It takes the form of an illustrated fable.
A small reminder that even the biggest, scariest feelings are temporary—and that we can move through them.
Creation Process
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I never thought I’d actually write and illustrate my own book.
As a child, I spent hours poring over picture books, getting lost in their worlds. I was always drawn to the backgrounds—the quiet details behind the characters. I’d study them for far longer than the story itself, imagining what it would feel like to be inside those spaces.
It took me a long time to realize that this is what I now get to do. I create the kinds of worlds I once disappeared into as a child.
With this book, I wanted to explore a different kind of immersion—not visual, but emotional.
I stepped away from my usual, more colorful style and chose something looser and more raw. The shift was intentional. I wanted the visuals to reflect the experience of anxiety, panic, and emotional overwhelm—something less polished, more exposed.
This book is quieter, more stripped back. Both in the way it’s written and in the way it looks.
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This story is rooted in something I’m still learning—how to sit with emotions without getting pulled under by them.
Feelings can be difficult at any age, but especially when you’re young.
There’s no single way to quiet anxiety, and the more you fixate on it, the louder it becomes. One thing that has helped me, even if only for a moment, is breaking that cycle—sometimes through something as simple as laughter. That contrast, that shift, is something I wanted to carry into this book.
After writing the text—which went through many iterations—I began storyboarding the pages. It was a different experience working from my own words, but it allowed me to shape each moment visually as well as narratively.
The goal was for every illustration to not just accompany the text, but to extend it. The next step was character design. Clark came to me almost immediately. I had explored versions of him years earlier, without fully knowing why.
I didn’t want him to be human or animal—I wanted him to feel slightly other, something soft and unfamiliar. That distance helped reflect the feeling of being different, of not quite fitting into the world around you.
I illustrated the pages in Procreate and refined them in Photoshop, where the cover also took shape. The final step was assembling and formatting the book in Scribus, which gave me full control over how the story flows from page to page.
Select press
“This is a thoughtful, beautifully illustrated book that captures anxiety in a simple, relatable way. ”
— Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
“This is a sweet and lovely book, charmingly illustrated and very clear. ”
— Amazon Reviewer ★★★★★
