Illustrated Books

Make Fear Your Friend With the Help of Meera Lee Patel’s Newest Book

My Friend Fear, an illustrated book by Meera Lee Patel

The new year revolves around begin­nings; from the start of a new cal­en­dar to a res­o­lu­tion to change, this time encour­ages many of us to try and do not only dif­fer­ent­ly, but bet­ter. Con­quer­ing a fear is a big one, and illus­tra­tor Meera Lee Patel is here to help with her new book, My Friend Fear: Find­ing Mag­ic in the Unknown. She’s pre­vi­ous­ly the author of Start Where You Are, an illus­trat­ed jour­nal about self-explo­ration. My Friend Fear isn’t inter­ac­tive as with her first book, but it is deeply per­son­al and has beau­ti­ful inte­ri­or art­work that will inspire you, too.

Meera begins the book by acknowl­edg­ing fear and how it is ingrained in our cul­ture and our­selves. “I feel afraid fair­ly often, almost on a dai­ly basis,” she says. “I spent a lot of time fight­ing my fears, wait­ing for the day that they’d dis­ap­pear com­plete­ly. I thought I was weak because there were so many things I was afraid of. It was­n’t until very recent­ly that I began real­iz­ing that feel­ing afraid is inevitable—but whether I let that fear help or harm me, is up to me.” My Friend Fear is a reflec­tion of this. Through­out the book, we get a glimpse into Meer­a’s head as she rec­og­nizes, con­fronts, and gives her­self (and us) a dif­fer­ent per­spec­tive on fear—that we should learn to embrace the unknown and find peace in their own anxieties.

The spreads are illus­trat­ed with a care­free flu­id­i­ty for which Meera is known. Using water­col­ors, this choice is also an embrace of the unknown. “I have less con­trol over this medi­um,” she explains, “large splash­es of water push the col­or wher­ev­er it wants to go—and it push­es me to loosen up and become more com­fort­able with the uncer­tain­ty in each piece.” Famous quotes, sur­re­al por­traits, and hand-let­tered dia­grams accom­pa­ny her words.

My Friend Fear is out today! It’s avail­able in a lot of places, includ­ing Ama­zon. If you’re look­ing to set the tone for 2018, def­i­nite­ly check out Meer­a’s book.

Meera Patel My Friend Fear

Meera Patel My Friend Fear

Meera Patel My Friend Fear

Meera gives insight into her artistic process and the inspiration for My Friend Fear in this video: