Meet the Illustrator: Ola El-Metwally Brings Elsie’s Adventures to Harmony Hills to Life 🎨
- whitneecoy
- Jun 26, 2025
- 3 min read
When I first imagined Elsie’s Adventures to Harmony Hills: The Big Move, I dreamed of finding an illustrator who could capture the messy, magical, emotional whirlwind of moving, growing up, and learning how to name your feelings. What I didn’t expect was to find Ola El-Metwally—an illustrator who not only “got” the heart of the story but expanded it through color, emotion, and expressive wonder.
So today, I’m thrilled to introduce you to the brilliant, milk-tea-loving, emotion-doodling powerhouse behind the book’s illustrations: Ola herself!
💌 First Impressions Matter…
When Ola read the manuscript, she didn’t just like it—she felt it. She told me, “I don’t pick the easiest stories, I pick the ones that truly connect.” And this one did. She even read it to her mom (who gave the ultimate seal of approval). “When Mom says ‘do it,’ you do it,” Ola laughed. Honestly? That’s a creative process I deeply respect.
🎨 Behind the Scenes: How the Magic Happened
Elsie came to Ola instantly. “I read the manuscript and boom – I could just see her.” Designing the emotion characters, though, was an adventure. With imagery like lions, tangled knots, and dragons in the script, she was able to bring feelings to life in playful, kid-friendly ways. (Spoiler alert: there are emotion characters hiding on almost every page—happy hunting!)
When asked about her illustration process, Ola admitted, “I'm super messy!” She doesn’t follow a strict sketch-to-final path. Instead, she lets ideas come to her in the moment, diving in where she feels the most spark. “Even after the book is finished, I’m still finding things to change,” she told me. That creative chaos? It totally works—and it shows in the energy of every page.
🖼 A Few of Her Favorite Things…
Her favorite scenes? The cover and the four-spread sequence showing how Elsie’s emotions evolve across several days. “It was all about capturing her emotional transformation through expression and color,” she said. And if you look closely, you’ll notice those colors aren’t random—they reflect exactly what Elsie is feeling. (Genius.)
She also packs in tiny hidden details throughout—little emotion creatures peeking out of corners, whispering secrets to observant readers. So yes, this book is meant to be reread, explored, and discovered again and again.
💗 A Heart Behind the Art
Ola’s ultimate wish for this book? “I hope kids (and adults!) have fun and laugh,” she said. “I want them to feel connected to Elsie and know they’re not alone in their feelings.”
As someone who created this book to help families build emotional literacy and talk about feelings without shame or fear, hearing that from Ola felt like a warm hug from across the world.
Speaking of the world—did you know Ola is from Egypt? Not only is she a stellar illustrator, but she’s also an engineering student who’s excelling in math, the oldest of six, and a self-declared (former) sibling dictator. Honestly? She’s the full package.
☕️ Just for Fun
Ola’s favorite illustrating fuel? Milk tea. “Only good people love milk tea,” she insists—and we agree. She listens to the Quran or calming religious podcasts while working, and she’s always dreaming of her next project.
Oh—and she has a secret: she wants to become an author someday, too. She’s already working on a story of her own this summer. So if you want to follow her journey, send her some love, or fangirl over hidden dragons in Harmony Hills, you can DM her anytime. She’d love to hear from you.
🥹 A Final Note
It’s been a joy to work with Ola and watch this world of emotions and empathy come to life through her eyes. Whether you’re reading Elsie’s Adventures to Harmony Hills for the first time or the fifteenth, know that every brushstroke was made with care, creativity, and a whole lot of heart.
So the next time you turn the page and catch a tiny lion peeking out behind a pillow—or notice the color of Elsie’s world changing with her feelings—smile and think of Ola, sipping milk tea in Cairo, making magic for you and your kids.
Want to say hi to Ola or follow her journey?
You can find her @OlaIllustrates on Facebook and Instagram. (P.S. Tell her your favorite emotion character—she’ll love that.)
And don’t forget:
💛 Elsie’s Adventures to Harmony Hills: The Big Move is being offered for 10% off right now for a limited time or can be bundled with the first book the the "Elsie's Adventures" series, Elsie's Adventures to Brainy Cove for 10% off right now!
Comments