About Pathfinders
If you've never heard of Pathfinders, it is a club similar to scouts, created by the Adventist Church. It is created for children ages 10 - 15 (Adventurers club was created for under 10s) to grow spiritually whilst learning various skills. I spent my whole childhood partaking in Pathfinders and Adventurers, and they were the best years of my life. We were always going camping, marching, earning badges for our hobbies, making new friends, camping abroad and meeting other pathfinders, learning Bible verses, fundraising, and so much more. I learnt how to put up a tent, start a campfire, recite scripture, play drums and the books of the Bible and sign language.
Rumbidzai is the founder of The Pathfinder Zone, a blog and social media page dedicated to all things pathfinders. She reached out to me to illustrate items for a pathfinder card game, along with a campfire scene for a jigsaw puzzle. I jumped at the opportunity to help make pathfinder history! I don't believe any pathfinder games have been created before now.
The card games are yet to be created, but I was commissioned to illustrate a number of pathfinder related items such as a tent, Bible, camping chair, first aid kit and more.
I'm excited to see what kind of game this will be, but all I know is that I will probably end up purchasing it and playing it!
Illustrating the Campfire Scene
The brief was to create a campfire scene. Rumbi had asked for 6 or 7 people around the campfire, different ages, different genders, different ethnicities. Some to be counsellors, some pathfinders, some adventurers. She requested for the different uniforms to be worn with a tent, moon and pathfinder flag in the background.
I loved this project because I was not copying a photograph, I was creating my own characters to star in this scene. Firstly I mapped out where each person would be seated in this scene and then started to create characters.
It brought back so many wonderful memories of the pathfinder campfires I experienced as a child, I hope that it is equally as meaningful to pathfinders today. I hope they can look at this jigsaw and see themselves represented in the artwork.
So many children spend all their free time being antisocial on their devices or watching TV, I truly believe we need to bring back non-digital games that we can play with our families and friends. I'm so excited that The Pathfinder Zone are creating stimulating games that not only engage children but incorporates something they know and love.
You can contact The Pathfinder Zone or purchase your jigsaw HERE.
