Join the Field Guide

This October, I’m adding a brand-new section to my ongoing Field Guide to Missouri Fairies: Missouri’s Treefolk.

The Treefolk collection features nine creatures inspired by trees found here in Missouri, including sycamore, flowering dogwood, black walnut, shortleaf pine, bur oak, pawpaw, bald cypress, sugar maple and redbud. Throughout October, I’ll be introducing them individually before bringing everyone together in a new field guide poster.

But the Treefolk are just the newest inhabitants of a world I’ve been slowly building for the past few years.

Building the Field Guide

The project began in 2024 with Missouri’s River Dragons. I loved the idea of taking familiar Missouri wildlife and imagining the magical creatures that might exist alongside them.

Since then, the Field Guide has continued to grow.

In 2025, I expanded the collection with Mushroom Sprites, Moth Fairies and Missouri Griffins. Each new series gave me another little corner of this imaginary Missouri ecosystem to explore.

This year, I’ve added Butterfly Fairies, Flower Fairies and now Missouri’s Treefolk.

What started with a handful of river dragons is slowly becoming an entire world.

What’s Still to Come

There are only a few major sections left before the artwork for the Field Guide is complete.

In spring 2027, I’m planning to create a new collection based on Missouri songbirds. After that, I’ll be tackling insects, reptiles & amphibians, and mammals.

Once those final groups are finished, all of the major sections of the Field Guide will exist.

Then comes the really big part: turning everything into a book.

The Field Guide Becomes a Book

In 2027, I plan to begin mocking up the actual Field Guide and figuring out how all of these creatures, illustrations, notes and bits of lore fit together.

I don’t want everyone to have to wait until the entire book is finished to start exploring it, though. My plan is to release individual sections as smaller booklets first. That means River Dragons, Mushroom Sprites, Moth Fairies, Griffins and the other collections can begin making their way into the world while I continue assembling the complete book.

Eventually, all of those pieces will come together as the full Field Guide to Missouri Fairies.

It’s exciting to finally be getting close enough to see the shape of the finished project. There are still plenty of creatures left to discover, but the forest, rivers and fields are getting wonderfully crowded.

For now, it’s time to meet the Treefolk.