Fatinha Ramos’s Anne Frank Museum Illustration Earns Two Annual Honors

Fatinha Ramos’s illustration for the Anne Frank Museum turns a small domestic task into a scene with a wider human question. The image, made for Pen-and-Inklings, has received an Excellence Award in Communication Arts’ Illustration Annual 66 and a winner selection in the American Illustration AI44 Annual Exhibition. Its subject is a moment in the Secret Annex: peeling potatoes, an ordinary activity that leads into a discussion about gender roles.

That choice of scale gives the scene its focus. Rather than illustrating a dramatic episode, Ramos works from a modest exchange within daily life. The task provides a concrete starting point; the conversation opens the scene outward. For illustrators adapting a written story, that kind of moment can offer room to suggest character and meaning without trying to depict every part of the narrative at once.

A scene built around an everyday task

The illustration was created for a special edition of Anne Frank’s short stories featuring work by 46 international illustrators. The edition marked what would have been Frank’s 95th birthday. Ramos’s contribution centers on the potato-peeling scene in the Secret Annex, where a practical chore becomes the setting for a conversation about expectations around gender.

The source account does not describe the image’s palette, materials, type choices or composition in detail, so those decisions are best read directly from the artwork. What it does make clear is the narrative approach: Ramos selected a specific, quiet moment and connected it to a larger subject through the characters’ discussion. That approach keeps the illustration anchored in the story while giving viewers a point of entry beyond the depicted action.

For editorial and book illustrators, the distinction matters. A scene can carry the weight of a text through a particular gesture, setting or exchange, rather than by summarizing the whole plot. Here, the task of peeling potatoes supplies the physical action; the conversation gives that action its interpretive charge. The result, as described by the project account, is a focused view of life in the Annex and the ideas raised within it.

Recognition and the making of the work

The two selections place the same illustration in Communication Arts’ Illustration Annual 66 and the American Illustration AI44 Annual Exhibition. The source credits the first as an Excellence Award and the second as a winner selection. Those are the award descriptions provided; no additional category, ranking or result is specified.

Ramos made the piece while recovering from a serious injury. She was not accepting commissions at the time, but chose to take on this project as both a professional challenge and a personal tribute to Frank’s legacy. That context adds a layer to the work’s making, while the illustration itself remains centered on the story and its characters.

Ramos has described the piece as “more than an image” and as a symbol of creativity serving as both an offering and a form of recovery. The source presents that reflection as part of the story behind the commission. It doesn’t give a step-by-step account of her process, so the useful takeaway for other artists is not a prescribed method, but the role a personally meaningful brief can play in sustaining creative work through a difficult period.

The artwork is available through the Anne Frank Museum’s shop and online at the museum’s product page.

From art direction to illustration

Ramos is based in Antwerp and originally from Portugal. Before working full-time as an illustrator, she spent 12 years in art direction and design. Her background spans those disciplines, and the source lists recognition from the Society of Illustrators NY, 3×3 Magazine, Communication Arts, Global Illustration Award and White Ravens. It also identifies her as the overall winner of the World Illustration Awards 2021.

Her design experience is relevant to how illustrators approach a brief: art direction involves shaping a visual response around a client’s needs, while illustration brings a distinct image-making voice to that assignment. The available account doesn’t attribute particular formal decisions in this piece to Ramos’s earlier design work, but her career has included both fields.

Ramos also created the cover art for Directory of Illustration No. 38, whose theme was “Lead With Love,” celebrating inclusivity, diversity and a brighter future. The publication’s account describes her cover through rich color, light-and-dark contrast, bold shapes and dynamic compositions. That description concerns the cover project; the source does not identify those same choices as features of the Anne Frank Museum illustration. Read the interview about the cover design.

To explore Ramos’s wider practice, visit her Directory of Illustration portfolio or her website. For artists working from literary material, this project offers a concrete prompt: look for the small action that can hold a larger conversation, then let the source text guide how much the image needs to explain.