A, B, C, as it turns out, ain’t nearly so easy as 1, 2, 3, even for a particularly imaginative illustrator looking to assign each letter a Bainbridge-based corollary.

Still, Bill Hemp persevered, pen in hand, and 26 elaborate entries later is ready to unveil his “Bainbridge Island A to Z Sketch Book.”

Some letters were harder than others, he said.

X, obviously. And Q, that’s a toughie. But some were just too easy. As readers of the sketch book will learn: “D is for down-to-earth Day Road farms and winery walks,” “E is for easy sailing Eagle Harbor and dockside eateries,” and “L is for learned public library and loyal patrons.”

The list, and the tour, goes on. Each subject is accompanied by a conversational description and some by quotes from prominent islanders associated with them.

Hemp’s a true blue Mad Man, a survivor of the storied Don Draper-era of Madison Avenue life where he worked in copy writing and promotional marketing for Young &Rubicam New York, and served as creative director for Burson-Marsteller until he retired in 1992. He hopped islands in 2011, making the move from his longtime home on Long Island, New York to Bainbridge with his wife Maggie. They’d previously been vacationers here and both loved it too much to leave again, he said.

It was then Hemp began roaming the Rock in earnest, exploring his new home in his preferred way: with his sketch pad. He reveled in old farm houses, thick forests, Winslow storefronts and the flotilla of boats in Eagle Harbor, filling sketchbooks all the while from front to back with intricate pen-and-ink drawings of some of the best (and least) known sites of Bainbridge.

“For some reason my wife and I always loved islands,” Hemp said. “My wife and I have always been just intrigued with islands — and water, of course. I’m a swimmer. I swim three times a week at the aquatic center. So the water and the island, the forests and the country atmosphere appealed to me.”

Hemp’s lifelong love affair with drawing was not begun exactly by divine inspiration — but pretty close. Call it prophesy by proxy.

“I was drawing since I was knee-high to a grasshopper,” he said. “I remember when I was in fifth grade I was going to a Catholic school and the nun — I still remember her name: Sister Anne Dalortes — she thought my artwork was terrific. She kept encouraging me, ‘Billy, do this. Do that. Don’t stop drawing. Boy, you are so good.’

“I would be kind of embarrassed that she was talking about how good I was,” Hemp laughed. “But that was always in the back of my mind all through high school and college.”

He studied advertising in Philadelphia before moving on to leave his mark on the Big Apple, but he never stopped doodling, for fun and often for work, too.

The Bainbridge book is Hemp’s fifth such project. He’s done sketch-based guides in several other far-flung locales, including: “New York Enclaves,” “If Ever You Go to Dublin Town” and “Taos: Landmarks and Legends.”

After such exotic fare, one might think Bainbridge a bit boring by comparison. But one would be wrong.

“I sort of enjoy the laid-back feeling of Bainbridge,” he said. “I had all these sketch pads that my kids had given me and I started to go walking around and I’d see a house that I liked and I would draw it and then I’d go down to Eagle Harbor and draw a boat and all of a sudden I had all these drawings and my wife said, ‘Why don’t you do a book on Bainbridge?’”

Reticent at first — “It’s been done,” Hemp said, “why do another book on Bainbridge?” — the artist eventually settled on the alphabetical idea as a twist on the topic.

“I was walking in the old Paper Products store,” he remembered. “I was looking at a rack filled with coloring books and all of a sudden I saw an A, B, C coloring book and I thought, ‘Hey, why not do an A, B, C book of Bainbridge Island?’”

“Bainbridge Island A to Z Sketch Book” is being published by NW Trillium Press with support and assistance from the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art.

“Bill is not just creative in his drawings,” said Nancy Rekow, co-founder of NW Trillium Press. “He’s a very lively writer.”

Hemp will visit Eagle Harbor Book Company to debut and discuss “Bainbridge Island A to Z Sketch Book” at 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 12. The event is free and open to the public.

The book is dedicated to Hemp’s wife, who passed away recently, and his children.

“It is dedicated in Maggie’s memory,” he said. “As a valentine to the beautiful island that we love and call home.”