Christmas Card Designs

Yep, despite this incredibly warm British Summer, I have been designing Christmas cards!

For my second interview at a card company I have applied to, I was set a brief to design two cards aimed at the 65+ market: one of a robin on a postbox and one Nativity or Bethlehem scene (not overly religious). 

I've never really designed anything for people aged 65+ before, so this was a new and welcome challenge for me and I really enjoyed trying something a bit different.

I decided to create the imagery using traditional media, and then Photoshop to arrange the composition and add backgrounds/ any final tweaks. 

Here are my outcomes:

Robin Card

Watercolour robins

Final card design

Bethlehem Card

I used acrylic to paint the buildings, adding pattern and texture with the
ends of brushes and palette knives :)

This design is a bit more 'Photoshopped' as I wanted to add a starry background and sand texture for the hills

Overall I'm quite pleased with what I produced in a short space of time, but these are by no means my best pieces of work!

In a commercial environment cards are designed very quickly, so this was good practise for me.

I'm not sure if I got the market quite right with my Bethlehem design, looking a bit less traditional than the robins, but I gave it a go at least!

I'd love to get a job designing cards as there's a lot of experimentation involved, the opportunity to learn new skills, and I love using traditional media. I'm gradually trying to get away from 'purely' digital illustration/ digital collage. Although this defines my current style, it's always good to try new things and get a bit messy at times!