The art File

These cards are sold in Paper Chase, they are very modern and not really the style I want to go for, I dont feel they touch the feeling of Christmas and have moved too far into modern design. The blocked illustration and style for me just doesn't work, when I get a Christmas Card I want it to make me feel Christmassy and feel excited, these just dont do that for me at all. Aside from this I posted these cards, to show the simple but effective packaging, this appeals to me far more than the cards any there are only a few snow flakes scattered around the packaging. this is a really simple touch but just add something extra, something worth considering.

Galia Bernstein

These images are from Christmas cards designed but Galia Bernstein, I dont think they immediately scream christmas with the choice of colour or choice of imagery however they are really beautifully developed and very modern. I really like how the illustrations are large blocked drawings and she has used pattern to add detail to them. This style of work is something I would like to work on in the future, its very simplistic but holds its own style really well. I do think Galia could have introduced better print methods or choice of colour to make the card look more Christmassy and expensive, I think this would achieve a much more festive card and appeal to a larger audience.

Sarah aka Inky Mole

I really like this illustrator and randomly came across her work, I am not exactly sure of her last name but she goes by the name of 'inky mole.' I have never come across an illustrator who predominantly works with ink. This really takes me back to my art roots which I love. You get a rally crafted but neat looking piece of work. The line quality is completely different to using a pen. I have recently experimented with this and think its a perfect method for me to use on this brief.

I especially like the idea of using ink, as this brief is written so I experiment more with type, and using ink and nib gives me a completely different quality of work hand crafting type than I would with a pen. The below and above images are so simple, but still really beautiful to look at. I think the type working in line with shape and theme is what makes these illustrations so successful.

The hand driven type fits the theme/stye of the illustrations, although I haven't started experimenting I think this hand written swirly style writing will really suit the type of look I am aiming for with my work.

Traditional Christmas cards

These are some examples of traditional christmas cards, there is not much I can say about them apart from I really dont like any of them, and I want to produce something as far away as this as possible!

Linda Ketelhut

I mentioned earlier I love snow flakes, excluding the type at the bottom I think this is beautiful, I love how raw and handcrafted it is, the patterns are really affective and so simple with the colour choice. I think its really important that I a follow a simple but detailed approach with my designs.

Amy Blay

My brief proposes I either choose the religious side to design or the commercial side. I have chosen the religious side, I was brought up and went to a church school, so I think its a really nice opportunity for me to produce something I used to have a deeper connection to. I also as much as I love the commercial side to christmas want to use this opportunity to 'remember' and illustrate all the small religious parts of christmas I had forgotten. All of the below illustrations are by Amy Blay, the first is an example of what I dont want to produce for my christmas products. The characters and miss match of different images, as I have chosen the religious illustrations I wouldn't be using this anyway, but its too cheesy and not the warm christmassy feeling you want to get from a Christmas card.

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Although I wont be using characters, I do prefer this second illustration much more, the background adds so much to the whole image, the textured background looks liked cracked ice bringing life to the illustration. Although I dont like the whole cheesy character design on christmas cards I love snowflakes, and these alone could tempt me to just illustrate them. When I wrote this brief I wanted to use it as a chance to have fun an experiment with a new style and not necessarily use imagery, the illustrative type looks really original, I could use religious songs or words and illustrate them in a christmas way modernizing the traditional theme.

I love the next four illustrations and these are perfect examples of what I want to design for my set of christmas inspired products. Its a chance for me to play around with illustrative type and introduce illustration, rather than having this as my focal point. I have also restricted my colour pallet to 2 colours + stock, this is a completely different way to how I normally work but I think it will push my boundaries and help me illustrate something really amazing.

The blocked colour works so well and keeps in with the traditional christmas colours, I dont particularly like the character design, but its the over all affect which makes them work so well.