I wanted to improve and work on my illustrative skills using paint, so I decided that this is the route I would go down for these cards. I also felt that they would give the cards a really nice handmade, warming Christmas feel. I didn't want to stick to the classic colour scheme of red and green, however I did want to incorporate natural shades of green, and decided to replace the standard red with orange.
I used primary images as a reference tool for my illustrations, which gave me a first hand image to work from, allowing for detail and connection to the audience and theme.
Stages of pattern creation - main card
To begin, I started to draw up and paint a whole collection of components that could be used to build up a Christmas pattern. This was made up of leaves, holly, ivy and berries. Below you can see how the pattern was slowly built up by rotating and reflecting shapes to surround the bauble.
As the outline of the bauble is a different shape at the top, it became quite difficult to think how to fill the space. I didn't want to force pattern into the space, however it would look odd if it was simply left blank. I considered filling it with type, yet I feel that if any type is to be included it will be within the outline.
I painted up some more shapes that would fit snuggly within this space. Despite the space being filled, however, I felt that it looked overly busy and it didn't compliment the rest of the pattern. The more I looked at the overall illustration, the more it annoyed me, and the more I felt that it should be changed some how. It looked too busy, and would only became more full once illustration was added to the empty space. I therefore wanted to re-think my design in terms of layout and format.
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