Christmas has become such a big part of my creative business. I seem to be making festive images throughout the year now, not just at Christmas time. Although I could claim that’s all down to the different commercial projects I’m invited to work on (they need preparing well ahead of the season itself)… the truth is… I just love Christmas. And I love discovering the traditions that we all share. This year I wanted to make something extra for the studio Christmas card and perhaps something that could be included as a little bonus with my online orders. So I spent a few evenings working on this festive ‘newspaper’.
I drew all the illustrated elements in Adobe Fresco on my iPad. I was keen to play with hatching and shading with the digital pencils; attempting an older, heritage feel. The front features an antique globe, a Merry Christmas scroll and traditional tree decorations. For the reverse I took one of my facade drawings, heavily decorated with lights, gift boxes and a giant ribbon. In and around the various illustrations I crammed in some festive facts! Well… online researched snippets. So there’s no guarantee of the accuracy of these.
There are so many versions of festive heritage around the world, each has its unique local flavour. As a family we have really enjoyed building up our own home traditions around the Christmas holiday. The kids are now old enough to properly select and dress the tree (we don’t get to select the ornaments these days). They’re often the ones who first remember to feed the fruit cake and make the mince pies! I wonder if any of our choices will make it into next year’s festive newspaper.
What’s your Christmas pick? Do you have any traditions you think are a little different? I’d love to hear about your festive favourites, please feel free to get in touch: https://linktr.ee/illustrationbyjonathan
