This was my winter holiday card for 2010. It features Aena from my comic series, Green Corner. I sent printed copies of this with handwritten messages to clients, family, and friends. Originally I had hoped to print the final myself using letterpress, but I did not have the time nor budget to make that possible.
Every year I create a new illustration for my winter holiday cards. I think it’s a nice touch to send something like this to my clients, to remind them that I appreciate their business and give them something unique that I created, rather than an off the shelf card. It also gives me a way to remind clients that I am not only a graphic designer, but an illustrator as well.
Canadian readers may notice that the cup she is holding looks like a Tim Horton’s cup. That’s because, for my photo reference, I posed with a Tim Horton’s cup. I happened to have an unused one lying around to use as a prop and I thought it worked well for my idea to have Aena holding a cup of hot chocolate to warm her up on a cold winter’s day. My reference was photographed with my webcam, so it’s not the greatest quality, but it worked well enough for pose reference and for sharing online with family and friends.
Below are the progress images, in reverse chronological order. I hope you like seeing how it all came together!
Almost complete, but too much green.
Flat colours, with text and background elements started.
The initial vector lineart.