I recently started designing for the holidays. For those of us that work in this industry, it’s a year-round endeavor. I have a hard time designing though when it’s spring and I see the cherry trees blooming, or if I’m feeling the 90° heat of summer. I’m just not in the mood. But now that we’re approaching the fall season, I’m getting into the holiday mood.
Designing gingerbread scenes has become my thing. This will be my third year, and I hope to come up with two or three concepts. The first is done – a Christmas train scene with gingerbread conductor. Then the other two will be more ambitious. I don’t want to say what they are right now, in case they don’t come to fruition. Sometimes an illustration comes together easily, and sometimes I have a creative block and can’t produce anything.
I thought I’d share some of my in-the-making process for this scene. I made the mistake of using the wrong color profile, and when I printed a draft it looked really dark. I don’t want to get too techy about what a color profile is, but they are used for displaying color. There are different color profiles to display on a screen. Then there are some for printing purposes, and they help the printer know to print the colors.
Anyhow, I used the wrong one. I corrected it by switching color profiles, then I had to modify the red and green to make it more vibrant. The gingerbread conductor also printed too dark, so I lightened him up. Then I noticed the text was too low, so I moved the entire scene up to make more room. Finally, I changed some details. My eye was distracted by the wheels on the cart, so I moved it to the back. I added more presents.
I could have done more with this illustration. But sometimes if you overdo it, the design starts to lose its charm. I was thinking to come up with a punny greeting that’s train-related, but I couldn’t think of anything. But the good thing is the text can be personalized with whatever a customer wants!
Here is the final draft:
Hopefully train lovers will enjoy this card!
