FINAL SENIOR PROJECT: CHRISTMAS ILLUSTRATIONS
PROCESS BOOK
Dani Ostrowski • VIST 405 • Fall 2014
Project Overview The objective of this project was to create a series of Christmas-themed posters created using hand illustration and hand typography skills. I chose three well-known phrases from Christmas songs to illustrate: “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas,” “Baby It’s Cold Outside,” and “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.” The pieces were sketched out, scanned into the computer and edited, then copied and handpainted onto 16”x20” illustration boards. The final illustrations were scanned, edited further in Adobe Photoshop, and printed. Smaller, 5”x7” prints were turned into gift cards. Even smaller prints of the pictorial portion of the posters were made into gift tags. Posters were printed in 11”x17” format.
I am inspired by this piece because of its hand-painted appearance and feel. I attempted to create a similar style and feel in my own pieces.
My final color scheme was heavily influenced by this cover art for New Yorker Magazine. I created a limited color palette using similar colors to the dominant colors used in this imagery.
Inspiration I did quite a bit of research for this project. I studied other typographers and illustrators processes to decide what steps I needed to take in order to be efficient and create the most professional product at the completion of the project. After searching through other illustrations and hand typography images, I decided I wanted to incorporate hand-crafted and hand-painted elements. This ultimately led me to do most of the work by hand with some computer editing as an aid, instead of utilizing the computer for the majority of the process. These are some examples of other pieces that inspired me and helped me make certain design decisions throughout my process.
I like how this layout has a solid block in the background to ground all the elements and how occasionally the border is broken.
An example of a quick thumbnail working with different layout ideas with type and drawing.
Larger sketch from a thumbnail
Sketches & Early Design Sketching was the first phase to completing the project. I started by creating dozens of tiny thumbnails, working with the words and looking at different ways they work together. I also worked with different illustrations and how they might fit in with the typography. From each set, I chose a few favorite thumbnails and created a little bit larger sketches before choosing a layout to continue with. A final sketch was created roughly to size. This final sketch was then scanned to be manipulated using Adobe software. Illustrations were refined further and placed in the computer only to gauge spacing for the typography. A final sketch was created and once the typography was set on the final layout, a new render of the drawing was completed on that final.
This was a final-stage sketch. From here, this sketch was scanned into Adobe Illustrator, and a rough vector version was created.
LET IT SNOW
it let it snow
Refining Stages After creating the final sketches, I scanned in the images and brought them into Adobe Illustrator. I created rough vectorized versions of the designs I had on paper. The benefit of this stage was that it gave be the ability to test out different color schemes, as well as create a very detailed and refined layout for the typography. Using the computer allowed me to scale things quickly and lock down a final design to be traced and painted.
I began working with different color concepts for the posters, working in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I chose a limited palette that fit the Christmas theme without being the traditional bright red and green.
Practice Paintings & Color Once the layout was perfected and, I printed the designs to scale and traced them onto regular drawing paper. I chose to create practice paintings of each of the posters in order to find out which areas might cause trouble; after working with the acrylic paint, I made a few minor design changes to accomodate the medium before painting the final. During the practice phase, I also tested out several paint colors. I had earlier decided I wanted to work with neutrals plus a deep red and a teal. During this phase of the project I made final decisions on the specific colors to be used.
Final Paintings After the practice rounds were over, it was time for the final. I painted the final pieces on 16�x20� textured illustration boards. After these were completed, I scanned them and worked in Adobe Photoshop to clean up a few areas. I maintained a balance between the subtle imperfections from the hand painting and the perfection of computer tools. The final digital images are used in the other products.
Printable Posters The digital version is available for print in poster format at sizes 11�x17� and smaller. These posters feature scanned images of the original illustrations with some Adobe Photoshop editing and extra texture to imitate the originals was applied.
Cards & Tags I made 5�x7� prints and created Christmas greeting cards using a gate-fold, brown craft paper card and matching envelope. I also created small prints of the illustrations without the typography and created To/From gift tags, framing the prints in matching brown craft paper, and using a red and white twine as the attachment device for the tags. I made several decisions about the packaging of the card sets. Each envelope is tied carefully with twine and each set of 5 cards and 5 envelopes is tied together with a piece of burlap, craft paper, and a matching tag.