mac Birmingham Christmas card

I have designed a Christmas card celebrating mac Birmigham - formerly Midlands Art Centre - where I have taught for the last 18 months.

I focused on the distinctive building facade first then added a few characters to bring it to life.

Spending time creating the transparent nature of the bauble adds depth and contains the festive atmosphere within the scene,

Adding small touches like the shadow under the bow and the glint on the bauble add gravity and the realistic effects of light onto the illustration.

I have been focusing a lot on atmosphere, illumination, long shadows, contrast to create a festive warmth. The next challenge is giving my work a more contemporary aesthetic whilst retaining the strong atmosphere. Reducing some detail and line work would remove some of the heavy, traditional appearance to the illustration.