FINAL SENIOR PROJECT:CHRISTMAS ILLUSTRATIONS

Dani Ostrowski • VIST 405 • Fall 2014

PROCESS BOOK

Project OverviewThe 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 hand-

painted 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.

InspirationI 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 DesignSketching 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 StagesAfter 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 & ColorOnce 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 PaintingsAfter 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 PostersThe 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 & TagsI 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.