So I fell behind posting my advent illustrations on the blog. I think I'm going to research posting here directly from Instagram for future illustration series to keep things simple. Below are all the remaining illustrations for this advent challenge.
When I started out on this challenge I imagined that I would have 24 illustrations that would all go together into one collection. It didn't quite turn out that way. I have the possibility of a few collections from these pieces - many need refinement and tuning. A few I will just discard or maybe completely redo. I've made a few notes about each illustration below mostly for my own reference.
I discovered that the Christmas season is a really busy season and it's a huge struggle to complete so many illustrations on such a quick timeline even when I started early. But I'm going to take what I learned and grow next year!
I like like the color combination and the pattern combination in this stocking. I think I should explore this as a stand alone pattern for a Christmas collection.
Pretty Stocking by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
I really enjoyed working on this gingerbread boy. I'm currently revisiting the baking pattern in the background. If you want to see this background as a fully developed pattern check it out on They Draw and Cook!
Gingerbread Boy by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This swan is so dainty and so soft and the colors very calming. This illustration is where I began to deviate from the style that tried to carry through this challenge. But it's okay - I discovered something new for me. I think a nice nursery collection could be explored around this piece.
Swan Princess by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
I wanted to do so much more with these mittens but the number of pieces I was working with kept crashing my computer! I will go back to it in the near future as well. This illustration is where I realized that to do a challenge like this I had to work more quickly and simplify my ideas. That doesn't mean I can't explore more later.
Folk Mittens by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This snowflake pattern is pretty straight forward. But for future reference I learned from a friend that snowflakes only have six points.
Snowflakes by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
I got a lot of great feedback from this pair of clogs. I like the color combo here.
Klompen by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This little rocking horse was done on my new iPad Pro completely in Adobe Draw. I did it while traveling. I had my logo saved into a Creative Cloud library and was able to create and post the entire piece while I was mobile.
Painted Rocking Horse by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This church was also done remotely. This was the first illustration in which I realized that a square format did not suit all of my illustrations. There are a couple of illustrations like this which I felt were too far removed from the viewer because of the square composition. I'll note to plan accordingly next time around. Instagram does allow rectangular images to be posted now so that's an option if I desire.
Small Country Church by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This Santa was also to tall for the frame. I got lovely feedback about the patterns on his outfit, though.
Santa Claus by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This is my least favorite illustration of the entire challenge. After my 100 Patterns challenge maybe I'll do a hand lettering challenge.
Holly and Ivy Wreath by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
I really like the composition of this illustration as well as the color palette.
Joyful Noise by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This illustration was also drawn on the iPad Pro but in ProCreate this time. I really like these stockings! I had fun being able to achieve subtle shading in this app. Again you can see that my hand lettering weakened the piece.
Ice Skates by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
For this illustration I continued my experiments on the iPad pro. This illustration was done in Adobe Sketch. It's very similar to last years Christmas illustrations which I painted in Photoshop using Kyle's brushes.
Oh Little Town of Bethlehem by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
I liked all of the pieces of this composition but had a hard time fitting them together into the square format. It turned out okay in the end. This was also done on the iPad Pro.
Merry & Bright by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This candy cane pattern was done using scanned and image traced artwork. Instead of keeping the brown linework like in the first illustrations I chose to use colored linework. It created a very different feel. I think this is a pretty strong pattern for a Christmas collection I'm just not sure what to pair it with. I think it could work well with the snowman. I have a lot of playing around to do, though.
Candy Cane Pattern by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
This pattern was by far the most well received. I do like it a lot even though there are lots of small adjustments and finishing touches to be done before it is market ready. One things I really need to do is to simply the number of colors that I used which will be quite a challenge.
Fruity Christmas by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
The last illustration in this challenge was Christmas village. This little pattern was a lot of fun but it's not very Christmasy as is. I have a lot of finessing and many details to add. I worked really hard to get a repeat that worked. I want to do four versions of this pattern - one for each season.
Small Town Charm by Amber Lynn Benton for #ItsAdvent2016
