Assignment 5 - Christmas Card (SECOND DRAFT)

After the critic session on Wednesday, i had to work on the following (click here for the original first draft and here for a sample of the e-card):

1. Making it look less nautical and wheel-like
2. Change the circles for something more angular and 'glassy'
3. Making it look 'colder' and 'snowier' to increase the Christmas factor
4. Blend the CFA logo and name into the card
5. Swop the dancer with the guitar so that she's the right-side up
6. Removing one musical elements as i already had three (they CFA people pointed out that i may want to remove the guitar as the treble and harp were quite Christmas-ish) and replacing it with something to do with film-art to show diversity as that was the last area i didn't cover in my card

When i worked on my new design, i knew i wanted to keep the concept of the five elements poking out like a star but i had to tone down on the 'wheel' factor. So i decided to remove the polygon frame, the circle spikes and the diamonds that were poking out of the frame (i think that was what made my design look like a ferris wheel). I also had to do some outlining to make it look 'glassy'. 

As usual, here is my sketch:

It is essentially 'glass' shards that form the shape of a star, on top of spirals that also resemble the shape of a star.

Given the simplicity and minimalism of my design, i decided to stick to simple colour schemes i.e. using two colours in one image. My six colour schemes are as follows:

The further changes i made were, as follows:

1. Made the card slightly longer in length so that it will look less packed and i have more space for the text.
2. Changed the guitar to a film roll, but in the shape of a ribbon so that it's more Christmas-y
3. Added gradiented dots to look like snow. Previously, i used solid dots which were not as convincing.
4. Added Christmas stars to add to the Christmas feel.
5. Changed the font of the text to make it look more like a hand-scribble - like those handwritten Christmas gift tags you find on presents!
6. Added a 'from' before the CFA name and logo to make it look more included and personalised
7. I also deviated from my previous 6 colour schemes and i am more pleased with the present set!

I'm very pleased with the final results! Let's hope the CFA people like it to!