Snowflakes Christmas Card

I have always loved designs where the negative space actually becomes a significant part of the design.  It becomes confusing which image should be the primary focus.  For example this fantastic figure-ground reversal graphic "Batman vs. Penguin" by Simon C. Page.   What do you see first, Batman or the Penguin?  In my opinion, this is flawlessly designed and executed, as both images fight for your attention. 

The year 2012 was certainly busier than recent years, so time was pretty limited.  I did my best to create a figure-ground reversal / positive-negative holiday design.  Some folks thought I was successful, while others thought “my heart just wasn’t in it this year”. 

I am pleased with this design, even though it was created rather quickly.  Because of the positive-negative nature of the design, it had to be very clean and simple.  I didn’t want the design to be elaborate and complicated.  Simplicity was key.

I have always loved the Winter months compared to the Summer months.  I prefer to be cool over being warm.  I love snow.  I always have.  To me, snow is very magical and definitely romantic.  It blankets everything, forcing us to view snow covered objects in a different way.  In a magical way, perhaps through the eyes of a child.  So, it was only a matter of time until snow became the main theme of one of my Christmas cards…or has it?  Do you see the snowflake first or do you see the Christmas trees?  Some people have seen doves first, and I wasn’t even going for that.  Talk about a happy accident. 

This design is 100% digital.  Even the roughs and sketches were created digitally.  This entire image was created using Adobe Illustrator.