My HOME is the Erzgebirge (ore mountains) which is known for his christmas decoration made of wood. There are wooden figures, pyramids, candle archs, stars and 'Räucherkerzchen'. I grew up with all these christmas decorations and traditions. For me, being at home means being with my family and friends at Christmas and enjoying the Christmas season.

Illustration Laboratory

During this expertise week I tried different techniques, for example watercolors, pencils, white colored pencils on black paper, fineliner on different papers and ink. Normally I prefer to illustrate with fineliners, but then I discovered my love for ink. I've never worked with ink before, so I had a lot of fun discovering this method.

[I would like to show more sketches from my illustration lab (which are in Dessau), but I can't be in Dessau right now. I hope to be back in Dessau in two weeks.]

Concept & Process

I feel 'at home' when I drive from Dessau to my home village and see the many Christmas lights in the windows. I feel welcome and like the warmth and cozy atmosphere. I like the feeling of coming 'home' to my boyfriend, to our house and to all my lovely christmas figures, lights and decorations.

I want to create this warm and welcoming atmosphere in my illustration. So I came up with the idea of ​​showing a window with typical 'erzgebirgischer' decoration.

For my illustration, I wanted to use the blue-orange contrast to create two sides. Inside the house it is warm, cozy and everything is lit. Outside the house, it's cold, snowy and dark.

I came up with these two ideas. I chose the right one with the wooden figures. Angel and miner are typical symbols for the Erzgebirge. They are also very important to me because I was given an angel and my brother a miner when we were born.

Next, I tried out different image sections. In the end I decided on the square format with angel and miner in the picture. For a cozy atmosphere, I added the hand-made curtain (Klöppelspitze = pillow or bobbin lac).

Next, I started on the final illustration. I decided to illustrate the elements individually and then put the elements together in Photoshop to create a final illustration.

Final Illustration

After merging the elements, I digitally colorized them in Procreate.

I create a cold atmosphere outside with dark blue-grey colors and elements like snow and icicles.

In the house I wanted to achieve a cozy and warm atmosphere. I used elements typical of the Erzgebirge, such as the angel and the miner or the hand-made curtain. In the background you can see some yellow-orange colors, which are supposed to indicate the fireplace fire. I played with the lights and the candles to create a welcoming atmosphere.

Final Products

For the second task, I worked with the different elements of my illustration to create a new product.

Finally, I designed some posters for the Christmas market in my home village and mugs for hot chocolate or hot mulled wine.