The end of the year is near and with it, the festive season and the time to reflect about the past 12 month.

For me it was a busy year with some unexpected but positive changes - in terms of business I got to do a lot more personal works and with that much mure success than ever expected, which will lead to certain decisions in 2015, but more about that matter hopefully soon.

Seasonal greetings are a good opportunity for a number of artists such as illustrators to get noticed. Snce it is always a given topic - the challenge is at hand. Below is my seasonal greeting card for this year x-mas.


The card is my contribution for Dark Realm Collective´s release - I picked the topic Night of the Slay Belles. Model is Aoi Usami, photography by rq-star.com.

Contributing to a group is a rather nice way of getting things done. On my own I would only manage to get a christmas card done (if at all) and that´s it. But opposed to seasonal greetings, regular mailings are widely welcome too, especially in art directors mail inboxes. (Check out Giuseppe Castellano useful art tip here)

On the other hand putting your own spin on a certain topic such as christmas season for example, is a good way to tell your audience what you are capable of. I always see it as a chance to twist and bend the subject as much as possible whereas commissions or keeping up with personal series can be restrictive at times.



The card above was a challenge in terms of keeping the festive aspect in, being dark, fit into my fantasio-girls series and include geek culture such as the evil minion lucky charm and the christmas ball in the shape of the death star.;)



(Rant mode on)
Opposed to this rather common way of making yourself visible to important people stands that habit of keeping up with birthday wishes. Dale Carnegie wrote in his book from 1937 about how remembering a birthday or the favorite color of someone or even spelling their name correctly can make a lasting impression. However, what I observe with social media today, such as facebook making it easier than ever to remember a birthday or Amazon´s wishlist to find out what someone needs, to develop into a certain problem. The reason is that there is actually no way to stand out anymore.
When congratulating someone on their wall about their birthday, you are either one of 100 people who congratulate or one of certainly 200 who do not.

Are you a better person if you do?

I don´t think so. The issue at hand is that if you see yourself forced to do so it will end in being a commitment. A commitment that requires you to keep up with every birthday. If you have a lot friends that means around two birthday wishes every other day.

I believe no one ever keeps up with all their friends birthdays on facebook because it may well turn into a part time position. But I may be mistaken.

Either way I believe it is a trap.
(Rant Mode Off)

I wish all my friends and visitor to this site a wonderful festive season and all the best for 2015!
Merry X-Mas!