Is it That Time of the Year Again?

Even though we are still months away from the official start of the holiday season, I actually took it upon myself to be proactive this year. And NO, I'm not talking about pre-shopping and scoping out all the big deals and sales, or figuring out what presents to get family and friends, oh no, but more importantly, I just finished my last promo piece of the year early!

And that is a far cry from my norm, which is to procrastinate til the eleventh hour and then in a state of panic, try to whip up something that looks halfway decent. Anyway enough talk, here's the art.

Here's my initial sketch. Not much was changed from the final except for the addition of the ornament on the reindeer's nose. I thought it was a nice touch. Rudolph would be so proud.

This is the inspiration behind my illustration. Really early on, I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to approach my color palette. I came across this illustration by Scott Gustafson (one of my favorite illustrators) and was enamored by the contrast in the warm light against the cooler moonlight. He was able to create a night scene with such warmth and richness to it, I really wanted to recreate some of that same feel in my own illustration.