Project Synopsis
The objective of this project was to create a collection of postage stamps that celebrates and promotes Canada. I chose to focus on a series celebrating Canada's freshwater lakes as many visitors abroad often compliment the cleanliness of our water.
This collection features five lakes from all across the country, showcasing both the beauty of the water and the natural landscape.
Mockup from freepik
Process Work
1. Research
I started this project by examining existing postage stamps featuring lakes and/or landscapes. After compiling a moodboard of Canadian and international postage stamps, two things stood out immediately. Postage stamps featuring landscapes tend to use photographic imagery and are depicted during the day. Images that are shot during dawn and dusk tend to stand out from the crowd.
Using this information, I decided to compile a second mood board to help me determine the visual style I'd use for the final illustrations. Finally, I looked at famous lakes from all over the country and narrowed in on five lakes based on existing reference material and popularity with tourists.
Second moodboard
2. The Visual Style
I experimented with several different approaches to the illustration style. I found my moodboard and current illustration trends leaned towards minimalistic, vector imagery, but this style hindered the collection and made it feel generic and flat as a whole. The minimalistic approach also failed to capture the depth and beauty of the landscapes during sunrise and sunset.
I ultimately abandoned the minimalistic approach and created the final visuals using Photoshop and digital painting techniques. A horizontal orientation was chosen for the stamps to help support the theme of landscape art.
