Seasons Greetings 2023!

As promised, I did indeed create a variation to a previous digital painting, Sweet Little Angels! Seeing how much fun I have with digital painting, I was quite intent on developing another Christmas theme. And it turned out so beautifully! Now I could use this as a digital greetings card to friends and family…

From Angel to Myself

Before the angel got duplicated to three at the time of that painting, I had cleverly saved a copy of the frame with only one angel from which I could recreate. The layer with the halo was then merely removed and the white dress was replaced with red via color fill. The eyes were also switched from serenely shut to happily smiling… And here I am!

Boyfriend in the Picture

Then I introduced my boyfriend in the picture using the same brushes I had used with the angels. Medium airbrush, then Wet Smudgy Pen for hair and Glitter Pen for the smiling eyes. A gold bow was then added with the Foil Sketch Pen. So far so cute! These add-on brushes are, by the way, from the Gold Rush and Lights sets available from Creative Market.

Adding Textures

And now let’s incorporate some textures! To match my boyfriend’s gold bow, I traced over the sleeves and the hem of my dress with the Foil Sketch Pen. Then merged the layers each of me and him so I can enlarge and relocate them more to the center in front of the tree. As for the tree, textures were added using Leafy Mix and Leafy Solid from Jason’s Texture Brushes (Creative Market) and having a play with the Blending Mode. Finally, I ditched the red sparkles in the background and instead spread some gold Sparkly Dust around. Et voilá!

So glad I had some time to squeeze in and have a go with this painting, as I was determined to make it happen. So much fun working from an existing painting to recreate something special! Most certainly, I might work from this and try developing something for the upcoming New Year celebrations too. Let’s see. Meanwhile, though, I shall once again wish you all Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings!