I took several evenings to finish up some personal work as a gift for my friend Kaitlyn, who brews as a hobby (what a fun hobby, right?). She was recently blessed with a baby boy after years of being told she'd never be a mother. To celebrate, we decided that she'd use these wine labels on this year's batch, which she's saving for Breydin once he turns 21! Kaitlyn loves dragons (and by loves I means 'is obsessed with.'), so when I started working on this design I spent a lot of time browsing pictures of her nursery decor and stuffed animals.
Working on this was a ton of fun. I got to start out with some doodles and sketches of cute dragons in various positions...mid flight, crash landing, naptime, etc! I start most of my work as a doodle. There's something about getting a physical pen on physical scratch paper, and using my hands to discover and make mistakes and changes. After I sketched out a ton of dragons, I picked my favorite elements and played with some vector art. Getting rid of all the cute sketches wasn't an option though, so I integrated them into the background subtly. It added some depth and texture to the entire project.
This is the kind of project I can't wait to do again! Sadly with this one I won't get to "taste the fruits of my labor"...well maybe in 21 years!
