Story telling is the basis and motivation behind any creative work. Whether it's illustration or architecture, it all comes down to conveying a story to the audience and capturing their interest  There's millions of ways to do a Christmas card, but I think the essence of what an effective one should do is simply bring out the inner child of the viewer.

 

The focus of this holiday card, originally designed for my   work at Randall-Baylon Architects, Inc. was to develop a scene taking place in a fun and fictional Christmas village. The concept came from spending way too much time inside of Starbucks. It seems that everybody and their mom just loves a hot latte during a cold winter day. What about Elves? What would they like? I’ve never met one so I can’t assume they have the same tastes as humans but if they lived in a snow village, perhaps the snow itself would be something of a treat. So a snow brewery all of a sudden became the setting of this winter wonderland complete with Santa’s workshop, skating worker elves, and a really large Nutcracker. Images to the right were the initial concept sketches to help visualize and create the village of Snow Lake. The following pages document the design proccess in developing the final look of Lake Snow.

Nutcrackers have long protected Lake Snow from the eminent dangers lurking beyond its borders. To the South of its waters lies Fortrylle, a  town at the opposite end of the lake which is populated by angry trolls. After a devastating troll attack on Santa’s workshop fifteen decades ago which left the village crippled, a Nutcracker army known as Nuts & Bolts was developed to protect the town. Since the inception of Nuts & Bolts, many outsiders have also tried to break into Santa’s workshop to steal trade secrets but to this day, none have made it past the lake.

The only documented case of humans setting foot intao the mystical lands of Lake Snow occurred on the afternoon of March 31st, 1971. While en route to Seattle, WA from Europe, a private flight carrying passengers Jerry Baldwin, Zev Siegl, and Gordon Bowker, crash landed into the woods of Evergreen Forest. The humans were able to see the invisible town after drinking from the waters of Lake Snow. After befriending the elves and explaining to them their concept of Starbucks, Santa stepped in to ask if there was anything that could be done with the local snow. In collaboration, Snowbucks was created to brew the frozen waters of the lake into drinks that would give elves a surge in power. Since then, it has become a major source of revenue for the town with the recent year round skating arena addition. 

The elf residents of Lake Snow live up to the age of 4,000 due to the elvish minerals found in the waters of the local lake. The elves work year round at the Workshop developing toys for children all over the world for the special day of Christmas. A new division of the elf workforce was created in 2003 to develop Nutcracker guardians to protect the town from evil trolls. Elf uniforms are made from fabrics specially developed from the tree branches of Evergreen forest
to give a source of power.