2021 Christmas illustration for Washington Post

•

2021 Christmas illustration for the Washington Post
Search-and-Find Game for Style section cover

Gus Morais was commissioned to illustrate the 2021 Christmas Washington Post's Style section cover for the 5th consecutive year. Keeping the tradition of previous years, I've worked with art director Eddie Alvarez to create a cool search-and-find illustration bringing a funny approach to the supply crisis issues that people were dealing during 2021 last months.

Everyone was afraid of not getting their gifts in time for Christmas, so, we brought an special staff to help with the deliveries: can you spot all the 100 Santa's elves?

Some curious facts about this project

Since this cover was also a celebration of the 5 years of the Christmas Search-and-Find tradition, we decided to hide some special characters from the previous published illustrations. Can you spot these 4 guys?

Also, for the first time, I decided to go with a more reduced color palette for the Christmas illustration. The blue and orange colors appear in all the elves and dock workers clothes, making it more challenging to find the elves. Different tones of blue and orange are also used for the sea, ships, gift boxes and packages. Finally, the subtle blue tone of the snow and the light yellow illumination also bring a strong mood and identity to the drawing.

The full-size detailed illustration is also available as an interactive seek-and-find game at Washington Post's website. You can play the interactive version here :D