Greetings from - Mount Rushmore

I decided to create Mount Rushmore as it was one of my favourites from the designs I had made. I had a clear colour palette in mind and had done a lot of research into the place. I found that Mount Rushmore was known for hunting and fishing and that it was a generally a nice place to visit (hence why someone might take a book to read). 

I started off with very basic shapes to show the shadows and contours in the rock face. I tried to keep it as similar in style to the New Yorker as I could. 

The colour palette (top right) was a really useful tool in the creation of this postcard as it really helped me in getting the different shades of purple. 

After I had created the basic faces I decided to add an accent colour as we had been talking about them the day before and their presence in the disney films (such as peter pan) I thought I would try it out. 

I chose a sunny yellow to contrast with the purple as they are opposites on the colour wheel. It worked out really nicely. 

The only problem I had was with Abraham Lincoln, the dark shadowing of his eyes combined with the yellow lips made him look drag queen-esque. To fix this I changed the tones of purple on his face and also changed his hair around a little. 

Pleased with the result, I carried on to thinking about the background. I knew I wanted it very green at the bottom. 

I had fun making the trees and the surroundings, but my biggest struggle with this piece was the background. 

The colours all suited the postcard so well it was hard to choose a gradient that I liked best. 

I did try with a block background colour but decided to keep the rectangle gradients as something to link all 4 postcards together. 

The final decision was between the dark orange and the dark pink, I decided on the orange in the end as it suited the mood of Rushmore more.

Once I had finished with the postcard I left it to create the others, but once I knew I had time, I returned to add in the props to the characters. 

I chose a fishing rod for Teddy to hold as he was well known to enjoy hunting and fishing as many of the residents these days still do and I chose a book for Jefferson to read and kept it in with the popular culture as Rushmore is a very current place despite its older traditions. 

I was pleased with the final outcome and think If I had more time I would probably have just added some extra toning to the rock holding the faces.