Birth announcement card for Lily

Two close friends asked me to design a Birth Announcement Card for their baby girl, Lily.
I was honored that they asked me and i wanted to create something special.

We agreed on a concept pretty fast but i wasn't quite sure what direction to take in the visual style of the illustrations. I made a lot of sketches but couldn't really decide. The first ones were too realistic for my taste and i thought that would make the card too serious. I also didn't want it to be too cartoony though.

Luckily a commercial job i was working on gave me an idea of how to give the illustration a bit of extra character. The idea is that the elements are cut out of paper. This way i could give it the impression of a paper diorama. I also experimented with a couple of paper textures but ended up using them only barely visible. I didn't want the textures to draw too much attention. The style is simple and friendly.

This is the front of the card, followed by the inside of the card (with the name of the girl) and some of the early sketches/ design stages:

 

 

Lily was born on december 19th 2011. She's healthy and beautifull.