Feeling Festive!
We asked everyone to celebrate the holiday season with a festive illustration. The result is a testimony of the exceptional creativity and true talent of so many people!
Our holiday illustration party was a success—full of candy canes, Christmas cookies, Santa maps, snowy scenes, and festive foods!
Check out the 120+ illustrations that were submitted—so much holiday goodness.
The 24 illustrations featured below are just a sample of those that caught our eye for various reasons—some tugged at our heart strings, some tapped on our funny bones, while others left us in awe.
We thank all the members of this community for playing along!
12 Festive Foods
➜ Click on each image to see a larger version and leave a comment for its creator.
by Blanka Calinic
“This is beyond beautiful—what an amazing idea and brilliant illustration. We are in awe. Blanka's illustration is really making us love winter—holiday cheers!”
by subhashininarayanan
“We adore this happy and colorful painting so much. It really is the sweetest celebration of holiday goodies. Pass the cookies and save us a slice of that cake!”
by Anna Ivanir
“Anna's work truly captures the heart. We love how she uses the minty green with the orange and cinnamon colors. This illustration keeps us feeling cozy!”
by Fiona
“We think these gift ideas are so wonderful and made all the better by Fiona's fabulous illustrations! How great would an entire book of these be? We'd love to see Fiona create different ideas for different occasions!”
by Claire Le Moing
“We love Claire's Linzer cookies! We spotted one on Instagram a while back and didn't realize where that little spot illustration was headed. Now we know! What a truly festive celebration Claire's created—beautiful and inspiring.”
by Sarah Deters
“This is so lovely! Such beautiful hand-drawn lettering. The candle glow and shiny ornaments are perfect. Plus, the festive words on the labels are a very sweet touch!”
by Kelsey Reilly
“Kelsey's brilliant technique is so wonderful for the holidays! It's like magic. What a fabulous feas—Kelsey definitely has no problem staying colorfully creative. There will be no leftovers from this spectacular spread!”
by Luciana Torre
“This is delightful. Every cookie, each snowflake, and all the berry branches are so full of charm and perfectly placed. We can tell that Luciana really put her whole heart into this illustration. The details!!!! So great.”
by Deborah Choi
“We wish we could be sitting here with these two cuties making popcorn balls! Such a fun tradition. We love the popcorn sprinkling into the bowl. Is that dog tempted to snag one of those delicious looking treats?! The cat is definitely keeping an eye on this whole situation. We love the narrative built into this one.”
by Sue Gibbons
“We love these sparkling little cookie gems! The texture Sue used on the gingerbread dough is perfect and the recipe itself is designed and organized so nicely. Thanks for joining our holiday festivities Sue!”
by Ashlesha Vyas
“This is the best looking holiday table we've ever seen!! Love those mince pies. Salli will have that first slice and Nate wants to tear into that braided loaf of bread. This illustration so full of merry and joy!!”
by Sarah Buddelmeyer
“This is fabulous!! It's so modern, yet also nostalgic. We love the vintage paper pages and Sarah's great layout and styling. We think someone here has some secret design and typography skills. Well done Sarah. Nate is literally making these cookies tomorrow!”
12 Holiday Scenes
➜ Click on each image to see a larger versionand leave a comment for its creator.
by Marcia Spoor
“We would recognize one of Marcia's illustrations from a mile away. We love the true off-register and the overlapping colors. Marcia used a great looking palette on this one and created such fun iconography!”
by Veronika Glazunova
“This is literally the cutest snowy scene ever. It reminds us of the tiny little slope in Cleveland where we learned to ski. Plus, it includes a holiday market, an ice rink, and trees—so sweet!”
by Carolyn Vibbert
“This scene is a true work of art! We love that super-sized fruitcake and all these active outdoorsy people. This is such a cute little town. It's a timeless illustration.”
by Lainey Yehl
“HA! We love this mash-up of Christmas horror! The basement of bad movies! We love Lainey's script hand lettering, which Lainey tells us was inspired by Harry Potter. We see it now! The holidays aren't always happy and that is AOK—thanks Lainey!”
by Chamisa at Zirkus Design
“This is a brilliant holiday pattern! Santa is on the go and traveling first class in this smart illustration. Love the cookie / candy cane / cocoa / chocolate compass.”
by Giulia Valentina Poggio
“Giulia's illustration is 100% adorable and those penguins are too cute! Great looking lettering and perfect fluffy-snow texture.”
by Steph Calvert
“Kris Kringle for K is a stroke of genius! The X-ray is hilarious and sure, why not have a holiday zebra!?”
by Shelley Hanmo Qian
“We love all the holiday hustle and bustle in this clever paper collage...yes, all cut paper...amazing, right?!”
by Sue Gibbons
“Sue created a truly magical scene here. This looks like so much fun and...wow...what a beautiful backdrop. Hampton Court looks incredible. Great job on the architectural rendering too.”
by Brooke Albrecht
“Christmas came early for us when we saw a new illustration from Brooke pop into THEY DRAW's queue! This is a beauty and the quote is very endearing. We love the addition of the sequins and Brooke's line work is always so hip.”
by Lisa Wetegrove
“Sweet little Airstream trailer! This is a lovely reminder that Christmas isn't always snowflakes and ice skates! This looks like a nice place to hunker down for the holidays...and beyond! Great looking hand-drawn lettering too.”
by Cata Adelgoss-Mejia
“Whoa—this is incredible! A major work of art. We love the top-down view and all these awesome icons and characters! OMG, watch out for that shark off the western coast of Australia! We love that Cata is already planning her next holiday vacay, since this year has been a bit tricky for travel.”
