Ariel's Bar Mitzvah

Ariel recently became Bar Mitzvah in Sydney, Australia. His Mum asked me to design the invitation for his celebration. His hobbies, she told me, include karate, soccer, futsal (yes, I also had to look it up!), playing the saxophone, his Xbox, gaming on his laptop, tennis, swimming at the beach, trapeze, and ice skating. Oh, and his favourite colour is red. The list was long enough for me to get started!
After a few emails back and forth we decided to concentrate on karate, soccer and playing the saxophone as the main themes. Mum asked if there was any way to add a wave to the image, to represent the beach, and if there was space, a book was requested too, since Ariel likes to read.

I sketched Ariel in his white karate kit and red belt. He has a black and white soccer ball (erm, football!) under one arm, and his saxophone in the other. I planned to include a couple of music notes next to the saxophone, and below that a small pile of books. Behind him I originally sketched a tennis racket and ball, and a big wave, but Mister Handmade in Israel thought it was a dolphin, so I had to think again! Ariel's Mum suggested a yellow and red flag instead of the wave. Apparently they have them at all Australian beaches to show where you can swim. She felt that it signifies the beach and Ariel's love of swimming.

Once I had created my paper portrait of Ariel, I added it to a red background box, which matched his red belt nicely! The dark blue lettering announces Ariel's Bar Mitzvah in English and Hebrew.

I sweated a little bit when my artwork took its time getting to Australia but, after several emails and irate calls to the Post Office, it just turned up. Hooray! 

My customer was very pleased with the way it looked and seemed thrilled with the final printed invitation.