Guernsey The Christmas Story 2023

Description

This year’s Christmas stamps depict scenes from the centuries old story of Jesus’ birth, also known as the Nativity or The Christmas Story, which is described in the biblical gospels of Matthew and Luke.

Our Guernsey set has been created by talented artist and book illustrator, Alexandra Ball, who has worked as an artist for over 13 years, having completed a degree in illustration some years earlier. We spoke to Alex to find out how she created the designs for this year’s Christmas stamps.

“When Guernsey Post asked me to create some designs for their Christmas stamps, It was a really interesting challenge, as I’d never created anything that would be printed at such a small size. Throughout the whole process I kept in mind the fact that composition and colour was key, making sure that everything stood out enough to make it identifiable when the illustration was finally shrunk down.

“I concentrated on making the characters’ body language tell the story of how they were feeling, rather than any facial expression which may not be as clear when reproduced. I also wanted to make sure that all the shapes within the pictures flowed well with one another to make each composition visually pleasing as a whole.

“I wanted to come up with a colour palette that would unify the group and complement each other. I researched Middle Eastern colours and chose some that I thought worked well together. I then worked on the actual compositions and line work for each stamp.

Specification