Monday, December 15, 2014

The Making of Christmas Cards 2014


Plenty of people have sent me e-mails letting me know that they received their copy of my Christmas card so I guess I can sure it with the rest of the world now!

Two years worth of experience have taught me to start earlier each year so it was a bit hard to come up with something Christmas-y when I had only just caught the Halloween bug. So sadly I wasn't able to continue my unintended them from previous years of a seasonal messenger coming to your home, be it by angels or an animal.

Instead I opted for a self portrait, to make it more personal.


This Christmas, surround yourself with colorful characters!

My original plan involved a picture of myself at my desk interacting with a variety of fantasy characters. It was fun to construct this set up, but it ended up being too ambitious to be fully completed in just a month.

Its an idea I'd seen in other places and wanted to give my own take on it as a way of showing people the more fantastical elements that I like to draw.

Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and friends

Walt Kelly

Jack Kirby

To try and give it a fun twist, I added the finished card at my desk to create this weird recursion illusion. Yet another case of time limitations and necessity being the mother of invention!


Now I want to hear from you! What do you think of this year's Christmas card and how do you think I can improve for next year?

Merry Christmas!

9 comments:

  1. Looks great as always Erik. I love the self portrait, it reminds me of one of my favorite Rockwell paintings.

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    1. Thanks Chris! I assume you mean Rockwell's triple self portrait?
      http://uploads8.wikiart.org/images/norman-rockwell/self-portrait.jpg

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  2. This is a great card Erik! I think color would always be a nice addition for future cards, since Christmas is a jolly holiday. I also like your choice in typeface, it's a refreshing pick.

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    1. Thanks Lydia. I've held back on color because of the expense. Maybe now that I've been at it awhile I can afford to step it up next year.

      The font is called "Thingamajig". I use it all the time because its both bold and humorous. It fits my style pretty well I think and I'm glad you agree!

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  3. Merry Christmas Erik! And your card looks great this year and makes me curious what you will have in store for the 2015 Holiday. : )

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    1. Thanks John. Believe me, I'm already panicking about what to do for next year. Do you know what it's like to try and top yourself each and every year?! haha.

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    2. What ever you do it will be great!

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