Christmas Cards

I know what you’re thinking. It’s too soon.

But I love drawing and creating, and my wife loves colouring in. I had this thought that we could collaborate and create some cards that are much more us. Before she can colour I have to draw, and in the interests of not rushing in November, I decided to get some designs done now.

These are ideas that we generated together, inspired by our Christmas decorations and hobbies. I’ve tried to create compositions that can be coloured easily in felt tip pen, and that are just a bit fun!

Learning

I originally aimed for 4-6 designs. I have 3 completed. I learned that there are good reasons for my illustrator friend only producing a single card design per year!

There’s a lot that goes into an entire composition. I wanted to create an engaging image, but in a few of my first attempts had just too much blank space left on the page. Composition is something I’m working on, and has been a really interesting part of this project.

Drawing for colouring has also been slightly different to my normal ink drawings. I’ve been a little less sure of where and how to add shadow. Ultimately I’ve chosen to add some, but maybe not work some other areas as much as I might normally. The flip side is that I’ve worried slightly less about the focal point of the image being overwhelmed by the background, as hopefully the colour will pull things out that are less distinct in black and white!

Character development is not really something I’ve done a lot of. I’d never really wondered what an elf would look like in golf shoes, or how a fairy gets their clothes on over those wings! I feel like I still have a long way to go with this, but I’ve come a long way (no, I’m not showing my sketchbook!).