With the festive season approaching fast, I thought now might be a good time for a look at my current projects (or a shameless plug). I've been busy with a few new designs and been trying out some brand new ideas.
I found some new puns to use for Christmas cards this year. I think I'm going to try and make the puns one of my yearly traditions. People seem to love a terrible pun, especially at Christmas. The process for designing the cards usually starts with finding the pun or slogan. Then I have a look at which animals will work with each one (and which ones I most want to draw). This year I have a real mix of animals and added to the designs from last year I think I have a good festive card range. I had fun choosing who to draw and I even sneakily 'borrowed' my sister's cat, Millie
With lots of seasonal fairs coming up, I thought it might be a nice idea to have some more festive options available. I wanted to make something small that people could give as a gift or keep for themselves. I decided some simple decorations with my drawings on would fit the bill. I've felt like I wanted to try drawing on wood so I got hold of some wooden hearts and a bunch of rustic wooden slices. They're made from some sort of sliced up evergreen and I like the irony that they might be last year's Christmas trees. I did think about painting, but in the end I settled for ink and pencil so I could get more detail in the small space. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out in the end.
The next test will be to see if other people like them too. I've got the first of this round of fairs and shows tomorrow so it won't be too long before I find out. The next couple of months are looking pretty busy. I've pretty much got at least one fair every weekend almost to Christmas. I'll get some sort of list posted in the next couple of days so anyone locally can come and say hi.
As an extra reminder; I'm also already working on a few portraits and other commissions and the list seems to be growing. If you're thinking about any commissions as gifts don't leave it to the last minute to get in touch! If it's too close to Christmas I won't be able to get it done in time and then we'll all be sad.
See you next week! Bandit out.