If someone can tell me how to have more time in a day I am all ears. I’m not talking about wanting to cram more activities into a day, I’m literally talking about having more time. I’ve been thinking about this—if I could add about six more hours to every day I would have just enough time to do everything I want. That’s all. Just an extra six hours. If you know how, let me know.

Speaking of non-existent segues, it’s time to unveil my new Christmas card. I’m excited! It’s been a couple of years since my last Christmas card and I’ve had requests for something new. So, I dug deep into my cavernous well of ideas and sketches. Here’s what came out:

Cover of my 2016 Christmas card

And open the card to reveal the horrors that await smiling, candy cane loving children. (click image to enlarge)

What better way to say “bless you on this sacred holiday” than the image of bones in the snow and the threat of bodily harm from a mutant tree? I wrote the poem and sketched this idea a while back but it didn’t feel resolved.

Left to right: Initial sketch of the card front; Original sketch of the axe-wielding tree monster; Revised tree monster with enormous hands instead of the axe. Without the weapon, I wanted his facial expression to be more animated. The ruled lines are drawn to help me figure out the layout, and to transfer elements to the final artwork.

The tree holding the axe didn’t feel quite right. The image is just a little too close to the axe-wielding boy in my headless snowmen card, so I kept sketching until this monster with huge grappling hands emerged.

Because I was strapped for time (seriously, six extra hours every day would be awesome…even just five!) I had to change up my usual process and find ways to speed it up. First, I drew it at 100% scale. Like most artists, I usually draw at a larger scale, but when time’s valuable, a smaller drawing translates to less time.

Second, I really felt that colour was important for this card (rather than my signature black and white). I like watercolour, but it can be finicky and time-consuming. I recently bought a drawing tablet for the purpose of speeding up my process, but for some reason it wasn’t giving me the results I wanted. So, after a few frustrating minutes of failed attempts, I ditched the tablet for my trusty Apple cordless mouse. It did exactly what I wanted and the result is satisfying. I like how the Photoshop watercolour brush can be adjusted to work like the real thing. The happy accidents feel and look remarkably natural. And if a brush stroke isn’t working, it’s such a fantastic feeling to command+z my way out of it!

The card is available for order on my online shop, and I’ll start shipping them out next week. If you want yours in time for Christmas, please place your order now at this link. If you’d rather buy directly from me, just send me an email at dhsoelberg(at)gmail.com.

Here is the completed pen drawing before applying colour on the computer. Notice the misspelling of “dear”. Photoshop can do wonders! (click image to enlarge)

Here is the final product, with the silhouettes completing the 3-act play, and punctuating the punchline. (click image to enlarge)

If you want to buy from me personally, you can tomorrow! As mentioned in a previous post, I’ll be selling my wares at Frost Bite in Toronto on Sunday, December 11 at 11am to 8pm. It’s at Pia Bouman School for Ballet, 6 Noble Street, Toronto.

Click here to go to the event’s official facebook page. You can also go to the website for more information: http://theBazaarofTheBizarre.org/