The Story behind my Christmas Illustrations

Some of my fondest memories from the animation industry revolve around Christmas time. For instance, I remember a DreamWorks Christmas party where one of the layout guys mixed daiquiris using dry ice. After a few drinks, someone had the bright idea of dumping a large brick of dry ice into the DreamWorks central fountain. The fountain was illuminated after dark, so the dry ice created a cool “glowing fog” effect (I suppose you could argue that this was “research” for artists seeking to create believable fog effects in animation).

Ah… but I cherish these memories: studio Christmas parties, artists decorating their workspaces, studio contests to see who could develop the most creative Christmas ornaments, and the general feeling of positive vibes that everyone seems to have during this time of year. One of my contributions to the holiday season was creating illustrations for Christmas cards that were given out to animation folks (this was back in the day before e-cards replaced actual physical cards).  

Most of my card designs began as pencil sketches on animation paper and developed into pen and ink drawings. Sometimes I painted with watercolor or gouache (opaque watercolor) and colored pencils on hot press watercolor paper or illustration board. Usually, I tried to work in a technique and style that was distinctively different from whatever production I was working on at the time. It was an opportunity to hone my skills while celebrating the Christmas season. I did many of these over the years, but I'm posting just a few of my favorites here. 

In recent years, I digitally retouched some of these illustrations and started printing them on coffee mugs. For this year, I added new captions and have been selling them on Etsy. If anyone is interested, I’ll add links to the images below, or you can check out my Etsy shop.

Merry Christmas, Everyone!