Christmas cards - attempt no.1

It's that awful time of year again. I've got to come up with some ideas for Christmas cards. Here's what I've come up with so far - not quite suitable for the in-laws, I suspect...

 

I was kind of going for a  'Christmas brain' kind of theme, you know, good food and alcohol, the joy of family, the giving of gifts and general warm conviviality. Needless to say I couldn't summon the good will. I might have puked down my clothes.

Happy New Year

How was your Christmas? Mine was OK - nothing mindblowing, but good in its own way. Did the usual family stuff, then saw friends for New Year before heading to London to redecorate my old flat. Now I'm exhausted...

I'll be back and blogging again from Monday onwards. Have a good weekend, all.

Merry Christmas!

I'm signing off from here for the rest of the year. I want to thank you all for stopping by and reading/looking at my silly ramblings and pictures over the past twelve months. I hope you have a wonderful holiday, and I will see you back here in the New Year! Love, Karen x

My brain is fried

Good morning! I'm so sorry. I have been a bad bunny this last week or two. On the positive side, I've been away earning me some money, which is quite useful, I think you'll agree. On the negative side, I haven't got much to tell you about because I've been holed up in my desk space for days with little stimulation. Let me see...

1. My fingers are still swollen like hams.
2. I've been sneakily shopping on eBay for all sorts of wonderful things, including brown parcel paper. Yeah, it's that interesting around here.
3. We went to Manchester on Saturday to have a proper look around. What a fabulous city! It's the closest thing to a mini London I've seen yet, with great vintage clothes shops and wonderful things to eat. We had lunch at Oklahoma cafe (facebook), which was also a sweet gift shop full of quirky things like Japanese paper balloons and amusing teatowels.
4. I still haven't done Christmas cards. The picture above is one drawing I've rejected, incomplete.

Oh dear...

tin toys

I have a real weakness for wind-up toys, especially vintage ones. The one above is from circa 1965 and costs £55 from the ever-lovely Ben Pentreath. You can also get this monkey on a tricycle for £15. Sweet!



Can you tell I've been doing my Christmas shopping? Sadly I keep finding things that I like but nobody else would!

Drawn - adulthood 18

As I get older my enthusiasm for the festive season wanes. I just can't be bothered to buy vacuous presents for people nor to pretend that I'm pleased when I receive them... Bah humbug!

vintage Christmas light bulbs

So yesterday morning I was watching this set of vintage Christmas lightbulbs on eBay. The auction was ending around 8pm and the current bid was £3.20. I didn't stick around to watch how much they sold for but I never, in a million years, imagined they would eventually sell for £200! Crazy... So here's a lesson. If you find anything that looks like this at a car boot sale, buy it and sell for a stupid profit on eBay.

Hello hello

Happy New Year! I can't quite get to grips with the idea that this time last year, I was promising myself that 2009 would be 'career' year, where I quit my animation job (done!) and forged a roaringly successful fully freelance career as an illustrator and animator, making fabulous films for glitzy clients etc. etc. (not quite done!). I think I had a good year but I have spent a lot of time relying on existing things, such as my wonderful agent, to get new work in. Time for change! Time for progress (she says...)! Well, I can only try, right?

How was your holiday? I had a great time in Yorkshire where the snow was packed down to treacherous ice, then with my family in Birmingham where I ate too much pork, and finally in Dorset for New Year where I ate more pork, drank too much cognac and saw lots of my lovely friends. Driving home to Essex last night was tiring and long, but under a magnificent yellow moon it wasn't so bad.

Did I take any photos? Not one. Not a sausage; the reason being that, as usual, I forgot my camera. Idiot.

I will be back with something more inspiring on Monday. I am actually at my desk today because I have to draw some more cartoon lungs (don't ask) before everyone else goes back to work.

sneaky peek

Here's a sneak peek at one of the designs for my Christmas cards this year (hm, it's a bit less saturated here than in Photoshop). They will be available in a set of four different designs, each limited to an edition of 30, numbered on the reverse. There are squirrels, cats and reindeer, alongside a disgruntled Santa and a pepper pot. I'll keep you posted of my progress, but things are looking less grim today (probably because I'm winding down two of the jobs I've been on and am REALLY looking forward to the weekend).

Still, there's all the packaging to do, and product photography with my pathetic little camera... ho hum.