Hand Drawn Cat Christmas Cards: Sneak Peek
Christmas is coming a lot faster than I had hoped this year. Last year I had plans to make some hand drawn cat Christmas cards but I left it too late. I’m determined not to let that happen again this year so today I’ve been making a big Christmassy mess trying out new techniques and ideas.
Hand Drawn Cat Christmas Card Sketch
I started planning the cards at the end of last month. I managed to get one rough pencil sketch drawn out but I’ve spent the best part of the past month working on orders for Whitby Galleries so I had to put the cards on hold. Hopefully I’ll have 2 or 3 other kitty designs joining this one. For now though, I thought it best to figure out how to draw and colour this one first.
Hand drawn cat Christmas card on Kraft Card: Sharpie & Cotton Test
Looking after the environment is a big thing for me. I reuse cardboard in my packages, I love to upcycle and rescue preloved items, and always try to use recycled papers when possible. When I first started thinking about making these Christmas cards, I envisioned having some sort of 3-dimensional element and using recycled kraft card as I love the colour. Making the santa hat 3D seemed like the best option, with maybe glitter card and a fur trim. I have neither in my bits & pieces draw so I decided to use cotton wool to see how it could look. Final result? I actually don’t like the kraft card! Certain elements I do like, others not so much. The metallic marker doesn’t really stand out too well and I really want to use it for the text.
Hand Drawn Cat Christmas Card: Sharpie & Posca Test
More experimentation is in order but it’s looking like white may be the best option to work on. The style of the drawing works a lot better on the white and the metallic works well. I may even ditch the 3D element in favour of just using markers. The card I’ve used here isn’t all that great, as the markers bleed through to the back, so I’m wondering if the watercolour paper I use for my paintings is worth a try? It’s lovely and thick, colour doesn’t bleed through (tested it this morning), and it has a nice subtle texture. The question is, will it fit through my printer so I can print stuff on the back?
Once the finer details are sorted, I’m hoping these will be ready for sale near the middle of November. Fingers crossed my watercolour paper will run through the printer because I hate sourcing paper and card. The one you like never works and you always spend ages looking for alternatives. Going to try that later today because first I have some Christmas decorations to start.
The decorations I made last year were a huge hit. I only made 5 to see what would happen, and they sold out within a week! I only painted cat ones last time but I’m hoping to have a few other animals in the mix this year. Another project I’m working on is Jewellery. Pendants to be more precise and I’m slowly discovering that sourcing bails & findings is even more of a nightmare than paper & card.
Bye for now!
