Xmas Cards/Books

Last year when I finished my 2013 Xmas Card/Book, I swore it would be the last one. And I've kept that oath— there won't be a card/book this year. 

It's not that I don't enjoy making them, you understand. They're fun to draw, but they're an enormous amount of work. Every year they take longer and longer to create. I started last year's book in August and worked on it virtually every day for five months and still barely finished it in time for the holiday. I just don't think I have another one in me.

One of these days I ought to look into selling a collection of these stories.

Since there won't be a card/book this year, enjoy this look back at previous efforts.

Santa Claus Vs. Anti Claus

This is the first card I did, way back in 2008. This one actually is a simple greeting card rather than a book, consisting of a single sheet folded in half.

Obviously the front is based on vintage boxing posters, the kind you'd see in the early 1900s. I had a lot of fun writing the old-time copy. 

Anti-Claus' choice of weaponry still bugs me. Why a crowbar? I still don't know. Maybe I was trying to find a weapon that kind of looked like a candy cane? I should have painted stripes on it to sell that idea better. As you can probably tell I'm never satisfied with my own work.

I guess the aging effects were successful. I sent one to my boss at the time, and when he saw it he accused his wife of bending the corner when she took it out of the envelope!

Gronkoor, The Monster Who Hated Christmas And Stomped On All The Shoppers He Saw

A terrifying tale of man vs. nature in the style of Gozilla and other kaiju films. Or maybe it's just a story about a monster who's not all bad, I don't know.

This was the first card/book that I did, in the style of Little Golden Books. It's the shortest of all of the books, consisting of a scant eight pages. 

Originally it was going to be just a card like the Anti Claus one, and I was going to draw the cover only. Then I thought up an actual story and it grew into an actual book.

I burned off a week of vacation days at the beginning of November 2009 (I always end up with a surplus of time off at the end of the year) and spent the whole time working on this card/book. Those eight pages took a long time, mostly because I didn't know what I was doing. I learned to streamline the process in subsequent years.

Gronkorr Paper Craft Model

I also made a paper model of the Gronkorr character, which you can print and assemble. This was my first attempt at such a thing.

Santataur Is Comin' To Town

An unsettling and unflinching look at body horror and mutation, as Santa Claus transforms himself into a half human, half reindeer chimera.

This is my favorite of all the cards/slash books I've done. The story and art really came together this time, if I do say so myself. 

Looking back, I honestly have no idea how I was able to finish this one in time for Xmas. I didn't even start on it until midway through November! This one was bigger than the previous card/book, clocking in at twelve pages. It was also much more complicated, featuring more characters and detailed backgrounds. 

And to top it all off, I had a second job in 2010 and was working around sixty hours per week. Somehow I managed to write and draw the entire thing in a month! 

Maybe it came out well because I didn't have a lot of time? I couldn't afford to screw around and had to make art and writing decisions quickly. Quite often stress fuels creativity.

I wish I had the time and resources to make an animated holiday special of this story, like the Rankin-Bass shows.

The Space Dweebs Vs. Space Santa

It's Xmas meets technology in this wacky story of irresponsible science nerds run amok!

Like Santataur, this one started out life as a drawing, and I later wrote a story around the characters and turned it into a card/book.

Unfortunately I had way more story than space. The original version clocked in at twenty pages. I had to do a lot of slashing and condensing and rewriting to get it down to a more manageable twelve.

I was also going through a downsizing trauma at the time, which kind of put a damper on my enthusiasm for the project. But I started on it anyway, and it turned out to be good therapy. Working on the Space Dweebs kept my mind off my job woes.

Santa Claus, The Yeti And The Really Bad Decision

An apocalyptic account of Man vs. Nature, as the Earth is doomed by one man's hubris.

I sound like a broken record, but this was another card/slash book that was finished at the last minute. It's a well known law of graphic design— a project will always expand to fill the available time. 

Adding to the lengthy production time was the fact that I went on a family vacation in the middle of it, in addition to working on a massive freelance project at the same time.

I remember I started drawing the pages before I had all the details nailed down, so a lot of elements were created on the fly. Things like the hot young version of Mrs. Claus, the violent Elf names and the Yetis' ability to shoot ice rays.

It's dangerous to work that way, but it all turned out OK this time.

Dr. Killdeath & Count Gothula's Venomous Christmas

A sordid saga of revenge and brinkmanship as two powerful titans battle to the death as the rest of the planet looks on helplessly.

Last year's card/book was a massive twenty four pages, the longest I'd ever attempted. I knew it was gonna be a whopper, so I started extra early. Didn't matter. I still barely finished it by Xmas.

This story is based on classic Looney Tunes cartoons, the kind where the characters try to kill one another in an ever-escalating series of attacks. Even with the extra page count I still had more ideas than space, and had to pare down the number of attacks. Ah well.

Dr. Killdeath Paper Craft Model

I also made a Dr. Killdeath paper model. It's probably the most complicated one I've done so far. I'll probably make one of Count Gothula one of these days, as soon as I figure out how to construct a decent round head.

So there you go, a rundown of all the Xmas Card/Books I've made the past few years. Apologies to anyone who was expecting a new one this year. Who knows, maybe after I've had some time away from them I'll get the itch to create some more.

Space Dweebs Little Moldin' Book Step By Step

Now that my 2011 Xmas Card/Book is finally finished I thought I'd post a step by step look at how I work, for the two or three people out there who may be interested. 

I usually start out each page with a rough sketch. And I do mean rough. Look at that thing! It would be tough to prove I'm an artist if that's all I had to go by.

I drew the sketch in ink and then scanned it into Photoshop. I used Photoshop for the entire book, by the way.

Last year I drew very elaborate sketches and had everything planned out to the letter. This year I just sort of winged it. I did very few sketches on paper, doing most of them right on the screen in Photoshop. Most of them were stick figure chicken scratches that were sketches in the academic sense only.

Once the sketch was in place I added the text. This year's book is much wordier than last year's. I think because I had a more detailed story to tell.

The text changed practically on a daily basis too, as I condensed and reworded sentences for clarity.

Next it was time to start on the background. It might seem odd to draw the background first, but it helps me by giving me an environment into which to place my characters.

The wall and floor were each on a separate layer. I use a lot of layers when I work in Photoshop. It's a little extra work setting things up that way, but it pays off when you decide you want to change something. It's much easier to make changes when an object is isolated on its own layer.

Next I added a piece of molding between the wall and floor.

Next I added a curvy line to the floor. Why curvy? Because a curvy line is alien and futuristic.

The curvy line and molding were on separate layers, natch. 

I struggled for a while trying to come up with something to put on the wall of the Rec Room. At first I was going to add the standard futuristic flashing light panels but that seemed too cliched. Then I thought about viewports showing the vastness of the universe outside, but was afraid that would be too busy.

At the last minute I decided to steal, er, create an homage to the classic TARDIS interior from Doctor Who. I added several rows of round recessed panels (called "roundels") to a layer and then distorted them so they'd be in the proper perspective.

I thought the background needed a bit of color so I made a new layer and added yellow to the roundels.

There's lots more steps to see after the jump!

The Space Dweebs Vs. Space Santa Little Moldin' Book: Behind The Scenes

Now that my 2011 Space Dweebs Christmas Card/Book is finally finished, I thought I'd post a behind the scenes look at how I made it for anyone who may be interested in long-winded explanations of mildly interesting topics.

This was one of the few actual physical sketches I did for this year's book. Most of the sketches were done digitally, right on the screen. I didn't spend a lot of time on the sketches, as you can see– I just roughed out the bare minimum to get sizes and proportions down.

Obviously the cover here is based largely on Page 11. At first I thought I could just reuse the entire page, but the Page 11 Dweebs are looking sheepish and abashed, which wouldn't work. I redrew the Dweebs so they look more confident and arrogant, as if they're challenging Space Santa.

I was going to reuse the Page 11 Space Santa unchanged, but then I decided I didn't want his big reveal to be on the cover. So I reworked him to make him look more shadowy and mysterious. Yes, I really do put that much thought into these things. I started out thinking I was going to get away with reusing 100% of Page 11 for the cover, but ended up using about 1%. Typical.

As for the logo, I drew it in InDesign. It's based on the Burbank font, which is my current favorite. I typed out the title, then traced over the letters with InDesign's pen tool. I distorted the letters quite a bit, because I wanted it to look somewhat customized and not use an off-the-shelf font.

I went through a few titles before settling on this one. For a while it was going to be called The Space Dweebs vs. Space Xmas, but that didn't make any sense. They were butting heads with Space Santa, not the holiday.

Here's the title page. You can probably tell that's a digital sketch I did on the left.

And yes, Churd is really scratching his butt right there on the title page. The Dweebs don't have very good manners.

When I first drew the Dweebs last year I didn't think about names, which is something I had to address for the card. I wanted them to all have nerdy sounding names. I came up with the name Merkin first. Merkin is a real word; I was under the impression that it meant a chest hair wig worn by men who needed help in that area. That seemed suitably nerdy. Later on I found out that I was mistaken– it's really a pubic hair wig first worn by prostitutes in medieval times. Yikes! That knowledge kind of put me off of using the name in an Xmas card/book. I tried using "Mervin" for a while, but it just didn't have the same ring to it, so I thought what the heck and went back to Merkin. Probably 1% or less of the population knows the meaning of the name, and for those who are offended by it, I invite you to lighten up.

As for Churd, I wanted a name with a "ch" sound, since he has a chunky physique.

"Glaven" is one of those nonsense words that the early Jerry Lewis used to bleat out in his movies.

This is the establishing shot of the Dweeb's satellite clubhouse and the first page I worked on. Maybe I started with this one because it didn't contain any characters. I bet I redrew that stinkin' planet in the lower right corner about ten times. I just couldn't get it to look like the image in my head.

Originally the writing on the Satellite read "SD-1" (for Space Dweebs 1, natch). Later I decided it would be cool to use some kind of alien alphabet, so I changed it. It doesn't say anything, they're just random shapes. I didn't make up my own alien alphabet like Futurama did.

So how do the Dweebs afford a satellite in space? They just do. It's a kid's book.

Here's one of the earlier sketches I did of the clubhouse. Originally they were going to have a dish on the bottom, but I dropped that in the final drawing.

The rocket is sticking out of the top because in the first draft of the story, the Dweebs flew their rocket to Space Santa's Comet Fortress and stole HIS Giant Giftbot and went on a giving spree.

What's the deal with all the planet & city names, you're asking? Well, they're all Yiddish words. Cause Yiddish words sound funny, dontcha know. A Schmendrick means a fool or a jerk, Meshugah means crazy or insane, and Schlamazel means born loser.

Hey, don't go anywhere! There's lots more to see after the jump!

Christmas Card 2011: The Space Dweebs Vs. Space Santa!

At long last, my 2011 Christmas card slash book is finished! Like every year, it was touch and go there for a while and I wasn't sure whether it would be done in time for Christmas.

As always, I started thinking about this year's Xmas card as soon as I was done with last year's. And as always, I waited until November to do anything about it.

It wasn't that I procrastinated all year, honest. I decided early in January that I wanted this year's card to star the Space Dweebs, a trio of characters I'd drawn back in 2010. Unfortunately I couldn't think of a story for the card. I had a couple of vague ideas but nothing concrete.

Around August I started trying to hash out the story in earnest. I decided the Dweebs' planet would have a Space Xmas, complete with a Space Santa. I knew I wanted Space Santa to be a horrible, scary a-hole and I wanted the Dweebs to try and show him up somehow, probably with a giant robot. I was still banging my head against the wall though. Why couldn't this story write itself like last year's SantaTaur card did?

In October I decided to finish the story once and for all or die trying. That's when I finally got the idea that Space Santa only gives practical gifts like socks, and the Dweebs find out that Earth people get fun gifts. So they build a Giant Giftbot and start handing out cool gifts. Things go OK for a while, but then the Giftbot malfunctions and starts tearing up the city. Space Santa blows it up to save the world, and then scolds the Dweebs for trying to outdo him.

Unfortunately there were at least 20 pages of story and I only had 12 to work with. 11 if you subtract the title page. Something had to go. The first thing to get cut was the "haywire Giftbot destroys the city" plot. It took up way too many pages, plus it made the Dweebs look like idiots. They're supposed to be geniuses, so having them invent a faulty machine undermined that. Making Space Santa blow up their robot to stop them from handing out gifts allowed them to still be geniuses and helped make him look like the scary jerk he is.

I also got rid of the idea that Space Santa gives out socks as gifts. Now he gives out nothing but free and unwanted advice. Plus he knows he's supposed to be giving out gifts, but doesn't do it because it's too expensive and too much trouble. That reinforced his general unlikeability.

At last I was ready to draw the thing, but there was one more snag– all the job drama. Finding out I was going to lose my job at the end of the year kind of took the wind out of my sails and killed my enthusiasm for the project. Suddenly I had way more important things to think about than drawing an Xmas card. I decided in late October that I didn't feel like doing a card this year.

Then an odd thing happened. I sat down at the computer one night in early November and started doodling around in Photoshop. Before I knew it I'd drawn a page of the card. Sounds stupid I know, but it's like it drew itself. I thought, "Big deal, so I drew one page. There's no way I'm going to do ten more." Then the next night the same thing happened– I sat down with no intention of working on the card, but somehow ended up drawing a second page. By then I decided I might as well go for it. I guess this card wanted made whether I wanted to do it or not.

So there you have this year's Xmas card. Will there be a 2012 card? Probably not, unless I can think of a really awesome idea. Plus there's that whole Mayan calendar end of the world thing happening next December, so what's the point?

Sneak Peek

If you're a regular reader of my blog (as millions are), you may have noticed that the art & illustration posts have been a little light this month. That's because I'm hard at work toiling away on this year's Xmas card. I don't want to give too much away just yet, but I can say that this year's card features The Space Dweebs, who I first drew around this time last year.

People seemed to like the Dweebs after I posted them, and I too felt they had some potential and wanted to do something more with them. When I started trying to think of ideas for this year's card, I figured I might as well use them.

Then I got the news that my job will disappear at the end of the year, and that kind of took the wind out of my sails. Suddenly I had much more important things to worry about than an Xmas card. I debated whether or not to even do one this year and ultimately decided absolutely not. I just wasn't in the mood for it and there would be no card this year.

Then one night at the beginning of November I started doodling in Photoshop and before I knew it I'd drawn a page of the card. I halfheartedly started on another page the next night, and the next, until now it's almost finished. Why, it's almost like it made itself.

Despite the fact that I initially didn't want to do it, I'm glad I did. It's been good therapy for me, helping to keep me from sitting in the dark wondering what the hell I'm going to do come January.

As of today it's almost finished; I have one last page and a cover to go, so it should be ready to post in a week or two. Stay tuned!

Space Dweebs

 

It's the adventures of the Space Dweebs!

I feel like they have some potential, but I have no idea what to do with them. I need to let them simmer some more.

This is a vector illustration, drawn all in InDesign.

 

This illustration started life as just the yellow alien. I'm not sure why, but it just didn't do much for me. Maybe because he didn't seem all that dweebish to me. So it was back to square one and I reworked him and added his two friends.

  

Here's the original sketch of the Space Dweebs, which admittedly isn't much to look at.