Art: 2020 hand-made holiday cards

Making my own holiday cards is fun. Besides, I am keen on the notion of taking time to make something for someone I care about. I’ve hand-made my holiday cards every year for 5 or 6 years now. The time I spend making something for someone is time I spend thinking about them. The only thing missing is… well, them. But in most cases the people I make them for are far away. This year, with the COVID-19 pandemic and various states of lockdown or/and curfew, everyone was far away.

2020 was a rough year for so many people and I felt I could maybe share some love, that I tweeted that I was offering 20 hand-made cards to whoever wanted one. I had found a lovely pad of 20 thick smooth watercolor paper of roughly A5 size which once folded would make nice cards.

Memoji-2020-skeptical

To my surprise, nobody responded.

I was puzzled. Perhaps the time wasn’t right? But Twitter shows the number of impressions (times in somebody’s timeline) and engagement (any interaction with the tweet) and after 4 days that tweet had been seen by over 200 persons, and interacted with by 20. Twenty. Exactly the number of sheets I could make cards with 😀

Memoji-2020-shrug

But then a friend of mine sent me a text message to “sign up”. Woohoo! Game on! That friend was surprised to be the first. That reinforced the idea that perhaps my first message wasn’t sent at the right time. Or perhaps people didn’t care. In any case, I added a tweet in response.

4 friends raised their hands. That’s it. 5 actually, as another friend raised hand three weeks later.

Oh well, I built a list of other people I wanted to send a card to, made and sent the cards to everyone! Most of them have made it already.

6 series of 3 hand-made folded cards on a wooden table.

Here are 18 of them. I chose simple designs and a few colours: blue, sienna, grey, green that I mixed to obtain varying shades. I used gouache paint, a black pen, a white Posca pen, and a metallic gold pen. Inside I traced in pencil a couple lines in case people wanted to cut out the painting and use it as a bookmark. I wrote a personal holiday greeting in each of them.

Art: “Soldier & Lady making a snowman” (Step by step)

I will be mailing my parents their Christmas presents this year. And since my mum was so happy last year with my drawing of the Mackintosh’s Quality Street characters Soldier and Lady, I painted her a Christmas card with them making a snowman.

Finished version of the “Soldier & Lady making a snowman” postcard painted with gouache
Finished version of the “Soldier & Lady making a snowman” postcard painted with gouache

This is one of their design from the 1960s, I think. From the side of a tin box.

Step by step

Rough pencil sketch on grey toned paper of a woman in long dress and man in uniform making a snowman

Pencil sketch. The background being grey, I chose a toned paper so that I would only have to add colours and white on top of it. It’s from a Toned Blue Mixed Media vellum surface pad from Strathmore. The blue looks more like a grey. It’s 4 in. X 6 in. (10.2 x 15.2 cm), 184 lb. (300 g/m2)

Paper pad, paint tubes, palette and brush. I've started to paint the dress and uniform, and the snow

I have only a few tubes of gouache paint and watercolour to mix colours. I knew the painting colours would not be faithful to the original, in particular the Lady’s dress which is supposed to be pink and fuchsia. For the Soldier’s red jacket, I mixed burnt sienna gouache with titanium white opaque watercolor and ended it with a pinkish orange, to which I added Indian red watercolour and was satisfied. For the dress, I added white and a little bit of Prussian blue to my orange/red mix. The resulting colour was plum, and this was fine. I added more of the red mix and used that for the darker parts of the dress. Then I used titanium white watercolour to paint the snow, leaving untouched the areas of the footprints and shadows.

Both characters and the snowman are painted, the tree and fence as well.

I needed a few shades of grey for shadows on the snowman, under the dress, and on the soldier’s leg behind the snowman. For the faces I applied white and brown. Then I used some ivory black to decorate the dress’ fur, paint the hat, boots, Soldier’s hair, the snowman’s stick and eyes, and the shadows of the tree. The Lady’s scarf was supposed to be blue and dark green, but with a dark plum dress I thought leaf green was going to be better.

Snow added and gold details on the soldier's uniform.

Snowflakes! I used a white Posca pen to add dots that I immediately tapped with my finger to spread the ink unevenly. Then I added yellow ochre to my green to obtain something that passes for gold so I could finish the Soldier’s hat, the top of his boots, the decorations on his shoulders and the handle of his sword.

I redid their faces

I wasn’t happy with their faces so I attempted to make them better. In retrospect, the faces were fine as they were!

More work on their faces. I added my name and date at the bottom.

I fiddled some more with their faces and as soon as I had managed to make them look a bit less weird, I stopped. I made them look happier in the process, so it’s all good. I added a touch of white for the teeth, which aren’t visible in the original, but since their faces were so dark, I thought it would be a good alteration.

Painting inserted in two slits I cut in a white folded watercolour paper

I didn’t want to write on the painting in case my mum wants to frame it. So I folded a white sheet from my cheap watercolour paper block, cut a couple slits and inserted the painting. I will write inside and will mail everything tomorrow!

Art: Drawvember2020

Last year I did six series of 5 drawings on a given theme or technique and I really liked it, but this year I compiled a list of prompts, and chose any medium or technique I liked:

  • Dragon
  • Robot
  • Fur
  • Cherub
  • Carnival
  • Prey
  • Pyramid
  • Crane
  • Diving
  • Pounce
  • Buccaneer
  • Altitude
  • Shipwreck
  • Zebra
  • Drums
  • Cougar
  • Boat
  • Planet
  • Sullen
  • Jellyfish
  • Monkey
  • Angel
  • Vanquish
  • Depth
  • Villain
  • Lipstick
  • Cliff
  • Pure
  • Elf
  • Tower

All my drawings in one place

Indigo ink drawing with grey ink shadow of a dragon with big eyes
Day 1 – Dragon
Grey and black ink drawing of a robot in the position of the Rodin sculpture The Thinker
Day 2 – Robot
Pencil drawing of a fluffy cat
Day 3 – Fur
Grey ink drawing of a child angel
Day 4 – Cherub
Black, grey and red ink drawing of two costumed characters wearing white face masks and red headdresses in the foreground and a gondola and church from Venice in the background.
Day 5 – Carnival
Black ink drawing of a lioness feasting on the neck of a zebra
Day 6 – Prey
Coloured pencil drawing of three pyramids at sunset
Day 7 – Pyramic
Black, grey and red ink drawing of a Japanese crane
Day 8 – Crane
Grey ink drawing of a bird diving down a cliff toward water that seems to be quite far below
Day 9 – Diving
Grey and black ink drawing of a cat with very dilated pupils, ready to pounce.
Day 10 – Pounce
Pencil drawing of a fierce-looking woman pirate aiming a pistol and carrying a sword in the other hand.
Day 11 – Bucaneer
Black and grey ink drawing of the Brooklyn Bridge under construction with silhouettes of men walking on top of a high cable. The city is suggested in the background as grey shapes of buildings.
Day 12 – Altitude
Black ink drawing of a tentacle emerging from water, at the end of which is the remnant of a pirate ship flag and broken pole.
Day 13 – Shipwreck
Dark black shiny rectangle with fuzzy border on which I drew a zebra in white ink
Day 14 – Zebra
Black and grey ink drawing of a Japanese man playing kodo, a really big drum, with two thick round sticks. He looks very happy.
Day 15 – Drums
Gouache painting of a cougar walking on snow
Day 16 – Cougar
Gouache painting of a cruise ship at night
Day 17 – Boat
Ink drawing of a man mounting an oversized pelican flying over a forest in a canyon, under a giant Jupiter.
Day 18 – Planet
Grey ink drawing of a woman in kimono sitting and holding a fan.
Day 19 – Sullen
Metallic paint depicting a large jelly fish against a black square
Day 20 – Jellyfish
Gouache painting of a monkey dangling from a branch, against a floral background
Day 21 – Monkey
Black ink drawing of a life-size angel with black tears that pour out of his eyes and drain down his neck, which appeared over time as an effect of aging bronze. His hands are resting on a post or sword in front of him between his thighs.
Day 22 – Angel
Gouache painting of an Aston Martin Vanquish speeding in a curve
Day 23 – Vanquish
Black ink drawing of a roof-topping view with perspective on the roofs of other buildings, the streets below, and the body, legs and feet of the person viewing this
Day 24 – Depth
Black grey and blue ink and gouache painting of the joker holding the Batman playing card in front of his face.
Day 25 – Villain
Black and red ink drawing of a woman in a cocktail dress
Day 26 – Lipstick
Gouache painting of white cliffs by the sea
Day 27 – Cliff
Gouache painting of a geisha dancing with a fan in her hand.
Day 28 – Pure
Pencil drawing of the face of Cate Blanchett as Galadriel
Day 29 – Elf
Alcohol markers drawing on tracing paper of Carl’s house from the movie “Up”, surrounded by towering buildings.
Day 30 – Tower

Conclusion

I loved it! I discovered in the process that I don’t really like coloured pencils, but that I absolutely love gouache painting!

I think I have improved over the years. Notably, for “sullen” I redid a drawing of “Woman Sitting on Edge of Veranda” by Utamaro Kitagawa. Four years apart, and this time the lines were crisper and there was simply more details.

Drawvember 2020 days 26-30

This year for Drawvember, I compiled my own list of prompts, to ensure that I wasn’t going to use “not inspired” as an excuse for skipping days. Drawing actually brings me joy and satisfaction, and as it’s in rather short supply at this time of year for me, I have much at stake.

This series concludes this year’s Drawvember! I really really enjoyed myself. I was looking forward to it every day.

I also discovered that gouache is a favourite. I used to be terrified of it and of paint in general, but not too much anymore.

Day 26: “Lipstick”

Black and red ink drawing of a woman in a cocktail dress

My friend Amy made me discover René Gruau last week. I had seen some of his fashion illustrations and advertising work without knowing they were his. I love his style! His work reminds me of that which Toulouse Lautrec and Alfons Mucha did in their own time.

I used the reverse side of my Copic Drawing Pen fountain pen for extra thin lines, Geranium Red ink Brush Writer from Kuretake, black ink Pentel Brushpen, and I smudged very little amounts of Light Grey ink for shading.

Day 27: “Cliff”

Gouache painting of white cliffs by the sea

White cliffs by the sea.

Gouache paint from the Holbein Artists tubes I got in a Sketchbox: I mixed Prussian blue, leaf green, yellow ochre and used some titanium white watercolor.

I like it well enough but recognise it’s pretty awkward and not striking enough. Perhaps the tones aren’t pastel enough. And I am certain that the artbook paper isn’t thick enough (96g/m2 – 65 lb) for the watered down colours I used.

Day 28: “Pure”

Gouache painting of a geisha dancing with a fan in her hand.

Another favourite!

For “pure”, I wanted to draw a Maiko (apprentice geisha). This is from the 2005 movie with Zhang Ziyi “Memoirs of a Geisha” which tells the story of a 9 year-old girl sold by her poor family to a Kyoto geisha house, who in time becomes Sayuri, the beautiful and talented geisha, whose successful career is cut short by the outbreak of World War II.

For this drawing I wasn’t too sure which medium to use. After doing the pencil outline in my artbook, I drew it again on a scrap of paper using a Derwent sepia line maker with a bit of black and the geranium red and light grey Brush Writers from Kuretake. It didn’t work.

I chose gouache paint instead: yellow ochre, burnt sienna, ivory black from Holbein Artists, and some titanium white opaque watercolor. It took me 75 minutes (for a drawing that is only the size of my palm!)

Day 29: “Elf”

Pencil drawing of the face of Cate Blanchett as Galadriel

This is a pencil drawing of Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, the Elven Queen from the movie Lord of the Rings.

It took me over 2 hours (the drawing isn’t bigger than my palm).

Portrait are really hard. Getting someone’s features is difficult for me. It just barely looks like her but I couldn’t find what to change to make it better.

Day 30: “Tower”

Alcohol markers drawing on tracing paper of Carl’s house from the movie “Up”, surrounded by towering buildings.

This is an alcohol markers drawing on tracing paper of Carl’s house from the movie “Up”, surrounded by towering buildings.

I went way out of my comfort zone for this last day of Drawvember! This medium requires specific paper as alcohol ink bleeds a lot, and my artbook is of regular paper. I follow someone named Mutoni on Instagram and he uses tracing paper. It looks way easier when he does it!

Today I learned that the ink does not penetrate in the paper. Therefore when I wanted to darken the tones or blend colours by adding layers, I discovered that the new layer somewhat overwrites the existing colour. So the tones aren’t at all like they are supposed to be because I didn’t have the specific colours I needed.

One thing turned out well however: I thought the ink might not dry very well and I didn’t want my fingers to smudge it once I was going to glue the sheet to my artbook page, so I was clever enough to draw on the back side of the paper and then flip it to apply think black lines and white. I spent a lot more time on this little piece than I anticipated.