Every year since I have been able to draw, I illustrate my families Christmas card. This year we are moving away from the holiday icons, and instead using the wonders of the nature near the homestead instead.

The first step is to sketch out the design. This is about my third try. I had to force myself to move away from the stereotyped cute animals I normal draw to better represent the world I wish to capture.

With the design finalized I taped it to the back of a sheet of watercolor paper and placed it on my light-box desk. There I began to paint in the grass and loose details in a brown watercolor.

Here is the art with out the back light on, showing only the watercolor areas.

I will post more tomorrow when I get the animals done. I have not decided if they will be rendered in paint or pen and ink.

See the final results HERE (the post above)

tags: Christmas|drawing|sketch|painting|art|Brian Kolm|comics|Atomic Bear Press|AtomicBearPress|ABP|