I sort of got invited to a friend’s birthday party in Portland this weekend. I still don’t know if I will be going up there or not, but I wanted to have something for the birthday boy just in case. The birthday boy recently moved to Portland within the past year or two, so I came up with this drawing to celebrate that.
I’m thinking about expanding on this drawing and doing a series for different cities and states. I have this design available in my Etsy store as a print or a card.
After a couple days of testing and printing, I’ve got new greeting cards!
I’ve made each of my swirly drawings into a 5×7 greeting card. I got some really nice artist-grade cotton fiber card stock to print them on, and I am so pleased with the way the colors turned out. They are so bright and vivid, and the blacks of the swirly animals really pop out in contrast. These are just blank inside, so you can use them for any occasion like birthdays, thank you’s, thinking of you, etc. You could also use them as simple note cards. I also got some really nice smooth white envelopes to include with each.
I have added these all as individual items in my Etsy Shop. Next up for me is making sets of these cards, so you’ll be able to get 5 cards for the price of four. I’m thinking of doing a dinosaur set, a marine animals set, and then an open set where you can pick five cards of whatever you want!
You can see all of the cards in their own section here.
After a few weeks of doing a bunch of work on my computer, I was happy to sit down and get to some drawing again. After doing my Champy illustration, I wanted to do a few more types of dinosaurs. I loved dinosaurs when I was a little kid, and I still think they are fun now. One of my favorites right now is the Brontosaurus, or more properly, the Apatosaurus. I just love their long necks they use to chomp prehistoric palm frond-like leaves from the tops of high trees. I like how they hang out in ponds to soak and are gentle giants.
So, I sat down and did a couple swirly drawings.
I did the orange brontosaurus first.
At first, I wasn’t sure I liked how he was coming out. I did his head and face first. I get really nervous when I do the faces of animals, because I feel like that’s where most of their personality comes from. Once I started finishing the rest of him, though, I got to liking him and his personality. I feel like he might not be the smartest bronty on the block, but he’d be a good friend.
I wanted to try again to draw a more “cute” looking brontosaurus, and I came up with this:
I think he turned out cuter, even though he does have a little bit of a mischievous look on his face.
My dinosaur series is expanding, and I’m planning to do some more next – a stegosaurus, t-rex, and parasaurolophus (the one with the thing on it’s head).
Both of these brontosauruses (brontosaurii??) are available as prints.
Find them in my Etsy shop, or use individual links to each listing:
Thank you to everyone who participated in my ‘Just Say No’ postcard giveaway! I just dropped off all of the cards at the post office. You lucky ones should see yours soon.
Some people were asking in the comments how they could get a copy of the whole set. I am thinking about turning these into a poster or a set of note cards, which I would make available for sale at Etsy. Right now, I am leaning toward note cards (or post cards). All of the post cards, except ONE (of course) have landscape orientation, the ‘Someone Else’s Ladder’ one has portrait orientation, so I’m having a hard time thinking about how they would look in a poster if they couldn’t be in a nice even grid. I will keep you posted!
As a celebration of my new website and Etsy shop, I wanted to do something special for my early blog readers. I started drawing this series of postcards, and I thought these would make a great giveaway!
I’m calling this series of 15 postcards “Just Say No” and they are both silly and personal. About 5 months ago, I left my corporate job to blaze my own trail. This was a super hard (but ultimately wonderful) decision for me to make. I had to work through a lot of mental stuff while getting ready to take this leap. During the leap, and even now, I am still working on developing better mental habits. A lot of that work is learning to believe in myself – that I can handle any situation that comes up, that I have what it takes to accomplish whatever I want to, and that everything is going to be ok, because I am in control. The other side of that is learning to let go of things that no longer do me any good. Each of these postcards represents something that I’m just saying “NO” to. Something that I’m letting go.
They are a little funny, a little sad, and a little hasty. Some of them have to do with individual personal thoughts, many have to do with relationships with others, and a few are just silly things. The cards having to do with outside relationships are the ones that were the most interesting, fun, and meaningful to make. As I was making some of these, I thought about situations where I was on each side of the relationship.
By recognizing and calling out my fears, worries, and excuses, it’s easier for me to put them aside and make things happen instead. I want to give these postcards away, because I want you to know that you can push through your barriers and let go of the things that no longer do you any good, and be your best, awesome self. You can! And, both you and the world will be better for it.
Now for the fun part. Below, you can see detailed pictures of each of the 15 postcards. I hope they make you smile. Keep reading below the pictures to find out how you can get one of these original, hand drawn, hand painted postcards in your mailbox!
Now for the REALLY fun part! Be one of the FIRST 15 people to comment on this post, and I will mail you one of these original postcards.
If you are one of the lucky ones, I will email you to get your mailing address. I will write a personal message to you on the back of the card, and send it off to you! One postcard per winner. If you post more than one comment, and they show up within the first 15 comments, you will still only get one postcard. I choose the postcard you will get – you’ll be surprised when it arrives!
Thank you so much for being one of my early blog readers. I cannot wait to give these away!
Update 3/12/13 – This contest is now closed, and all postcards have been mailed to the winners. 🙂
