sketched out

Since Leopard won’t cooperate with my canosan N650U’s driver (a dinosaur apparently,) I’ve decided that instead of addressing the issue tonight, I would simply rummage around my archives for a blog-worthy image.

Not sure if he is that, but this little nutcracker dude has been collecting dust in my files for a while, so thought I’d blow the cobwebs off and give him his 15 minutes of fame, (so to speak.)

He adorns the holiday candy box, of a client that I cannot mention, nor can I show you the box, under penalty of painful death, or something worse…a lawsuit.

In addition, Smiley, up there also represents the last vestiges of Christmas 2007, all finally packed away in tear soaked boxes (sniff.)

Hopefully, tomorrow, scanner at hand, we’ll move on to a new day.

Freshly cracked walnut anyone?

We all know they exist, but for the first time ever, caught in mid-listless, despondency, is what experts commonly refer to as the Post-holiday Doldrumoid…in the flesh……or rather, the sketch.

No matter. They are here and we have got to deal with them.

Some effective methods of coping with these ubiquitous yet unwelcome creatures are:

1. Ignore them. Doldrumoids have been known to eventually lose interest and reluctantly disappear after a week or two.

2. Keep that crunchy Christmas tree up for another month, along with the exterior icicle lights and the inflatable snow globe on your lawn. Do this while ignoring the fact that the holidays are over. This method seems to keep the Doldrumoids at bay, but leaves the door wide open for Lackus Deselfrespectus spors to take hold.

There are no easy answers, but…

3. For those of us who need to get back to business as usual…pronto, there is one drastic measure that can be implemented. Take tree and exterior lights down, box up Christmas decorations, shove said boxes up in garage rafters, eat salad, go to the gym and then actually produce those logo designs for you employer/client as opposed to staring blankly at the monitor (close mouth, wipe drool of chin.)

In the event none of the above methods prove effective, one can always hold on until February 14 when a virulent strain of Guiltus Cupidus overcomes the weakened Doldrumoids, offering minimal relief to some sufferers.

This has been a public service announcement. Thank you.

A quick sketch of the Christmas card idea that got away.

Mind you, this whole scene is really no more than a pipe dream, as my two boys Spooky and Joey, would rather box each other than cooperate on anything, let alone help poor little Iggy on a star-topping project. Iggy, however, would more likely be found chasing her tail or hunting down and ruthlessly killing dust bunnies, than ever try to coordinate anything of this nature.

Ah well, one can dream, can’t one?

The Illustration Friday theme this week is “Backside.”

Oh…hold on…,

what…?

Oooooooh!

Excuse me, I’ve just been informed that Illustration Friday’s theme this week is actually “Backwards.”

So sorry. Well, I hope you won’t mind a little kitty backside in your face. Those of us who have feline roomates experience this on a regular basis. I think you know what I mean.

Anyway, this kitty’s backside is pulling double duty, as it is also the theme of my holiday greeting card for 2007.

Enjoy.

Tom and I put up our tree today, and I’ve been wringing my hands in anticipation of filling it up with our ornaments, collected over the past twenty years, mostly glass blown, and made in Eastern Europe. These things are like heroin to me. I get the DT’s if I don’t get my hands on some of the glittery stuff as soon as the clock strikes midnight on December 1st.

Every year we carefully pick out and purchase one or two more ornaments for our growing collection. However, in addition to these fragile, lovelies, we can never resist picking up a couple two, three goofy ornaments. They range from plaster grizzly bears to glass Yukon Cornelius and Hermey. One year I nabbed the last tiny mobile of Dr. Seuss’s “One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish” from Hallmark.

So in addition to being addicted the shiney stuff, I am also a sucker for the sillier fare. From the sublime to the ridiculous, I believe the saying goes.

Last year I spent an inordinant amount of cash on a kitty in pumps (pictured above.) So attached to this inanimate object did I become, that it now lives permenantly on my mantle.

This year, while cruising around Green Thumb, (a nursery in town that transforms into a Christmas wonderland every year,) we stumbled upon some cloth ornaments, we just had to have. A Snowman Angel and an….er….umm….aardvark, I believe. Take a look.

Anyway, that’s my round-about way of saying, “nope, didn’t draw anything today!”

During this holiday season, many of us will be rushing from party to party, slugging down eggnog and carelessly ripping apart painstakingly wrapped presents. We’ll, no doubt, be thanking Santa for all the lovely gifts bestowed upon us, giving him all the credit for the momentary glee we experience as we pile up our newly aquired swag.

Well, before you tear into that last box of See’s candy, I invite you to take a moment. Take a moment to think about the folks who worked tirelessly all year long, well into the wee hours of the morning. The people working behind the scenes to make it all possible, the ones really responsible for that silly smile on your face

I’m speaking of course, of the elf.

Elves. The unsung heroes of Christmas. So again, please take a moment. Think of them in their ill fitting, green suits and their pointy little shoes. Think of how their efforts make Mr. Kringle look good. That’s all they really want, is just a moment. A moment of recognition.

A moment of recognition, and maybe an extra cookie set out on the table Christmas Eve night. (They don’t really eat much.)

Thank you, this has been a Public Service Announcement, paid for by E.L.F.S. (Elves Looking for Sympathy.)

…Merry Little Chrismahannakwanza!

Whatever holiday you celebrate or choose not to celebrate this winter, I hope it’s the happiest ever!!

Christmas is the holiday Tom and I both grew up with and still enjoy with gusto, although I’d never turn down an invitation or opportunity to participate in a Hannukah, Kwanza or any other holiday celebration. The more opportunities to hang out with friends, eat (food you would never dream of eating the rest of the year due to sheer terror of heart failure,) or light candles, the better!

For us Christmassy types, many towns in the U.S. have what they call Candy Cane Lane, or a Candy Cane Lane-like street, where every blade of grass on every lawn of every house is blinking, strobing or sparkling with copious amounts of holiday lights and decorations. However, in Valencia, CA the entire town is pretty much a Candy Cane Lane.

Yes folks, Christmas threw up on our town.

What we lack in the beauty and wonder of snowfall, we more than make up with a king’s ransom of an and electric bill and Home Depot receipt.

Tom and I bring up the rear with a token strand of red lights tacked lovingly across the front of our house. We tell ourselves we’re trying to be green, but really, we’re just too lazy busy. Why, we’ve got “Daily Show” reruns to watch.

But you know, as excessive as all the lights, giant blow up snowglobes, and creepy animated santas are, there’s nothing Tom and I like better than taking a detour on the way home from work to gawk at the handiwork of our zealous neighbors.

It’s the closest thing to tradition we have in our suburban town, and we’ve grown to love it.

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Above is a an image I drew in Photoshop for my 2002 Christmas card. Thought I’d try to get a little more mileage out of it.
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I spend my days as a graphic designer, working at, what they call, a boutique advertising agency. Today we excercised our yearly, wait-till-the-last-minute-to-figure-out-the-theme- of-our-holiday-card mind melt. It was beginning to look like, in the interest of time, the old cheap, stock photography route was going to be taken. That is, until one of the other designers and myself finally snapped out of our Thanksgiving-induced tryptophan coma, and shouted, “Wait!” If we are supposed to be assisting clients with catchy advertising campaigns and original, clever collateral, we should at least take a stab at a semi-interesting, original holiday card. Otherwise, just go to Hallmark. Don’t you think.

We all agreed and commenced brain-storming.

The thing is, when you distill it all down, there are really very few icons that truely symbolize the politically correct, watered down, homogenized “holiday” theme advertising firms crave. That is, there are few that have any whimsey or design potential. However, the one thing every holiday of this season has in common is snow. That leaves us with snowflakes, snowy landscape scenes (yawn), snowmen, and…penguins.

Penguins a little too cutesy, you say? A bit overdone lately? Well, I submit, who is more elegant in a winter wonderland, complete with their very own, non-rented, formal wear, than the penguin? And, I could be wrong, but I’m pretty certain, penguins do not subscribe to any sect or creed that might render them offensive as a holiday icon. It almost has to be penguins.

So, being that our new company website, also launching soon, bears the tageline “Stand Out” I spent some time trying to tie that idea in with…well…penguins.

I don’t think I came up with anything viable for our card yet, but in the process of sketching out roughs, I did come up with something to post tonight. Woot!