Homemade Christmas Card Retrospective #5

In 1995 I got a little religious, but it was a geeky kind of religious with the three wise men depicted as robots.

On the inside it read...


On the back is my fake card company name for the year...

Holiday Spirit

Here's my Christmas gift to the world, or at least the handful of people who visit this blog each day.

Instead of sending out cards each year I've stated doing short holiday animations. This years animation is about a cute bell ringing elf, and the holiday spirit that possesses him. Enjoy...




I'm planning to do a few more homemade Christmas card posts this coming week, and one last special animation to ring in the New Year.

Homemade Christmas Card Retrospective #4

We're now up to 1994, and I decided to place something disturbing on the front of the card.

Front

On the inside it read...

Inside

As you can now see it was disturbing, yet highbrow at the same time (hey isn't that Hooters' slogan?) with my idea of how old Pablo Picasso might have drawn Old Saint Nick.

Also I put another fake card company name on the back...

Back

You may have guessed by the company name I do like using a thesaurus from time to time.

Homemade Christmas Card Retrospective #3

Two years of hand airbrushing each and every one of my Christmas cards, not to mention coming up with a totally original idea, is grueling work. So in 1993 I made a quantum leap into the future by photocoping my cards, and I further cut down my labor by simply altering the artwork of an existing card.

I found a cheap card that featured some corny old-timey artwork, and I spiced things up at bit by carefully painting in a stick of dynamite. Years of watching Loony Tunes is bound to have an effect on ones' mind.

front

I kept the original inside text which now took on a slightly new meaning...

inside

On the back of the card where you'd find the Hallmark logo (if this was a real store-bought card) I made up my own brand name. I don't remember where I found the word dactylogram (it means finger print), but I think I liked how it rhymed with the word brand. It also sorta ties in with the OK hand gesture clip-art.

Back

The addition of the dynamite in the pants was so subtle that some people didn't even notice it. Upon news of this one of my friends profoundly stated, "In life there are those who notice dynamite in the pants, and those who don't."

Homemade Christmas Card Retrospective #2

For Christmas of 1992 I made another airbrushed card, but unlike the snowman card I only did the front of the cards this time.

I liked the word play of "Christmas on Easter Island," and using the island's iconic statues in a fun way.

Homemade Christmas Card Retrospective #1

In 1990 I got the idea to make my own Christmas cards. Here is my first official card. I only made about 15 since the cards were a bit labor intensive. Each card was hand drawn and airbrushed. That's right no photocopying here, each card was an original, and made with love.

Front

Inside

As you can see my card tackles a bold hypothetical question about snowmen having skeletons. I liked the idea of a sweet looking Christmas on the outside hiding a something slightly ghoulish on the inside.

This time my idea was totally original. Although I think I've seen a cartoon in resent years that used this same idea. I'm sure it was just a coincidence, or maybe it was karma payback for the Seasonings' Greetings photo.

Holiday Rip-off Artist

Christmas is a time for peace on earth, and goodwill towards men, and all that stuff. But it's also a time for people getting ripped-off. Embarrassingly, I'm guilty of up some yuletide theft of my own.

No, I didn't steal someones presents from an unattended car. I am guilty of intellectual property theft.

When I was in high school I took a photography class, and one assignment was to come up with a Christmas card. Mine was titled "Seasonings' Greetings" which you can see below.

I believe I got an A for the assignment, and people who show this picture thought it was cute and clever. But what they didn't know is that I totally riped-off the idea from Bil "Family Circus" Keane's book Jest In Pun.


Here's Bil Keane's original cartoon...


Looking at my photo now I wish I positioned the hands better so you could read the entire "Ground Beef Seasoning" on the bottle. I did title the photo "Seasonings' Greetings" so that, with my other cosmetic changes makes this more of a "homage" than a rip-off.

Oh who am I kidding, homage is just another word for stealing. I'm sorry Mr. Keane that I knowingly used your idea for a high school project, and passed it off as my own. Please forgive the misguided actions of a school boy.

I hope that apology was sufficient. I'd hate the thought of Dolly, Jeffy, Billy, PJ, and Barfy pissed off at me.