This is a card I did for my friends at iFanboy who run one of the best podcasts and comic sites on the net. I got the basic idea for this last year after they posted an earlier card of mine. I sketched the initial idea for this one on a napkin. Classic. God knows where that thing is, we moved! I'm lucky if I can find socks.
I know the original sketch had the opening and closing panels pretty much as they are. I know I also had the Santa cookie eating panel, the milk drinking and probably the crumbs. I was intrigued by the idea of making each panel a graphic puzzle but I backed off in favor of clarity.
I didn't do the color. When I gave it to Ron Richards, the San Francisco iFanboy, I said I'd like to see sort of a retro color style, like a silk screen print slightly out of alignment. Ron got a recommendation from Jim McCann , the Eisner winning author of THE RETURN OF THE DAPPER MEN (see a preview at that link). Jim pointed Ron at Dan McDaid. Man, he fit the bill perfectly. He didn't do the silk screen thing but came up with textures that really made the "card" look rich and... well, "Christmassy." Ron tied a bow on the package by giving the gutters an old cardstock color. Voila, a Christmas greeting for the iFanbase.
So it's just a small piece of art for some friends that came out way better than expected. But I have to confess that I wanted to add one last panel. I wanted toddler versions of Ron, Josh and Conor, stunned, wide-eyed, pressing their faces pressed between the posts of a stairway bannister. Alas, the concept was beyond my talent.
Maybe I need another napkin. Best wishes of the season to you all.
--Tad
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