Hand Made Christmas Cards

I just can't bring myself to send store bought cards at Christmas. This year I made a simple Christmas tree design using Strathmore watercolor cards, Canson art paper and glitter paint.... The same material a third grader would use. The foam adhesive dots make it pop off the page.

An assembly line process always makes quicker work.

Merry Christmas!

MERRY! MERRY!

These are two more paper cut outs that decorate our hallway for Christmas. A Nutcracker and a little tree join Chilly. They are made from a combination  of Canson art paper, Avery labels and Folk Art craft paint.

Wishing everyone who is kind enough to visit this little blog a very Merry Christmas! I'm looking forward to posting and sharing more stuff throughout the New Year.

Merry, Merry and Happy, Happy to All!!! 

Thanks so much!

—Tom

The Sargent Major.

The Sargent's humble little tree.

The Sargent Major flanked by "Chilly" and his humble tree.

Snowman Advent Calendar

Meet "Chilly"... Frosty's cousin.

The kids are counting down the days til Christmas with this snowman advent calendar. He's made from large sheets of Canson art paper, white masking tape and Avery dot labels.
Each window in numbered and has a little brush pen sketch inside.

I've used these Staedtler Marsgraphic Duo pens for years, they're awesome.  They are water based markers with a spongy tip brush on one end and a fine point marker on the other. This is a brand new pack that I could not wait to break open.

Peek-a-boo

The fourth day is a merry pug.

Herbie the elf.

 

I added glittery accents with Folk Art glitter acrylic. I keep separate brushes to use just for this kind of paint to keep glitter from getting into everything I'm working on!

 "Chilly" is not alone, he's got a few buddies with him, who'll be in another post.

Ahab Flex Pens

The Noodler's Ahab Flex pens were finally released at Goulet Pens last week and I gotta say, they are were worth the wait! I love these pens; with a big flex nib and large ink capacity, they are awesome. I did only a few little sketches with the clear demonstrator over the holiday weekend, but I'm looking forward to getting into them. They're an incredible value at only 20 bucks and unlike the flex pen releases in the past, Goulet has plenty in stock.

Ahab sketched with an Ahab.

The Ahab in three colors clear, Mandarin Yellow and
Dec 25 Red. I started with Noodler's Black ink on
a Strathmore 4x6 sketchbook.

The clear demonstrator.

Harpoon man Queequeg.

GULP!  I swallowed up six Ahab pens in my order!

Noodler's black and a little bit of Habenaro

Rainbow Turkeys

These Koh-I-Noor Rainbow pencils came in handy for some place cards on the kids table. I really like these crayons for the surprising lines they create; they even make a scribble interesting. It was an impulse buy that I'm glad I made. 

 These little guys will be on our Thanksgiving table; I hope you all have nothing but great things around yours!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! And thanks for visiting!!!

Scribble on!

The Dead in Rainbow Pencils

These Koh-I-Noor Magic Rainbow pencils were an impulse purchase that turned out to be a pretty cool little tool. They are a blend of two or three colors in one crayon in an over sized barrel; they give you a line in varying shades of yellow, blue and red.

It's great to work on location and I used these pencils to sketch "The Dead" when they were playing at the Garden State Arts Center. 

My business partner Tony Reonegro has done a ton of creative work for the band, so we had backstage passes; up close to the performance. I used a couple of different mediums that night, these are just the Rainbow Pencil sketches. It was crowded backstage and not conducive to working with any wet media, so I gave these a try along with some graphite work that I'll post another time.

Paper Cut-Out Turkeys!

I made these cut out turkeys to decorate the kids rooms for Thanksgiving. I love working with paper and try to make new little friends to join us for the holidays.

This is "Chubby..."

... and his girlfriend "Hildie."

They are made from Canson acid free art paper. It comes in large individual sheets in different textures. It's suitable for drawing with dry media and light washes and the range of colors are great. I use it often for cutouts.

"Chubby" up close.

I like how the light shows through the cut out shapes.

Large sheets are great for bigger designs.

Westcott "Extreme Edge"shears are awesome;

 they're a great addition to your studio 

if you work with paper. I can't operate without the 

stand-by Xacto knife; I misplace everything, 

so I keep at least a dozen throughout the studio.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!! I have much to be grateful for; including you taking the time to check this out. Have a terrific holiday weekend!!!

The Pilot Falcon and "The Song of Roland."

The Song of Roland is the oldest surviving work of French literature; dating from the twelfth century. It tells the story of the Battle of Roncevaux Pass where the rear guard of Charlemagne's army was slaughtetered to the last man... so it's a "feel good" book as well. Penguin USA wanted a fresh cover design for this new edition, I used my Pilot Falcon for the job.

This is hands-down my favorite fountain pen to draw with. It's got an beautiful flex nib; I could not believe my eyes the first time I gave it a try. Fantastic line quality, thick to thin with a generous flow of ink. The Falcon II is all metal and lists for $280.00, but Goulet Pens carries a more economical resin version; the Pilot /Namiki Falcon. It's the unusual nib that really make the difference.

These are four of the proposed cover designs.

Below is the approved design for the edition that will be in bookstores in March, 2012.

My thumbnails were the guides to the finished drawings. They were sketched quickly with a combination of the Falcon and Pentel brush Pen. It was important to sketch out the type design as well to determine the proportions I needed for the final layout.

I used a combination of my Pilot Falcon and a Pentel Brush pen for this design.

The Pilot Falcon II uses cartridges or fills with an

included converter. I used Aurora black fountain ink.

The line variation is awesome.

The Falcon II is just a great feeling pen; it's hefty, nicely balanced with a smooth finish. The nib is fantastic, besides the very economical Noodler's Flex, this is the only flex pen that I've found. Works like a dream.

 The Pentel Brush Pen did most of the work on these two design with the Falcon adding the sharp details.

The Falcon and brush combo really helped capture the carnage.