Tis the Season – Day 14

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

We all have days where we feel a little bit small and the world seems terrifyingly big. For Clementine though, it’s not an exaggeration: she’s so small she can fit in her parents’ palm!   Though life is pretty fun for Clementine, there’s one part of the year that flummoxes and confounds her. Try as she might, it seems she just can’t Santa to realize she’s the size she is. Everything he brings her is too big! One Christmas morning, when an especially big box for her comes, Clementine knows that Santa’s done it again and that she’s received another item a little girl like her can’t use. But wait until she opens it up! With cute illustrations by Harriet Muncaster and an adorable main character, The Biggest Smallest Christmas Present is sure to be a simple and enjoyable read for all, no matter what age they are.

Today’s sketch is another simple one, a retro elf-design. With the inspiration I’m having for these guys I may just decide to follow up and do a character sheet later on in the season. Let me know what you guys think!

QoTD: would you rather eat only one gingerbread piece every ten years or eat fruitcake every single day of your life (and when I say fruitcake, I mean the real stuff, not that imitation junk from the store)?

Tis the Season – Day 14

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

Christmas Day in the Morning is a sweet trip down memory lane – quite literally. This follows the memories of a father, Rob, as he remembers a Christmas long ago when he learned the lesson of giving (stick around with me long enough and you’ll learn how important that  lesson is to me). Life on a farm is hard and getting up early is part of the job, though it can be hard. It’s hard for Rob to spring up as fast as his father, but he tries. Especially when he overhears his father’s kind words one day and realizes with a start how much his father really loves him. That’s when he comes up with a plan to give his father the best Christmas gift ever, no matter what sacrifices have to be made.

This is a charming that will warm your heart and inspire you to give of your heart this holiday season.

I found the art to be just okay, though I admit I am a critical judge having been raised by an artist and art-lover. The story however stuck with me, as the “remembering a departed loved one” is a pain we often feel, though not without a bit of warm fuzziness on the inside. I recommend you check this book out. It will definitely make you feel sentimental.

QoTD: What to you is the best gift and how should it be given?

Tis the Season – Day 13

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

Writer Devin Scillian and illustrator Marty Kelley have created a hilarious read for kids and adults alike in Missile Toe: A Very Confused Christmas! As the title professes, this book muddles through all the classic Christmas carols, poems, and themes to bring a very hilarious book for the family. I think this would be a wonderful bedtime read as an alternative to a basic narrative. It will definitely garner a laugh. The jacket definitely has it right: “…this is a perfect pick for a holiday full of belly laughs.”

My sketch of the day is very rough, but I am actually pretty proud of it as this was one of my earlier attempts to draw images from real life and not just out of my head. The adorable canine pictured is the family dog, Dutch, who in this picture is probably having visions of sugar plums or some kind of delicious food dancing in his head.

For my question of the day: which Christmas greenery do you love the smell of more, spruce or pine?

Tis the Season – Day 12

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

This unusual take on a Christmas tale is sure to make your day with its adorable illustrations and sweet story! All Yukio wants for Christmas is to have one incredibly, EPIC, AWESOME, AMAZING snowball fight! But having a snowball fight alone isn’t very much fun and when Yukio asks all his friends, they turn him down. They’re too busy being good for Santa. “We don’t want to be on the naughty list!” They reply. So Yukio devises a plan. If Santa is what’s stopping him from getting his Christmas wish, then he’ll just have to run Santa out of town!

Full of humor and cute art, Samurai Santa: A Very Ninja Christmas is sure to be a book you’ll want to share with the whole family.

It’s been a while since I’ve done anything “Tinsel and Holly” themed. For those of you who don’t remember them, Tinsel and Holly were part of single-shot comics that I drew a couple years back. They were the trouble elves that always seemed to be getting into mischief – even as they attempted to be helpful! This version of them has more of a defined period, modeled after the styles of the 1930s:

Would you rather be an elf in the candy department at the North Pole or the toy-design department?

Tis the Season – Day 11

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

There are many books that we cherish and remember forever. What a happy moment it is when the rest of the world seems to realize how good that read is too. One of these particularly well-known reads is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. Since then, this book has become one of a series, leading to stories about pigs, dogs, and kittens. Recently I picked up this holiday If You Give…. book, If You Take a Mouse to the Movies: A Special Christmas Edition. As per the traditional format, the book begins with the movies but less to totally unexpected and enjoyable escapades. Also included in the back of this book are some activities, recipes, and crafts for kids to enjoy during the holidays. Laura Numeroff and Felicia Bond once again created another great book for the whole family to enjoy!

For December 2nd, I was inspired by the holier and more reverent aspects of Christmas – predominantly Jesus’ birth and the nativity story. For that theme, I created a little Christmas angel using a combination of pastels and my Prismacolor 24 colored set:

For my question of the day, would you rather get a hippopotamus or a rhinoceros for Christmas?

Tis the Season – Day 10

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

Captain Bling is not your average pirate. His favorite treasure is Christmas treasure and he’s ready to get it anyway he can. With his vicious pirate crew at his side, Captain Bling soars the seas, looking to grab treasure any way he can. When the crew washes up on the shores of the North Pole, the pirates are filled with glee. Finally, all the Christmas treasure they can grab! Though Santa attempts to stop them, the pirates run amuck, grabbing all they can to satisfy their greedy wants. Except wait! Perhaps there is more to their ceaseless plundering than meets the eye? Can Santa convince the pirates to give up their wicked ways and save Christmas?

This charming story will be fun for the mischief makers and trouble kids who just want to have a good time, Santa Claus or no. Parents will love reading this highly entertaining book – perfect for oral storytelling – to their children as the holiday season goes on.

Today’s image is of a couple of shepherds in prayer, inspired by the local Bethlehem Marketplace we attended this weekend:

Which Christmas song do you think of as the Christmas song and which song is your favorite? I have my own personal picks which you can check out on my Instagram HERE.

Tis the Season – Day 9

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

The 12 Sleighs of Christmas is a clever and cute story written by Sherri Duskey Rinker and illustrated by Jake Parker. Following the misadventures of Santa’s elves, this story tells the tale of Santa’s sleigh. In its battered state, its not quite the right ride for the king of Christmas. So each elf comes up with a wonderful plan to improve upon the original design. From a submarine to a semi-truck to a spaceship, each elf comes up with something wonderful – but still not right? When Santa’s big night comes around and no sleigh seems to fit the bill, what is Santa supposed to do?

This well-told tale is a sweet and funny story that will delight young and old alike. For fans of monster trucks, muscle cars, and unique rides of all kinds, this interesting tale of vehicle trouble for the North Pole’s most famous resident is sure to be a treat.

For today’s drawing, we have a drawing inspired by the Nutcracker. This was drawn about a year ago (ok, ok, I definitely will be doing some more modern drawing sometime soon) after a ballet performance I attended. It definitely made me regret having to give up ballet. Ah, but such is life:

For my question of the day: Would you rather have to battle the evil Mouse King or be haunted by three spirits?

Tis the Season – Day 8

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

Inspired by the original books by beloved children’s author Beatrix Potter, Emma Thompson brings a fresh new book into the world of Peter Rabbit with this magical Christmas tale! Peter Rabbit and his cousin, Benjamin Bunny are up to all their old antics and mischief as they try to save a turkey from becoming the McGregor’s Christmas dinner – while trying to avoid becoming dinner themselves! Filled with illustrations by Eleanor Taylor, this delightful romp through the English countryside, this time dusted with the fresh breath of a wintery holiday season is sure to dazzle younger readers and charm those familiar with the original stories.

Being a huge fan of the original Beatrix Potter tales, I was delighted with the idea of being able to return to this world once more. Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny are as indomitable as ever, even if they’re one hair short of being caught. The illustrations are not quite as well-done as Beatrix Potter’s – which, if you’ve never had the chance to truly inspect them, are a feat of anatomical precision and careful exaggeration – but they’re charming nonetheless.

For my sketch of the day, I have a doodle I did when first doing some research into deer in general. Though this is not quite an accurate picture of what reindeer look like, it’s a very cute sketch that I like nonetheless. What do you think?

For my question of the day: would you rather go ice-skating in an acid-green parka or in neon-orange jeans?

Tis the Season – Day 7

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

Mrs. Claus is sick of Christmas and the North Pole. It’s freezing all year round, she’s stuck doing chores every day and at the end of the year when Santa gets to travel all around the world, she’s stuck at home. Well, not this year. Mrs. Claus is taking a vacation! From thetropical shores of an island paradise, to the Taj Mahal, to the forestry wilds of Sweden, she’s charting a course that most people can only dream of traveling. And yet, there’s something missing…it would seem, she misses Christmas and Santa just a little bit after all.

Written and illustrated by Linas Alsenas, Mrs. Claus Takes a Vacation is a sweet story about one of the lesser-hailed characters of Christmastime that all of us, especially the workaholics who see the holidays as just more time to spend at the office rather than at home, can relate to.

For my sketch of the day, we have yet another retro elf. This one is supposed to be a chemist, mixing up new formulas for the best Christmas candy yet.

For my question of the day: would you rather not have a Christmas tree for ten years or would you rather have to decorate a fifty-foot Christmas tree?

Tis the Season – Day 6

Merry Christmas season everyone! To celebrate all the holiday festivities, every day in December I’m posting a doodle/sketch in addition to a review on a Christmas book. I hope you all join me this December to enjoy some fun and seasonal cheer.

Today’s read is a simple one, but a very well-illustrated one. For those of you who know who Norman Rockwell is, you’ll be delighted by the compilation of his illustrations in Norman Rockwell: Deck the Halls. This book is a simple read, but an enjoyable one. It’s one of those books you’ll want to flip through slowly in front of the fireplace as you enjoy the artistry and imagination behind it.

There’s something so refreshingly familiar about the scenes Rockwell paints, as if they’re a long forgotten memory. It’s easy to find something comforting in these paintings, with lush color, an attention to detail, and a simple ease that matches jovially with the seasonal lyrics on each page.

For my drawing of the day, I have a “Christmas card” sketch from two years back that

 

For my question of the day: which holiday film do you consider the quintessential Christmas movie?