2024 Christmas Card

 

Enjoy this year's Christmas Card!

Merry and Bright - A 2023 Christmas Card

 

Merry Christmas, one and all! Here's hoping the rest of the year is Merry and Bright!

This was drawn with an FP5P Brush Pen and colored in Adobe Photoshop.

Merry Christmas, and Happy Boxing Day!

 

2021 Annual Christmas Card

 

 

 

Enjoy this year's Christmas card, and feel free to share with family and friends.

Merry Christmas 2020 - Joy

Each year I create a Christmas card with an original illustration and poem. For many years I used the titles of Christmas carols as inspiration, but I eventually ran out of carols. So then I started going for themes, phrases, and words related to Christmas. This year's word is JOY. Enjoy!

The Christmas Clock - Annual Christmas Card

Merry Christmas 2018!

The Lights of Christmas

They twinkle thru pine, tinsel, and globes,
Strands of many tiny colored bulbs—
Crimson, amber, azure, and green:
The lights of the Christmas Tree.

They tremble, flicker, then dance
Over wicks in sculpted wax,
Flames aglow with warmth on the mantle:
The light of Christmas Candles.

It shines thru all times and all ages
Sparking goods works in all places
Even in those who don’t know His Name:
The Light of the Christmas Babe.

Jeff Thomason
12/4/2018

2017 Christmas Card

Small Blessings - 2016 Christmas Card

This year's Christmas card. Enjoy!

2015 Christmas Card

Here is the final Christmas card. Hopefully it will bring a little cheer to your corner of the world.

2015 Christmas Card - Preview

Each year I create a Christmas Card with an original illustration and poem. Usually the theme is suggested by the title of a Christmas Carol. Here is the black & white version of the illustration.

Come back in a few days to see the finished card!

2014 Christmas Card

Merry Christmas from Jeff!

Each year I create a Christmas card and send it out to family and friends. Then I started adding it to my website. And now I share it on my blog and social media.

This year's card was inspired by the dressed up shop windows that lined a town's main street stores. The beginning of A Christmas Story is probably most people's experience considering how everything has gone to shopping malls, discount stores, and online shopping.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe were some of my favorite toys growing up, so I had to include them in this year's card.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas in 2013!

 

My annual Christmas Card, 2013 Edition.

2012 Christmas Card

This is it! Today's the day! Presenting my Christmas Card for 2012!

This took longer than usual for several reasons: 1) crazy busy at work, 2) not sure what I wanted to say, and 3) learning new techniques with a new program (Corel Painter 12). But I think it turned out beautifully and is one of the best I've ever created. I hope you enjoy it. And feel free to share with all your friends and families.

And Merry Christmas to all!

Cards of Christmas Past (Part 4)

Tomorrow I'll debut this year's Christmas card on the blog. But today I decided to share one of my favorite cards, and one of my favorite illustrations I've ever done. You can probably tell I was feeling a little melancholy that year. Enjoy!

I read Christmas stories and watched Christmas shows.

I put up bright lights and played in the snow.

I bought Christmas presents and made Christmas punch

And sat by the fire eating Christmas Eve brunch.

It wasn’t the same and hadn’t been for years—

The lights and the gifts and the wishes of good cheer.

The snow was still pretty and the decorations still grand,

But somehow it all still felt just a little bit bland.

I wanted to feel that ole holiday Joy

Like I used to feel when I was a small boy.

But it wasn't in stores or on Christmas displays,

And carolers didn't bring it, much to my dismay.

Where were you Christmas? Where was your spirit?

It couldn’t have gone far; I had to be near it.

I’d tried really hard—I’d gone through the motions,

I’d set up my tree and paid my devotions.

And then it hit me: I was trying too hard!

I can’t make Christmas happen—It comes on its own.

So I kicked back my head and stared up at the star.

And I finally saw Christmas again—with Wondering Awe.

Jeff Thomason 11/15/2003

Cards of Christmas Past (Part 3)

This was one of my earliest cards, but still one of my favorites. This was back in the day when I still mailed all my Christmas cards with a stamp, so much fewer people received it. Here's a chance for all those who missed it to enjoy!

Angels Heard On High

The old lady of eighty was home alone.
Being widowed and childless she sat
Watching the fire and stroking her cat
Wondering if the storm had stopped
And if the snow had piled so high
That it had buried her windows and doors.
Then she jumped in her chair startled at the sound
Of plastic and metal on concrete moving around.
Then peered out the window to examine the site
And realized the sound of walks being cleared that night
Sounded like angels she had once heard on high.

–Jeff Thomason, November 6, 2002

Cards of Christmas Past (Part 2)

This year's card is well under way. Until then, enjoy this little beauty from a few years ago. I was going for a style inspired by Frank Miller's Elektra Lives Again, Chinese brushwork, and coloring from I can't remember where. The poem came from one of my favorite Christmas Carols and is probably the best one I've ever written. Enjoy!

Do You Hear...

Do you dance in the wonder of new fallen snow

  or curse the cold wind and the ice-covered roads?

Do the lights and the sights make you feel like a child

  or the gripes and the fights make you want to go wild?

Is your mailbox filled up with kind cards of good cheer

  or fliers with specials and discounts and sales?

Are you happy when carolers knock at your door

  or lament the time spent on songs youˆ‚ve heard before?

Are the hustle and bustle a headache to bare

  or an essential part of the holiday fare?

Are you grateful for every gift that you get

  or ask for a receipt so you can return it?

Commotion or emotion; laughter or tears—

  do you hear sadness, or do you hear what I hear?

–Jeff Thomason, November 30, 2005

Greeting Cards of Christmas Past (Part 1)

Each year I create a Christmas card to send to family and friends. I'm still working on this year's, but until it's finished I thought I'd post Cards of Christmas Past, one each day, so you can enjoy a little Christmas cheer from past years.

Usually I select a Christmas Carol and use the title to inspire the original illustration and poem. Occasionally I deviate from that as with this card. This time I just went with the overall theme of Gifts.

Enjoy!

Wandering Koala Saves Christmas

Each year I create a Christmas card with an original poem and illustration. Normally I select the title of a Christmas carol. This year I decided to try something different. I had this idea for a story (as I explained in my previous post) and as I was drawing the story, I decided it would make a great Christmas card. It worked out well, because I had so many different things to say and this mini-comic gave me the room to say it all.

You can read the entire story free at WanderingKoala.com

Enjoy! And be sure to drop me a line and let me know what you thought of it.

Christmas Card 2010 - Rest, You Merry Gentlemen!

Each year I pick a Christmas Carol and write a poem inspired by the title expressing something I'm feeling that year. This year I picked God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen, because I was feeling overwhelmed by how much I had to get done for Christmas, and I thought that wasn't what Christmas should be. When I was little, Christmas was the greatest time of the year, and I don't remember ever feeling rushed or overscheduled. I also discovered that the carol was originally called God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen and was changed from You to Ye to make it sound more old fashioned. Who would have thunk?

I also create an original illustration that goes with the poem. This years came from several places. I wanted to show a family around the fire on Christmas Night relaxing together with the kids playing together. I also used the Nursing Home background from my Wandering Koala meets the Beast who came for Christmas comic book miniseries. The window was inspired by an old Batman comic by Bob Kane. The illustration is 100% digital, yet it looks hand drawn which I really like.

Every year I also send out Christmas Cards. I use to mail them, but now I almost exclusively email them and share it on Facebook. And every year fewer and fewer people respond. I'm not sure if they don't like it, if after several years it isn't special anymore, or if the world in general is just getting more and more selfish. I use to get ten email thank yous or so. This year I got two. What a world we live in.

This is one of my favorite Christmas Cards I've ever made. I hope you like it!