Santa Claus and Rudolph (almost) meet Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson

This cartoon artwork was created the old-fashioned way. I sketched it out in pencil and then drew the line art with a dip pen with a Brause & Iserlohn nib and Pelikan Nr. 12 black ink.

The art was for my own personal family Holiday Card a few years back and at first I was going to have it printed in black and white. Later I decided to scan in the drawing and color it digitally.

I figured I could create a nice warm effect with the light from the fire place reflecting off the characters and create a warm, cozy, late night in a British Manor house.
I also thought it might be fun to really have Santa and the reindeers peeking out from the shadows.

Here is the initial line work:

Here is a video showing the process of coloring the artwork in layers in Corel Painter software.

Here is a detail of the final color (click to see enlarged version):

By the way, the original artwork is now in Jerry Margolin’s collection of Sherlockian Art. You can read more about that, in an older blog entry.
http://blog.marsdencartoons.com/?p=412

I hope you enjoy this little peek at my process of creating a cartoon.
Thank you for visiting my blog as always – and Happy Holidays and all the best for the New Year!

Your pal, Ian

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My name is Ian Marsden and I am a professional independent Illustrator, Character Designer, Logo Designer, Flash Animator and Cartoonist.
I am highly experienced in creating custom characters, illustrations, comic strips, mascots and animated video and flash elements for use on websites or YouTube. My full resume and a partial client list can be viewed by clicking on this link.

References are available upon request. I am completely reliable and deadlines are always met. Please contact me directly to discuss your design and illustration needs. I look forward to hearing from you. [email protected]