Holiday Card 2010 Sketch (Fox!)

I'm planning to drive into Halifax several days next in the next couple of weeks to print at the Dawson Printshop, as I may (or may not) have a small print job. To make it worth the trip, and to get myself to stop being so lazy, I need to get my own work ready to go and print at the same time. Which means I need to get my files for polymer plates sent to film by the end of the week.

I have two holiday card ideas: the fox below and one with a squid and a pulp magazine theme, which I may or may not be able to pull off.

Now I have to figure out the exact proportions and boundaries of the card, and decide on colours. I'm thinking black, red and something very transparent and almost colourless (possibly a blue). The tongue should really be pink, but I'm not sure I want to do a whole separate press run for that. I usually try to keep multi-colour cards to three colours for the sake of economy. Two is even better.

I'm also starting to plan my 2011 letterpress calendar. It would be nice to have it finished in time for the Halifax Crafters sale this year (assuming I go). Last year I had a couple of pages done and took pre-orders and emails, but I think I could have sold a lot more if I'd had them done and on the table. It'll be similar to last year's, and I may even re-use the same wood type and number plates, but I'll use different colours and images, and maybe even a different proportion for the pages.

So what I'm thinking is cephalopods (that is, octopus, squid, cuttlefish, nautilus) OR rayguns. They'll be my own drawings this time, instead of vintage images. Anyone out there have any preference? Or a better idea? Someone on Facebook suggested cephalopods with rayguns, which I like, but it might be a bit over the top.