Video update and behind the scenes of cards
Newsletter #51
In This Issue:
Video Update
Behind the Scenes of Some Cards
Top Cartoons
Video Update
In this video you will learn about:
The status of the "Thank You" gift I'm making for you
The weird store I visited recently and what I bought
Behind the Scenes of Some Cards
I've got graduation cards and Father's Day cards on shelves! Here's a little behind-the-scenes information about how they came together.
First up, this graduation card. My thought was, "People always ask grads what their plans are, so how can I do something funny around that?"
I was initially thinking of doing some sort of cartoon (of course), but then I saw a funny chart online, and that inspired me to do this:
Inside message:
By the way, I would LOVE to be an undercover dog stylist.
I applied this "chart approach" to another graduation card idea as well, but that one didn't get selected by the card company. Here it is, just to show you. (And if you're not sure what to do next weekend, maybe you can use this chart to come up with a fun plan!)
OK, so that card didn't get picked up. But I DO have one other graduation card on shelves. It's this one, which has art ALL over it. Art on the front, on both pages inside, and even on an extra flap-thing.
So basically every page except the very back has art on it. I've never done a card like this before, but I like it.
Here was the original concept I pitched to the card company. My idea was to have the art all on page one:
The card company suggested spreading the art out, and I'm glad we did. One other note: It took a hilariously long time to draw those little characters in all the different poses. Hours into it, I was like, "AM I STILL DOING THIS?"
OK, on to Father's Day! I have three cards out on shelves this year. Here's one of them:
I originally pitched this card idea as a photo:
But the card company asked me if I could create an illustration instead. I did, and that's what we went with.
This next cartoon about "A Dad Weekend" has been out for a few years. Maybe it looks familiar to you! It came from a cartoon I posted on my Hedger Humor website. People really liked the cartoon, so I thought, "Hmm... maybe this could be a Father's Day card!" Thankfully, the card company agreed.
Finally, I have this one, for Dads who curse:
I had a different card about cursing Dads, but that one eventually ran its course and stopped being sold. So my thought was, "It's time to pitch a new card for Dads who like to swear!"
I like to support the cursing community.
Again, my go-to idea is usually a cartoon, but in this case I couldn't get it quite right. So I decided to just go with text. I usually DON'T do text-only cards. I'm not a graphic designer, and I'm not confident in my design skills. But as you can see, I kept this pretty simple.
The "Uber Dad" and "Dad Weekend" cards are holdovers from previous years. This cursing dad card is my only new one for this year. I originally turned in 26 ideas for this year's Father's Day cards, and just ONE was selected to be on shelves. That ratio is very normal (at least for me). It often takes dozens and dozens of ideas to MAYBE get one card through.
Let me know if you have any questions about my greeting cards or my process. I'm happy to answer them! Just reply to this email.
Top Cartoons
I post cartoons regularly over on Instagram, Facebook, and on my website. So follow along!
The following two cartoons were the most popular since the last newsletter.
This first one is from 2016, but I reposted it recently. It was based on a conversation I overheard at the park. It reminded me so much of my kids when they were little.
This next cartoon is new, and was inspired by a recent trip to the airport. This was me the whole time:
My other big fear at airports is that I'll get there and they'll be like, "You never booked a flight." And I'll be like, "WHAT!?" That hasn't happened. But it still scares me.
I wrote down a couple other airport cartoon ideas, too, so stay tuned. And if YOU have any airport-related ideas, let me know!
Throwing a "tip" in the jar
Like what you see? Consider checking out my Patreon page! You can throw a "tip" in the Hedger Humor jar. And for as little as $1 a month, you'll get access to behind-the-scenes videos. If you pledge more, you get additional art! All the details are over on that site.
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