Family Drawing Night / Lunar New Year 2022 Edition

For many years, I designed our family holiday cards. And in fact, for several years, my main business *was* designing photo holiday cards! But I was running out of ideas for our *own* cards. To keep it fresh, when the boys were 8 and 5 (and were avid drawing monsters) I decided to try a collaborative card, and Family Drawing Night was born. Each time, we would pick one subject (either a physical object, or a subject that could easily be referenced in books or online), and then each member of the family would draw their version of it. To keep the drawings looking cohesive, we would all use the same materials, and sometimes we would just draw in pencil, so that I could still bring the elements together and use digital color to make them feel more connected within the card composition.

We used to have family drawing nights more often than just in anticipation of the winter holidays, but as the boys have gotten older, there is less time and less interest. Still, it’s been fun to do our Holiday cards together once a year. There were two exceptions. The first being the year when my dad and my best friend had just passed away. The second being 2020/Covid.

For the 2021 holidays, we decided to send out 2022 New Year Cards, and and since both Ben and I are Tigers, we thought it would be a nice change to our routine to create Lunar New Year cards in celebration of the Year of the Tiger!

We don’t include an explanation on the cards. Folks that have been on our list for years will know to immediately start guessing who drew each animal (or thing). Newer folks tend to pick up on it, though, and I love the texts and emails I get after they’ve received the cards and are eager to know more and make their guesses.

I hope you will enjoy this look back at our cards through the years and perhaps it will inspire you to create a family drawing night with your loved ones (all ages and abilities welcomed and encouraged!).