Hybrid ATCs

I use the word "hybrid" to describe an ATC that was made using BOTH "digital tools" and "hand tools."

The most common type of hybrid, for me, is an original drawing which was made using digital tools. The drawing is then printed in black and white, and then I color it (by hand) using alcohol markers.
The second type of hybrid is an "Overdrawing Hybrid." To make this type of card, I use a base image (usually from the internet) and then I draw over the image. Sometimes I leave the base image in place. Other times I do not. I may print the image, mount it on cardstock, and simply add information giving credit to the source. I amay dd mixed media details.

The "Doodle Cat" cards were the first hybrids that I ever made. I've been making Doodle Cat Hybrid (DCH's) cards since 2024.

In 2025, I started making some hybrid cards to share as ATCs-to-Color.

HAND-COLORED HYBRID CARDS

Doodle Cats

I have made DOZENS of hybrid cat cards.

I call them DCH's. (Doodle Cat Hybrids)

As of April 29, 2026, I am using the ninth version of the original digital drawing. All have been hand-colored with alcohol markers.

Doodle Axolotl

The Doodle Axolotl card is the only hybrid card that has a bit of digital color. After coloring the first version of the TIFF file, I decided that those gills are just too hard to color manually. So I made them all bright pink, using Procreate.

A Dozen Digital Deer with Dots...

This card was drawn back in November, when I was a part of two different "Word Prompt a Day" drawing challenges. The word was deer but I could not resist a bit of alliteration!

PRINTED HYBRID CARDS: WITH OR WITHOUT MANUAL DETAILS

Fight! Fight!

For this type of hybrid card, I take an image from the internet, and then add details using Procreate on my iPad. I print the image and add hand-drawn details and, in this case, "fussy-cut" images applied with double-stick tape. (The arm bands and the ropes)

Zora

Digital Overdrawing, using an image found on Facebook.

Inspired by Selma Burke

Another digital overdrawing, but this time I deleted the original image and just kept the overdrawing.

The Making of a "Hybrid for History"

Take a screenshot of a news reel

For the ATC entitled "Shove," I took a screenshot from teh kctv5.com website.

Import it into iMovie

In order to find the right "frame," it is easiest to import the movie into iMovie.

Locate the frame that best tells the story

Take a screenshot of the frame

Import the screenshot into Procreate

Add layers of "over-drawing"

Export the traced layers, minus the original image

Import into Pages

Place the image into Pages, size to 2.54 x 3.55. Add information about the ATC. Export to PDF file.

Print

Add HD overdrawing

Cut. Mount.

Sign and add the QR code

This is what the PDF of "Dinoshovelling" looks like. To download the PDF, click on the image below.

dinoshovelling.pdf

On Facebook, Right Click and "Save As...."

I posted a digital copy of my latest "Hybrid for History" on January 30. I wanted to see if it made any different whether I printed the original TIFF image as it came out of Procreate, or just right-clicked on the Facebook image and chose "Save As..."

In the past, I offered my digital ATCs in PDF form, like the one above. They were ready to print.

But there is very little difference between the TIFF image and the saved FB jpg image when I bring each one into Mac Pages and print.

So here is the image that appeared on Facebook. It's only 258 KB.

The dimensions are 1463 x 2048, which is a little larger than the size of most of the images on this website. (I routinely convert my images to a width of 1080 pixels, using a wonderful app called PhotoResize Pro.)

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