Hybrid Cards

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A Little Bit of Background....

I started to write about the type of card that I call HYBRID... but decided that for background, I needed to discuss the various terms artists use when making art using a computer. So if you are interested, the article about the definitions of digital is here. And this article will be about my hybrid cards.

I often draw cards with lots of little casually-drawn figures. (Note the use of the word casually-drawn instead of poorly-drawn!)

I call these cards "Doodle Cards." Most often, the figures that I draw are cats. I like cats. I collect cat cards. So I make a lot of doodle cats. Figure A below shows a hand-drawn Doodle Cat.

The Doodle Cat has become one of my "signature designs." I enjoy making HD doodle cat cards, but my seventy-year-old arm no longer feels good after making all of those little dots. But the little dots are a necessary-part-of-the-design.

So I decided to try making doodle cats on my iPad. Figure B is the current version of the Doodle Cat Design. It is still evolving.

When I PRINT one of the digitally-drawn doodle cat images, I enjoy coloring it in, using alchol markers. The resulting ATC is a mix of digital and hand-made, so I call it a hybrid card.

A

B

C

Want to see a whole BUNCH of Doodle Cats? Check this page.

Digital Cards vs Hybrid Cards

Usually, I like to draw a design in black and white and then color it with alcohol markers. This is a hybrid card.

But in January, I decided to make my first 100% digital card with color. I like how it looks online, but when printed by my relatively-inexpensive printer, it is MUCH less appealing than the hybrid card.

Digital

Hybrid

Here's a photo showing how the printed cards look compared to the hybrid card:

And here is the PDF I made from the digital images:

I am really pleased with the concept of hybrid cards.

I love sharing my work, and I love it even MORE now that I have a process for sharing files instead of physical cards.

I made the "I Have a Dream" images for an ATART, and offered the PDF to anyone who wanted it. Two people DID reply and it was fun to share the art work.

I have also posted this piece of art on my personal Facebook page. It was tempting to go back and offer it on one of the trading boards... but I just can't go back to that kind of trading. I have enjoyed making art SO much more since leaving social-media-trading.