Watch Rachel and her process in creating our first ever series of 2019 Christmas Cards exclusively illustrated for SSCB. They have been kindly donated, drawn, etched, inked & coloured by Edinburgh illustrator Rachel Everitt.
Video: How to illustrate & colour etches for cards
Rachel has illustrated four uniquely colourful Christmas cards featuring special characters gifting presents for our Simpsons Special Care Babies charity:
She has also produced two beautiful generic cards for sending to your loved-ones all year round. Send a "Hello!" message or post a "Tweet" card to let a friend, family member or loved-one know of your news in a hand-written personal way!
SSCB 2019 Christmas Cards & Generic Cards
Rachel's process
"Making these cards for the Simpsons Special Care Babies charity has been a really rewarding experience. Friends of mine were given much support from SSCB and I was really glad to be offered a chance to support the Charity in this way. The SSCB colours - purple and red - appear in each of the images.
It was a fun contrast to be conjuring up winter colours and landscapes in the midst of our summer; it actually had a cooling effect in my small hot stuffy studio! These cards have been produced by firstly creating a drypoint etching on perspex which creates all the fine black lines of the image (this is a process which I really love to work with). I then created a number of separate layers of colour using watercolours and pencil. I scanned these various layers into my computer and worked with Photoshop to bring the etched layer together with the coloured layers."
Rachel Everitt (illustrator)
Short Bio:
Rachel currently works from her studio at Coburg House in Leith, a thriving community of artists. She works predominately with drypoint etching and other printmaking techniques, creating limited editions of prints that are for sale from her studio and website, as well as supplying her work to a small selection of galleries. Rachel also works at the Edinburgh College of Art as a part-time lecturer in the Animation department.
Artist Statement:
‘I love to work with drypoint etching, for me it captures the spontaneous nature of ink over the etched image giving me just the right balance of spontaneity and control for my style of working. I fell in love with drypoint etching during a residency at the Highland Print Studio Inverness in 2007 and have continued working with it since then. I love to draw characters who have a story to tell. My illustrations often feature a central character who is up to something … from a grumpy cone that has fallen from its tree to a sneaky dog cooking up sausages while his owner is out!
Prior to 2007, I worked in hand-drawn animation for many years, and I am interested in the parallels between animating and illustrating. Having a background as an animator has richly enhanced how I approach drawing - animation is, after all, just A LOT of still images presented one after another. When I illustrate, I try to press the 'pause' button at the optimal moment. I often find myself thinking about how my characters would move, how they would sound, and how they would respond to the situation I'm putting them in: I sometimes need to act out a character for research purposes! Capturing a sense of moment, feeling, and personality within a single image is challenging but so incredibly rewarding. Using my illustrations to make people smile or to reflect, and to transport them somewhere beyond the ‘now’, is what drives me.’
For more information visit www.racheleveitt.co.uk