I have a big heart for cats of all kinds. I currently own an extra spicy orange variety.
I love dogs too! Perhaps there will be a dog calendar in the near future.
If you are a fan of the Forest Friends then you will notice several easter eggs in this new calendar.
Crazy, I know. It was a lot of work. Once an idea is in my head I need to work on it until it comes to fruitiion. This one was planned before the cats calendar. If you purchased the past Forest Friends advent calendars you will see why I did this one. It is sort of almost a prequel to those. There are A LOT of easter eggs in this one. Especially for Forest Friends fans.
Spencer is a long running character of mine that I started drawing years ago. I wanted a character that I could easily draw in a variety of scenes and actions and I have always been drawn to the mouse type of characters.
My best friend named him. I sometimes run into a roadblock with names. She's much better at it than I.
I love animals and nature and around August-September of 2021 I wanted to do something fun for my friends and family. Years ago I developed a series of online advent calendars that centered around a mouse named “Spencer.” I received such great feedback and it had been a while since that was done that I wanted to revive the advent calendar project and bring something unique to the table.Growing up with Advent Calendars and seeing how they have expanded over the years to incorporate things like chocolates, beauty items, jams, coffees, legos and whatnot I wanted to go back to the basics and bring some simplicity and custom art and design that I felt would make people smile.
While there are many “paper door style” advent calendars on the market and produced in large quantities by big box stores or companies with funding I knew it would be a challenge to keep the cost of printing and development affordable. My background in graphic design, pre-press setup and printing has been crucial to bringing this to reality.
I tend to think logically, I wanted the animals in the first calendar to be animals that would be seen or be hibernating in the winter in the midwestern states (I am originally from Wisconsin). Each animal was researched and placed accordingly in the calendar.
Simple answer...calendar logistics. I wanted to have a bear but door placement, and size was a factor and it wasn’t going to work with the design I was using, unfortunately.
I wanted the gifted item in the first calendar to stand out. I wanted the red item to be the focus. When too many colors are introduced you-the-viewer lose the focus on the art and illustration. If you have ever seen the movie “Schindler’s List” you will very well know the impact of what a muted background and one solitary color can do.
This is not meant to hurt feelings or exclude anyone in any way, shape or form. It’s simply how I address (think of) most animals. Some people will name their cars with female names or vice versa… Have you ever met another person while walking your dog and have them just “guess” at the gender of your animal, 90% of the time it’s male attribution. It’s just simply a habit for me personally.
I think everyone does it from the time we are little, children have great imaginations and as adults I think it’s just fun to play with ideas. This is in know way is related to any religious beliefs I may have. It's just a fun thing to do.
The first calendar was quick, 2+ months of working in the evenings a couple hours here and there. The concept came fluidly and the animals and design happened pretty quick.Calendar 2 took a little longer, thoughts of wether or not the same animals would carry over and how much I would deviate from traditional illustration to “whimsical” style and overall theme were noodled on. This was started very early in the year and the calendar was completed in design by June/July.
Calendar 3 was the hardest of them all. This was started in December of 2022 and started out with a completely different theme (A Tree Farm). When that initial theme would not come together with my vision I switched to the current "Tree Trim" theme. All of the drawings were completed by early June. There is about 60+ hours of illustration work. And there will be probably just as much in testing and final assembly.
I know what you are thinking, it's the door cutting---nope. THE THEME. Working out the overall theme, if it will work with each animal, if the doors will fit and work with the overall design. Again, I think logically. I want each door to have a purpose.
It would cost a lot to have a die made for each calendar to have them mechanically cut at the press. I don’t mind cutting the doors. In 2022 I hand cut over 10,000 doors. In 2023, this number will likely reach 150,000+.
- The spider with the Santa hat appears in all three calendars.
- Each animal has the same red item that they got as a gift in the first calendar in the 2nd and 3rd calendar.
- The coffee cups that appear all have the same logo, it’s a pine tree. I started putting a FFC under it. (Forest Friends Coffee) hmmmm, I may do something with this down the line. It will likely appear in new calendars coming up.
His name is Spencer! He has been a character of mine I have used over the years and he appears in many projects of mine. I am also planning on a paper-door calendar of just him sometime soon! Maybe 2025. While he is not the traditional style of the other drawings, I wanted him to be a part of the Forest Friends family.
There's so many to choose from. I do like the turkey, he's goofy and I see them regularly in my backyard. One day he may just show up in a Christmas sweater, who knows.
Etsy | Redbubble | Coffee | Upwork | fiverr
(989) 387-0512 • Email