Happy Easter!

It's Easter again and just like last year, this past weekend it was time for my friends annual Ukrainian Easter feast & egg making egg-stravaganza! This year I decided to make an all dotted egg. Can you spot mine in the photo? Look at all those beautiful eggs we made. So pretty. Then I noticed that one of the easter eggs that my bunny is holding on the Easter Card is dotted too! :)

When I was in Germany earlier on in the year there were already tons of Easter candies for sale. Here are just a few of the little cute ladybugs I just had to bring back with me. I always loved these when I was just a wee one and even these days though I now eat very little chocolate, I just can't resist them.  Happy Easter & Start to Spring everyone and Click here for our Free Downloadable Easter Colouring Cards! 

New Things!

We have new things in the shop and they are all about Colouring! First up I'd like to introduce you to our brand new Colouring Party Invites! Thinking about throwing a party? Now you can have a party before the real party even starts when you're colouring in our new Party Invites! After you're done colouring, fill out all the info on the back and distribute to your awesome friends. Now there's only one more thing that needs to be done. Party on!

 

Want to do some colouring at the party too? How about giving our new Colour Me - Sticker Packs a go? Each pack comes with 20 totally different stickers that you can colour any way you want. Some sticker packs might even vary so that you can trade with your friends. Stickers, Colouring, Trading...What's not to like?

Inspiration: Antique Toys

It's always great for me to go back to Germany and visit. This time I visited three separate antique toy exhibitions. There is something about great toys that is so beautiful and magical even to this day for me. I can't quite describe the feeling but in a nutshell I don't think it's changed much since when I was just a wee one. Still the same awe, the desire to own them and the cheer satisfactory feeling to look at them in all their beauty. Of course not all toys, only the most beautiful ones, which are those with the most character I find. So full of personality, they come to life.  

Of course I always bring my sketchbook and sneak my camera in on those visits. Here are a few pictures of some toys that already brought joy to kids and adults alike hundreds of years ago and a drawing of a doll in all of her fancy that I made while there. Drawing some of these toys of course  inspired me onto other projects... but then I don't think that this is specific to the subject matter. I do think it specific to the process of drawing. Draw something and it will turn into something else... and inspire you to draw more... that's the beauty of drawing. Why don't you try drawing a favorite toy sometime and see what happens? Send us a picture of it! We'd love it! 

Bad Weather? We've got just the ticket!

Here in Vancouver it's been raining quite a bit lately but don't let it get you down! After you're done splishing and splooshing around in the puddles for the day and and before turning into one yourself , get ready for some 'serious' creative time with our Mask Colouring Book! Colour to your hearts delight and turn into a cat, a lion a train conductor, a princess, a dog, a fairy and tons of other fun characters! It even comes with elastics, so that once you've coloured your mask all you have to do is cut it out and you're ready to play! What does a train conductor do all day? Now you'll be able to find out! Rain? What rain?

Then and Now...

On my recent trip to Germany where I grew up, I visited a friend of mine who I hadn't seen since we were both about 12 years old. It was a really great experience and even though we only had a few hours together we got along as if I hadn't left at all. Funny how friendships can be that way, frozen in time until you pick them back up somewhere someplace. She now has the sweetest little two year old boy.  I of course brought a few presents along one of them being this Colouring Postcard Booklet. She laughed when she saw it and showed me a friendship book of hers from way back when, where I had drawn a couple of horses for her. 'You still draw exactly like you used to!" she said and laughed. I really could almost not believe how much the same the drawings were. Down to the love of putting dots on horses. Still in tact.  I guess some things never change. That made me really happy.

Away on Holiday & Valentines!

I will be taking a short creative refueling leave from the shop, and so any orders you place online between Jan.31st-Feb.13th will be shipped promptly after the 14th of February. There might even be a little extra surprise in your order :)
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Speaking of the 14th of February... here is a sneak peak at our selection of Valentines this year around. They won't be available online, however if you're here in Vancouver they are already ready for you to pick up at some of our awesome retailers such as The Window Community Shop, Dilly Dally Kids, Bird on A Wire as well as our brand new retailers Brick & Mortar in New Westminster and Proper Topper in Washington DC for all of our US friends! Go and pick one up for that special someone!...you know who:)

Winter Time & What's A Good Drawing?

It's winter time here at Draw Me A Lion headquarters and I mostly sit in my studio with my trusty and fuzzy studio assistant thinking up new projects and ideas for the upcoming year.

One thing I always make sure of with all of the things I design for my line is that they can't be too perfect if you know what I mean. I always pay attention to keep that handmade feel, especially in my drawings. It's important for me that someone can look at a drawing and have it be fun to look at, in a way that makes them go..."Oh, maybe I could do that..." and then take it from there. When a drawing is too complicated and detailed this doesn't happen as easily.

I think the thing that stops so many people, especially adults from drawing, is this whole idea of the drawing needing to be 'good', ... and usually what they really mean by that is that their drawing needs to look as realistic as possible. For example, if you draw a chair and it looks exactly like a chair then it's a 'good' drawing. I however think just the opposite. To me what makes a drawing of a chair good is if it looks totally different than any old chair that I could just snap a quick picture of with my phone. Who needs a drawing of a chair that actually looks like a chair? Boring I say!  Give me a drawing of a chair that has wings, or a chair that can move and run around with a person, or a drawing of a chair with a hat, or a face, or with wheels, or with totally crazy wild colours or anything else you can imagine. Because I think THAT'S really what drawing is all about.. Imagination. Try is sometime won't you?

Here is a photo of me, of my studio assistant taking a nap and a drawing I did of me in my studio. If you want to  see more of me in my studio you can watch this short movie here that was made in warmer times not that long ago.