December 22, 2008

Good News

I hope everybody received their Christmas card alright. I understand that it isn’t as straightforward as most cards people give and as such I would like to hear everyone’s interpretation whether they are funny, critical, or simply simple. I have already got a couple of really hilarious readings of it so far and will post them soon. (if you haven't got it yet, it should be coming shortly, I think I sent it to everyone I know who reads my blog)

6 comments:

Brian Franklin said...

If I had been a shepherd that night, I would have definitely been afraid of the angel with light shooting out of his eyes.

But seriously, great card. Imposing, glorious, even frightening angels - that's the kind of angels that appeared. If they had been blonde and girly-looking, the angels would have said, "gawk-not." If they had been little annoying cherub-babies, the angels would have said "Coo not!" But they were scary, and so they had to say "Fear not!"

I'm guessing a couple shepherds had to go change their tunics after this incident.

Joshua Butcher said...

Definitely the best Christmas card I've ever received Jacob! Hannah was wondering how long it took you to complete?

Like Brian, I thought the angels were appropriately awful (in the old sense of that word) to behold.

Jacob Haynes said...

Josh-
Conceptually I have been working on it for over a year (at one point it was supposed to be last year's Christmas card). But the actual pen to paper time was probably around ten hours (spaced out over a month) with a couple of more hours spent laying it out in the computer.

ninepoundhammer said...

I was surprised that I actually understood the intent of the card from the get-go. (I am not prone to 'getting' abstracts.) Great presentation and idea--fantastic artwork!

We recently studied the section on angels in the Westminster Larger Catechism and we made a point of discussing the pop-culture version vs. the Biblical version of angels. I think you captured the scary nature of God's messengers spot on.

The only thing that confused me was the bull's head in the crowd. (But I just chalked that up to the aforementioned inability to grasp the abstract.)

Great work--and thanks for thinking enough of us to send us a copy!

Merry Christ-mas to you and yours.

Jacob Haynes said...

Matt-
As for the Bull's head: I was drawing imagery from Revelation and Ezekiel. (the presence of a man, an ox, a lion, and a eagle) Note that it is purely visual imagery (meaning I wanted some cool scary faces in the crowd) and not an eschatological statement.

Also, I am glad that it worked out that I didn’t illustrate a scene with the Christ child in it so that I was able to send one to both you and Josh.

ninepoundhammer said...

That's where you got me, Jacob. I was thinking in terms of Revelation but, because it was a Christ-mas card, I got confused.

I need to learn to think outside the box more. (If that is, in fact, something a person can 'learn' to do.)

All of that is to say--you did a great job on the card, both in terms of artistry and thoughtfulness.