明けましておめでとうございます！今年も宜しくお願いします。Wishing you a very happy Year of the Snake.
This is the final design in the 12 year cycle of Nengazou in the Chinese “zoudiac.”
It didn’t start out to be a series. For 2014, I drew the elephant-as-nordic-horse as a cute pastiche of the Chinese zodiac year, traditional Christmas decorations, and our favorite animal. The next year, an elephant in sheep’s clothing seemed like it would be fun to draw. And from there, I had a series – the Nengazou.
It has been a delight to create them all and send them around the world. In 2020 and 2023 we were in mourning, so following Japanese tradition we didn’t send holiday cards. I still drew a sample card to make sure the set was complete.
