When it came to our 2015 Envoy holiday e-mail card, we decided to throw caution to the wind and be more radical than we’ve ever been. We decided that we would be … earnest.

I know, shocking.

So we decided to try to capture a scene of peace and calm that embodied the spirit of the “Giving” season, and maybe just a bit of wonderment as well.

Old-School Craftsmanship

In the end, we decided to create an original work, animated in the manner used in all of our favorite holiday specials — from Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer to Santa Claus is Coming to Town. Think real props, backdrops and models photographed in stop-motion instead of the computer animation used in almost all of today’s animated features.

Our Senior Writer/Producer, Patrick White, together with Tom Sain, Envoy’s VP of Creative Services, spearheaded the effort from concept to conclusion. So we blocked out a week of Tom’s time to paint a winter scene of a secluded cabin in a snow-covered forest clearing.

Over the next few days, Tom locked himself away in his basement studio — sketching, painting, cutting and gluing. Then, frame-by-frame, what was once just an idea became real.

Oftentimes, it’s the details that make the difference, and we believe that was the case here. Dan, our Senior Web Developer and resident devil’s advocate, pointed out that the animation looked so good that most people would probably think it was all done with computers, rather than by hand.

Now, thanks to the addition of some behind-the-scenes photos, the truth is out.

In the end, simpler is almost always better. And if you’ve had a bright holiday season and want to share the spirit with others who haven’t been so lucky, we encourage you to do so.

Happy Holidays from all of us here at Envoy.