Idea sketches are made on bits of paper, like the backs of high school choir concert programs and church bulletins. Where do Mick's ideas come from? We think that's a question best left unexplored.
Extensive research and preliminary sketches are done for each card. These particular drawings were made while Professor Mick's students slaved over an Art Appreciation final exam.
The drawing is refined and resized. This process is not unlike trying to pack a week's worth of clothing in an overnight bag.
The drawing is lightly traced or transferred onto museum board.
The card is painted with watercolor. Mick uses a pretty good #6 round watercolor brush. None of those tiny brushes for Mick.
Final inking and paint touch-up. The card is now ready for inspection and approval by our rigorous quality control team. (For instance, our quality control team just noticed the string of geese flying in the distance was left out of the final card, darn!) Once inspection is passed the card is scanned, cropped, adjusted, uploaded and listed on ebay. This process results in the quality you have come to expect and pretty much guarantees your money's worth regardless of the amount of your impetuous bid.