Carol, W1LGU, already had a cartoon QSL that reflected her phonetics — “Little Green Umbrella” — but wanted something more polished. That’s when she contacted me.
I used Carol’s basic design, refining its composition and adding touches specific to her station, including cartoon versions of her Heil microphone and Kenwood TS-590 transceiver. I also ensured that her code key was front-and-center because she’s a hardcore CW operator. Finally, I put as much green into the card as humanly possible.
I finished it yesterday, to Carol’s delight: “It is definitely exactly what I had hoped for in a QSL card,” she told me via email. “I can’t tell you how happy I am to have found you!”
Coincidentally, this almost-all-green-card went to press today — on St. Patrick’s Day. Were leprechauns responsible? Probably.
My latest QSL commission came from John, K0WIT, whose Colorado QTH is practically in the shadow of Pikes Peak. That meant I had to draw the mountain from a specific vantage point — as it would be seen from Woodland Park – to keep the card accurate. I also drew his specific antenna, an Alpha Delta Fan Dipole.
Actually, he’s not a lumberjack, but David, VK2CDG, does chop wood for a living. David’s business card has cartoon clip art on it showing a man madly chopping logs, and he wanted it adapted for his QSL. This seemed like the obvious way to draw it. Note the sulphur-crested cockatoo and the koala, both native to Australia and both suggested by David to give his QSL some local flavor.
This cartoon QSL was fun to draw. Pete, K0BAK, operates a lot from the road and wanted an all-purpose card usable for any activity from any QTH. Because it’s best to operate from as high as possible, I placed him and his Honda van on top of a plateau. Maybe the mountain goat on the other plateau knows how he got there.
When Kuwaiti ham-radio operator Bader, 9K2BM, asked me to draw a QSL that showed his shack in detail and him drawn realistically, honestly, I hesitated. I’ve always felt cartooning, not illustration, was my strength, and I like to stick to my strengths. But Bader insisted, so I took the challenge and did my best to do him justice. Bader was remarkably patient as I worked through the process, and I’m grateful. It was a pleasure to draw this card.
This illustration was commissioned as a Christmas gift by the daughter of Larry Staples, W0AIB. A respected ham in the Kansas City area, Larry is founder and editor of Larry’s List, a well-known ham-radio email information service.
Attorney and long-time ham Dan, K0FD, had been off the air for 30 years when the bug bit him again. When he contacted me to create a new QSL for him, he wanted it to show his other passion: kayaking.
