Christopher Pop-In-Kins™: Santa's Very First Children's Elf!

Brian: The Illustrator

Beautiful New Illustrations For A Timeless Tale

Brian Bradway joined the Imaginatives team in 2006 as the VP of Creative Services and Illustrator. Rick Johnson, son of author Flora Johnson and CEO of Imaginatives asked Brian to join the team to create beautiful new illustrations for the timeless story of Christopher Pop-In-Kins. Brian was thrilled to accept the project.

“I was also pretty dang scared”, said Brian Bradway. “Christopher Pop-In-Kins had become a holiday tradition for families across our country before I came on the scene, and it was very important that I didn’t mess this up.”

From the start, it was extremely important to Brian to create illustrations that were true to the original story and the vision that Flora had for Christopher Pop-In-Kins. So much so that Brian kept the original books and Christopher dolls nearby as the creative process unfolded.

“I studied several versions of the hand made books and hand sewn Christopher dolls that Flora had saved over the years”, said Brian. “She and her family made thousands of these books and dolls around the kitchen table in the 20 years before her passing in 2005, and it was vital that the illustrations I created to accompany this well-loved Christmas tale embraced the original story.”

The laborious and joyful process of creating the illustrations for Christopher Pop-In-Kins took place over many months, and took several forms before the final illustrations were completed.

“Christopher had to be just right”, explains Brian. “Flora created him to inspire immediate affection from the reader. I wanted the illustrations of Christopher to be a near exact representation of the Christopher doll that comes with the book set. So, I created three-dimensional illustrations in the style of the Pixar films. I wanted to make sure that the art the children would see in the book would look just like the Christopher doll that they found hiding in their home during the holiday season, but Rick and the team really loved the pencil drawn character sheets I designed for Christopher and Santa early on.”

“Taking my inspiration from the classic cartoons and animated holiday specials from greats like Rankin-Bass, Charles Schultz and the teams at Walt Disney, I tried to blend these concepts”, continued Brian. “My goal was to create characters that would stand the test of time, and that would be of the same caliber as the other great animated characters of our century. I sincerely hope that people will love them as much as I do.”

Brian Bradway is President of Bradway Creative. His 18 years in the advertising business as an illustrator, designer and creative director have earned him recognition from The Advertising Association, the Telly Awards, and Billboard Magazine. Brian lives in Alliance, Ohio with his wife Missy and his three sons, Trent, Alec and Nicholas.