Sometime ago, Carol (aka carolreader) received a special postcard from Anneliese (aka illustransit). It depicted an anonymous person on a Portland bus, which had been hand-drawn by the sender during her commute. Carol told us she was floored by the quality of Anneliese's illustrations, and that we ought to check them out.

Discovering Anneliese's work has been magic. We loved the idea of these remarkable and unique postcards, and decided to ask her about them.

A couple of years ago, Anneliese donated her car, and started taking the bus to and from work. Reading in motion made her woozy, so on her new-found commute time, she decided to observe instead:

I love watching people during this time, when they are between places, simultaneously in public and in solitude, both guarded and naked. Their posture, their fidgeting, whether they engage or avoid eye contact, their exhaustion, and their anticipation. I think about where they might be headed, where they’re coming from, and what kind of day they might be having. I spend so much time observing these people, that I decided to draw them.

The format for these portraits is the postcard. After documenting a bus-rider, I drop the postcard in the mail to a stranger somewhere else in the world. For me, there’s something incredibly motivating about drawing for another person. I hope that whomever receives these postcards enjoys them. And I hope you enjoy looking at them!

What a nice way to spend your commute time! Well done, Anneliese! Too see more of her illustrated postcards, check out her website.

Many Postcrossers and postcard lovers from all over the world have been devout fans of Diddl the Mouse for quite some time now. You may be wondering who Diddl is and how he was created... well, fear not – we have all of the answers right here for you!

Diddl the Mouse was created by German artist Thomas Goletz in 1990. Goletz had always loved to draw and create new characters and after studying as a graphic artist, he was doodling one day when he came up with Diddl. Of course, the first Diddl was a little different than the mouse that we all know and love today. The very first Diddl was a larger kangaroo with no name. He had on Diddl the Mouse’s famous overalls, but other than that, he was pretty different.

After playing around with this eccentric kangaroo character, Goletz transformed him into a jumping mouse, who was smaller and could fit inside of coffee cups and pieces of cheese. Goletz gave him the name Diddl, because he wanted something cute and short, and he liked the goofy sound that Diddl makes as it rolls of your tongue. Diddl is defined by his kooky sense of humor, fun-loving nature and jumping behavior. He has very large ears and large pink-soled feat.

Goletz began working with stationery and toy manufacturer Depesche to mass produce cards, calendars and many other things, all featuring Diddl. Goletz also created friends and relatives for the mouse, including his girlfriend Diddlina. Today, Diddl and his friends are some of the most popular cartoon characters in Austria, Germany or Switzerland. In the Netherlands, Diddl's many adventures are featured in a monthly publication called “Diddl’s Kaasblad”.

You can learn more about Diddl and the rest of his friends on the Diddlmania website.

We've discovered Irwin Terry's wonderful blog by accident, but were instantly captivated by his passion and dedication to illustrator Edward Gorey. As his works are featured in so many postcards, we invited Irwin to write a post about this famous American artist. :) So tell us Irwin, who was Edward Gorey?

Edward Gorey (1925 - 2000) was an American illustrator, writer and humorist who lived in New York City and Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Mr. Gorey wrote and illustrated over 100 books, illustrated hundreds of books for other authors, provided the animation for Mystery! on PBS, and won a Tony Award for the 1979 Broadway production of Dracula. He was also a postcard aficionado, promoter, and a postcard collector. From an early age, Mr. Gorey created and sent interesting correspondence to friends and family, much of which was embellished by hand.

In 1976 he created his first set of postcard images titled The Broken Spoke which appeared in Sports Illustrated and was also published in book form. He went on to create and publish sets of postcards with themes ranging from Neglected Murderesses to Scene de Ballet. From 1984 to 1996, Mr. Gorey created a special annual post card for National Post Card Week. When designing postcards, Edward Gorey took the nom de plume of Dogear Wyrde, one of the many anagram names he created.

Due to his signature style of drawing and amusing images, many of his illustrations have been used as postcard images. Today, the best place to find/purchase Edward Gorey - illustrated postcards is The Edward Gorey House museum in Yarmouthport, MA. The gift shop at the museum sells over 50 different postcard images as well as books of postcards created by Mr. Gorey.

For more information on Mr. Gorey, his postcard images and his work, you can visit my Edward Gorey collecting blog.

If you have ever seen an Anne Taintor postcard, mug, or greeting card, you would know. Her website tagline is, “Making Smart People Smile Since 1985”. Taintor takes classic photographs and old-fashioned drawings and adds clever words to them, in a newsprint style. For example, her very first piece used an old picture from a National Geographic magazine photo. The photo shows a businessman type wearing a pressed collared shirt, shorts and dress socks. He is with two women in classy dresses and they are standing on a balcony overlooking some exotic location. She clipped out the newsprint worlds, “intellectuals gone bad.” It was funny and offbeat and spawned many more creations.

How did Anne come up with her kooky collages? According to her website, it was 1985 and Taintor had suddenly gone from a stay-at-home mom to being the sole breadwinner of her household. She needed to make money – and fast. She went to a career counselor, where she was asked what skills she had. Her response? “I can make collages.”

She started from there, cutting out magazine photos and making collages. She clipped the words and added them, poking fun at society and gender roles. She even started typing her own words instead of simply cutting them from magazines! She was told to give up many times, but Anne persevered. Her style is defined by clever and witty observations of images from the past that many people would simply have taken at face value, but she turns the image on its side and points out the hilarity of the situation!

Today, Taintor is well-known and her many classic creations make people chuckle all over the world. You can find more of her work on Amazon.com, as well as in gift shops and greeting card stores everywhere.

Over the years, we have received a lot of questions about Dick Bruna and his Miffy character. This little rabbit has been tugging at our heartstrings for some time now, so we wanted to find out more about who Bruna is and where Miffy comes from.

Dick Bruna is a Dutch artist who was born in the Dutch province of Utrecht in 1927. He came from a long line of publishers, as his great-grandfather started a publishing company called A.W. Bruna & Zoon in 1866, which was then passed down through the family for many generations. It grew to be one of the largest publishing companies in the Netherlands under the management of Bruna’s father, Albert Bruna. Bruna’s first job was as an artist, creating covers for books at his father’s publishing company.

In the late 1950s, the Miffy (Nijntje in Dutch) character was born. Bruna has said that his inspiration for the white, Hello Kitty-esque rabbit was from a rabbit that he observed hopping around his vacation home while he was with his children and his wife. Bruna wanted to take the image of the rabbit and turn him into cartoon form. From there, the image of Miffy was born. Of course, Miffy has gone through a number of subtle transformations throughout the years, yet Bruna has still stuck to the same basic, happy-go-lucky rabbit that so many people have fallen in love with.

Bruna went on to create more than 120 books, most of which are about the fluffy bunny that is Miffy. Readers have come to truly identify with this female rabbit because she is drawn in a very simplistic style. She is not complicated for children to identify with, and her sweet stories have inspired millions. Bruna’s style is defined by simple, clean lines and basic shapes that are very non-threatening for children.

Miffy is now a popular character, not only on books but on greeting cards and postcards as well, bringing cheer wherever she goes. For more about Bruna and Miffy, visit Miffy’s website. And if you're ever in Utrecht, don't miss the Dick Bruna museum!