Antlers are the interesting part
Antlers are the only shape on a Christmas colouring sheet that genuinely branches, and children treat them differently to everything else. The head study makes them the subject: a large pair of antlers with eight to twelve separate tines, each one an enclosed area that can take its own shade.
If a child finds the tines too narrow, print at the heaviest line weight. The thicker outline eats into each tine slightly and makes the gaps noticeably easier to work in.
Harness, bells and the sleigh team
The harness design adds straps, buckles and a row of bells, which gives a reason to use metallics or a second brown. The two reindeer team is the sheet to print at A3, because at A4 the second animal gets small enough to be fiddly.
There is no named reindeer anywhere in the set and no red nose. The drawings are generic animals, which keeps them usable in schools that avoid branded characters.
Printing for mixed ages
The plain outline and the head study at heavy weight cover ages three to five. The standing figure and resting designs suit six to nine. The harness and team designs are for anyone older, including adults, especially at the lighter line weights.
Questions
- How many reindeer designs are there?
- Seven: head and antlers, standing reindeer, reindeer in harness with bells, a two reindeer team, reindeer with sleigh, a resting reindeer, and a plain outline for very young children.
- Are the antlers too detailed for a young child?
- At the default line weight they can be. Set the line weight to heavy, which thickens the outlines and widens each tine, or use the plain outline design instead.
- Do the sheets include named characters?
- No. Every reindeer is drawn as a generic animal with no name and no red nose, so the sheets are safe to use in schools that avoid branded characters.
- Can I print a reindeer large enough for a display?
- Yes. The two reindeer team and the standing figure both print well at A3 from the same PDF, since the artwork is vector and scales without softening.