Red Envelopes
Years of the Snake & Dragon
I've started an annual tradition to illustrate custom red envelopes for each lunar new year. I love this tradition because it helps me feel connected to my culture and childhood as a Chinese-American. (红包拿来, please)
For 2025, I illustrated "the year of the snake in bloom" — and for 2024, I created "the year of the coquette dragon."
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you can find it here.
Year of the Coquette Dragon (2024)
In this first year, I created a few envelope designs: a coquette dragon, and two bows. These were all riso-printed in Taiwan.
Year of the Snake in Bloom (2025)
In this second year, I designed my snake in bloom — an ode to starting a fresh new year, as that snakes represent rebirth. I also created a secondary design of "moonlit peonies," drawing peonies (considered lucky in my culture as a Chinese-American) with that Sailor Moon-esque magical vibe.
I designed this year's snake envelope to compositionally pair well with the prior year's dragon envelope. They are friends!
Also, one of my favorite details was customizing the 福 character on the back with each design. Auspicious~
I'm excited to draw 2026's designs — the year of the fire horse!
