[11th Day of GIFmas] Drunken Vatican Christmas Party

Scorpion Dagger's compilation of Christmas mishaps and naughty Vatican employees.

December 30, 2015, 7:45pm

The holidays are upon us and 2016 is nipping at our heels. The only decision harder than what gift to get your grandmother is what GIF to attach to inter-office emails and Slack threads. We've gathered some of the most festive GIF artists on the net for a series called 12 Days of GIFmas. We'll shine a red and green spotlight on the creative process behind these shareable bites of holiday cheer.

Few GIF artists combine Renaissance art and modern humor quite like James Kerr, a.k.a., Scorpion Dagger. His signature style reminds us of those paper animation scenes from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, lending itself all too well to Christmas-themed GIFs of heraldry and tales of old.

This year, we got a special compilation of Kerr's favorite Christmas GIFs. They're a great representation of the holiday spirit, with some of that good-natured fucked up-ness we've come to know and love about Scorpion Dagger.

We caught up with Kerr to find out more behind his thought process and what he associates with the holidays.

A video posted by JamesScorpionDaggerKerr (@scorpiondagger) on Dec 15, 2015 at 11:25am PST

The Creators Project: Can you briefly explain the idea behind the GIF?

James Kerr: I've always tried to get a holiday themed GIF out around Christmas, but seeing as this year i've been so busy, I figured I'd just do a compilation-type thing of some of my favourites from the past few years. The first one (with the tree and fireplace) was something I did for Hyperallergic that's based on something happened when I was a teenager. A few friends and I were out drinking beers in the snow at a park on Christmas break, and we decided to pop in to a friend's house in the neighborhood to warm up a little bit. Two seconds after getting in the door, a light came on in the kitchen, and there was our friend's dad in the buff. He looked over at us, jaw dropped, shut off the light and ran away.

The one with the guy passed out under the tree is a play on a text I got from my brother telling me that my nephew knocked over the tree at their house, and I sort of imagined this drunk-like little dude running amok and ruining Christmas. Not that he was drunk or anything, but you know how little ones are sometimes—it's as if they are. The last one with the guy sitting on the Xerox was me imagining what the Vatican staff party might be like if it's at all like other office parties I've heard about.

Run me through the process of creating the piece. What tools/techniques did you use?

It's all Photoshop. Once I've decided on what to make, I riffle through all the saved images I have and then set out to make the thing come to life. It's a lot of cutting and pasting.

A video posted by JamesScorpionDaggerKerr (@scorpiondagger) on Oct 29, 2015 at 1:58pm PDT

What kind of stuff do you have planned for 2016?

Oh, man. I don't know. There's so many things I want to do. I'd really like to get back to making more traditional, static, paper and glue type of collages. I say this all the time, but maybe this is the year I actually do it. One thing I know for sure I want to do is to get back to posting GIFs on my site a bit more regularly. 2015 was such an incredible year, and it definitely kept me busy. Not complaining, but I didn't have as much time as I would've liked to play around with the silly things I like to post on Scorpion Dagger. I miss it.

How are you celebrating the holidays?

By trying not to drink too much, getting naked, and having my girlfriend find me passed out under the tree! In all seriousness, I love this time of year and am super looking forward to hanging out with friends and family. It looks like we might have a full house between Xmas and New Years with people visiting from out of town, and I'm really looking forward to the good food and even better company that comes with that.