Little artist Jack and brothers draw festive design for Sick Kids

Except that is for Jack Henderson... and his two brothers.

The renowned pint-sized artist has joined forces with the Henderson clan to create a fundraising Christmas card for the Sick Kids Friends Foundation.

The design by the Prestonpans trio features a jolly Santa following in Jack’s footsteps and wielding a pencil of his own.

Dad Ed Henderson said: “I think they [Sick Kids] just said Jack could draw something Christmassy, but I did say to him, ‘Maybe let’s not draw a Transformer, or Doctor Who, or a hedgehog’.”

Seven-year-old Jack shot to fame earlier in the year when he first put pen to paper to raise money for the hospital treating his baby brother Noah for bouts of bronchiolitis. He offered to draw pictures in return for donations and it grew into a fundraising campaign which has brought in £32,000 for the hospital.

The Christmas card – entitled Santa Draws Anything – is as festive as they come, but was actually created in the summer while Jack and brothers Noah, two, and Toby, three, were enjoying hot weather at home, in order to meet the print deadline.

Mr Henderson said: “I think it was August he drew it, because he sat in his shorts with no T-shirt on and he’d just had an ice lolly, and he was drawing Santa.

“His brothers also helped him, there’s a star in the top that Toby drew, and one star that Noah drew.

“I think it was only when we got the cards we’d ordered for ourselves that he saw it as a Christmas card, and I think he thought it was pretty cool.”

After celebrity backing from the likes of actor David Tennant, rock star Brian May, and The Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart who asked him to draw an album cover, last month the Cockenzie Primary pupil finally laid down his pencils to return to life as a regular seven-year-old.

Chief executive of the Sick Kids Friends Foundation, Maureen Harrison, said: “When Jack did his first drawing and it was obvious how popular they were going to be, we happened to be thinking about our Christmas cards.

“It struck us that this would be a huge opportunity, given how popular Jack’s drawings were.”

Mum Rose said she was very pleased with the finished design: “I was absolutely delighted to see that Jack has come up with a really original take on Christmas.

“All of his drawings are quite remarkable and original and he’s kept that up with Santa Draws Anything.”

Each year the charity sells a range of fundraising cards, including one bearing an image of something in Edinburgh, which this year has been replaced with Jack’s design.

The cards are available from the charity’s website, www.edinburghsickkids.org, its shop in the hospital’s main corridor, or from 0131-668 4949. They come in two sizes, costing £3.50 or £4 for a pack of 10.