Snowman: my process

I really enjoy seeing the creative process of other illustrators. It makes me feel like a fly on the wall of their studio. It's so inspiring and I usually learn so much! So I thought I would return the favor and share with you my creative process with the creation of the illustration The Not So Abominable Snowman.

1- I first start with doodling some concepts. Here I finally choose this idea of the snowman eating some popsicles. I liked the color palette that the popsicles brought to the illustration and the repetition of shapes between the popsicles and the teeth. The general idea was that the snowman is so comfy, happy and warm in the North Pole that he enjoys eating some popsicles to cool off. Plus, for me, this concept has a little touch of global warming awareness. In some way, it shows that the North Pole is geting so warm that even the Snowman needs to cool off.

2- Once the concept is chosen and the doodle with the final composition is done, I scan the drawing and import it into photoshop.

3- Then, I do a lot of image search. I have a very big collection of old engraving and I go trough it in search of the perfect eyes, nose, etc.

4- Once I have found my images, I placed them on my doodle in photoshop at the right size and angle.

5- I then print the result on bristol paper with the doodle at 10% opacity

6- Now it's time to draw everything else. I use my micron pen and some white gouache to get the wanted result. In this case, there was a lot of fur to draw. Once I'm finished, I then scan everything and clean it up with photoshop

7- the final step is adding the color and voilà with have a not so abominable snow man

Hope you enjoyed seeing my creative process.

I use various technique but this gives you a pretty good idea of the way I work