Drawing a lot of Santa1 portraits taught me important lessons about which features to get right, lest we find our names on his naughty list. I’m excited to share my new Santa drawing secrets with you!
His mustache curls upward.
If you want to capture his jolliness in all its iconic glory, this mustache curl is crucial. If you don’t you’ll have a sad Santa.
Change and limit materials.
We can say more with less, sometimes. Take it from me, the materials maximalist — too many fun art toys to choose from can lead to overthinking and overworking a drawing, instead of practicing and learning.
Sketch his overall shape first.
Do you tend to get lost in the details while sketching? Draw the space he takes up on the page FIRST. That will help you nail his pose and make sure you don’t run out of space for important things, like his head. Headless Santas aren’t very merry and guarantee your place on the naughty list!
Try everything…
Shoutout to
for the wonderful gel plate tutorial!
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