Today I’ll share with you the process of creating this snowman watercolour artwork. It’s just a cute little drawing which was inspired by a new friend who arrived on Christmas day – something I drew during a moment of calm relaxation during this busy festive period. I’m glad that I was able to find some time to get creative – I’ll take you through what I did.
Art materials and inspiration for the snowman watercolour
Nothing too complex here. To create my drawing, I used a regular sketchbook with 135gsm cartridge paper, a regular HB pencil, my Caran D’Ache watercolour pencils, a jar of water and a couple of paintbrushes. That’s it!
My inspiration was my new Christmas snowman friend – here’s a photo of him:
Initial sketch
Using the photo for reference, I drew an outline of our snowman friend with the HB pencil. A rough rectangle edge helped me to frame the picture and get the proportions looking right for my snowman watercolour. The composition is close-up which adds impact to the artwork.
Watercolour pencils
Then it was time to add some colour. I used my Caran D’Ache watercolour pencils which I’ve had for years.
I forget how relaxing it is to use watercolour pencil crayons – they were the perfect art medium for my moment of festive calm.
This is what he looked like after I had coloured in the pencil sketch:
Activating the pencil crayon
Time to step up the fun. In the next stage, I activated the watercolour pencil crayons with water and a paintbrush. This is as simple as it sounds. I wet the paintbrush hairs – not as much as I would for normal watercolour painting – and then applied it over the top of the pencil crayon:
I used two different size brushes – a larger one for the areas of ‘white’ and a smaller one for the details.
This is the final snowman watercolour drawing:
I hope you like it, I think he’s super cute.
If you can get hold of some watercolour pencils then I would strongly recommend having a play, especially if you’re after some relaxation. You don’t even need to draw anything recognisable – just scribble around and see what happens.
Happy New Year
I feel like I’ve learned a lot in 2025; art history, new techniques, and really just more about myself and how I like to work. Sometimes it’s useful and interesting to look back at our progress… the folders of new artwork, the sketchbook pages filled. Each piece a learning exercise. A reminder that being an artist is an ongoing journey of discovery.
I would be very grateful if you join me as I continue my art journey in 2026. But that is all for this year, loyal readers.
Wishing you a very happy new year.
Stay safe, be kind.