How I Created and Painted Santa

It's not a magical process, but it was fun to do.  Here is how I created Santa (posted 12-22) -

My main reference photo was of our new Mayor  - Rob Ford

I sketched out an image and then traced the image twice - one without and with a beard

Handsome devil isn't he?  

I then re-sketched the Santa image using graphite to get a better understanding of how I would situate and use the light source so that I could paint the face more realistically.

I then found another reference photo - one of my favorite illustrators - Norman Rockwell, who did so many different Santa's and did them so well.  I used this reference of Santa from a Dec. of 1927 Saturday Evening Post,  to model color, line and overall feel.  

And this was the result

Using Norman Rockwell's Santa as a model was a very good learning experience.  Clearly, I did not reach his level of execution and presentation - but the process taught me a lot.


Brian