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This snowman painting is a winter afternoon project you can finish in under an hour. It comes from Quick and Easy Paintings and is built for kids and beginners: a light blue background, two white circles, a top hat, a carrot nose, a striped scarf and a sky full of snowflakes. Seven paint colors and three brushes. It makes a lovely project to do side by side with a grandchild.
Acrylic paint in white, black, light blue, green, red, orange and brown. A large flat brush for the background, a medium brush for the snowman and scarf and a small round brush for the face and snowflakes. Paint on a canvas panel or heavy mixed media paper; thin printer paper will curl. Keep a cup of water and a paper towel close, and wipe the brush between every color.
Placing the snowman big and partly off the right side makes the picture feel close and friendly, as if he is leaning into the frame. It also means less white to paint and a big face that is easy for small hands to work on. Leave the left side open for the stick arm and the snowflakes.
Let the background dry fully before the snowman goes on, or the white turns pale blue. A hair dryer on low speeds that up. Pre-mix small puddles of each color so nobody has to squeeze bottles mid-stroke. Wonky circles are fine. Every snowman in the yard is a little lumpy too, and a crooked smile has more personality.
Once it is dry, the painting slips into an inexpensive frame or onto the fridge. Painted on card stock, it folds into a handmade holiday card. Kids can sign and date the back, and a batch of them, one from each grandchild, makes a cheerful winter gallery on a hallway wall. Scan it and it becomes a gift tag for next year.
Prefer pencils? Try how to draw a snowman. Learn more about painting snow, then add a poinsettia to your holiday set. For a snowman you can hold, see how to make a snowman craft.
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Paint an easy snowman with a top hat, carrot nose and striped scarf. An easy project: about 45 minutes. Materials cost about $2 to $5. You need 8 things, including large flat brush, medium brush and small round brush. The 10 steps start with paint the Snowman Background Light Blue, outline the Snowman's Body Circle in White, fill In the Snowman's Head and Body, add the Hat Band and the Snowman's Stick Arm and paint the Snowman's Black Top Hat.
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Start with a large brush and light blue paint. Cover the whole sheet, working in long strokes from top to bottom. Small streaks and brush marks are fine; they look like a winter sky. Go right to the edges so no white paper peeks through at the borders. Let the background dry completely before you paint the snowman on top.
A hair dryer on low dries the background in a couple of minutes.
Switch to a medium brush and white paint. In the bottom right corner, paint the curved outline of a large circle that runs off the right side and the bottom of the paper. Then outline part of a smaller circle on top of it for the head, also running off the right edge. Outlines first make the shapes easier to control.
Sketch the circles lightly in pencil first if you feel unsure.
Fill both shapes in with white paint. Use curved strokes that follow the round shape; they give the snowman a soft, snowy texture. A few streaks of blue showing through look like shadow, so do not worry about perfect coverage. If you want a brighter white, let it dry and add a second coat.
Load the brush well. Thin white paint looks pale blue on top of blue.
Wipe your brush and dip it in red. Paint a straight red line above the snowman's head; this becomes the hat band. Then wipe the brush again and switch to brown. Paint a straight line out to the left of the body for the stick arm, and add a couple of short twigs at the end for fingers.
Paint the twig fingers with quick flicks so they taper to a point.
With black paint, paint a longer line right below the red band for the hat brim. Then outline a square shape above the red band for the crown of the hat. Once the outline looks right, fill it in with black. Paint carefully along the top edge of the red band so the stripe stays neat.
Use the brush edge for crisp straight lines on the hat.
Switch to a small brush and orange paint. Paint a long, thin triangle pointing out to the left from the middle of the face. Outline the triangle first, then fill it in. A slightly crooked carrot looks more cheerful than a ruler-straight one, so let it point a little upward if you like.
Add a few thin darker orange lines later for carrot ridges.
Wipe the small brush and pick up black paint. Paint two circles above the carrot for eyes, then fill them in. Below the carrot, add a curved row of small black dots for a coal smile. Space the dots evenly and make the curve turn up at both ends. Keep the eyes about the same size.
Dab the dots with the tip of the brush instead of drawing them.
Still with black paint and the small brush, add three round buttons down the middle of the body. Start a little below where the head meets the body and space them evenly toward the bottom. Paint each one as a small circle and fill it in. Wait for the white underneath to be dry so the black stays crisp.
Make the buttons a touch bigger than the smile dots.
With a medium brush and red, paint straight vertical lines at equal distances across the neck, then a couple of horizontal red lines below for the hanging end. Wash the brush, dip it in green and fill the spaces between the red lines. Finish with a few short red lines on the edge of the scarf for fringe.
Clean the brush well between red and green or they turn brown.
Wash the small brush and dip it in white. Paint small snowflakes across the blue sky, then tiny white dots between them. Use white to highlight the edges of the head and the left side of the body. Add two tiny dots in each eye and on each button and smile dot, and a white line on top of the carrot.
The tiny white dots in the eyes make the snowman look alive.
Keep going
How to Transfer a Sketch to Canvas (2 Easy Ways)
More on this topic, picked for this snowman.
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How to Paint a Snowman (Easy Acrylic Painting for Beginners)
Liquitex
Liquitex BASICS Acrylic Paint Set (24 tubes)
Artist-grade pigment at student pricing, buttery enough to blend and thick enough to hold a stroke. The set most acrylic painters start on.
Benicci
Benicci 16-Piece Artist Brush Set
Every shape you actually reach for (round, flat, filbert, liner, fan) in nylon that keeps its point and does not shed. Comes with a palette knife and case.
FIXSMITH
FIXSMITH 8" x 10" Stretched Canvas (12-pack)
Pre-primed cotton canvases in a bulk pack so you can just start painting. The low-stakes surface for practicing before the big piece.
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7:55 video · 10 steps
Based on a video by Grant Fuller
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