Aerial Snowman Chalk Art Tutorial

Since the current plummeting temperature in our neck of the woods has prohibited any outdoor artistry for fear of possible frostbite, we've kept our snowman-making "itch" indoors and created a cute snowman SANS the snow. I, originally, saw a picture of one on Pinterest, but there were no directions included, only a picture. So, we just had to make it up as we went along. But, you don't have to!

This two-day project was a simple lesson in perspective as we tried to capture what a snowman might look like if we were looking down at him.

To make an Aerial Snowman

You will need:

• a white wax crayon (optional)
• 2 large sheets OR 1 large and 2 small sheets of white art paper
• blue watercolor paint (optional)
• a paintbrush (optional)
• a pencil
• three circular objects of varying sizes to be used as circle-making stencils (cups, plates, etc.)
• a blue chalk pastel as well as an assortment of other colors
• hairspray (optional)
• scissors
• a glue stick

Directions:

DAY 1: With a white wax crayon, draw small snowflakes around a large sheet of white art paper. Use blue watercolor to paint a "wash" over the entire sheet creating a wax resist. Set aside to dry. (These steps are optional. You could choose to glue your snowman onto a plain piece of construction paper instead and skip this portion entirely.)

Use a pencil to trace around three circular objects of varying sizes to create 3 circles on the two small sheets of paper. The largest circle should be smaller than the height/width of the watercolored base sheet of art paper that you have set aside to dry. (When we made ours, we were able to trace a small and a medium circle on one piece of paper and a large circle on the second piece of paper.)

Trace over the penciled lines with a medium or dark shade of blue chalk pastel. Using your index finger, smudge the chalk lines to create soft shading.

Before going any further, I recommend spraying the finished chalk circles with hairspray and setting them aside to dry. The hairspray will help to prevent unwanted smudging or chalk transfer.

DAY 2: Cut around the outside of each circle. Use a glue stick to glue the largest circle to the center of the watercolor (or construction paper) base sheet. Next, glue the medium and then the small circle into the center of the large circle creating concentric circles.

 

Using a black chalk pastel, create two small eyes by drawing parallel dots on the lower third of the innermost concentric circle. Next, create buttons by drawing three or four small black dots in a vertical line starting in the middle of the second concentric circle and going all the way to the bottom of the outermost concentric circle.

Using an orange chalk pastel, make a scalene triangle just underneath the two "eyes" to create a carrot nose. Add 2 crooked brown lines, one on each side of the middle concentric circle, for stick arms. Using a brightly colored chalk pastel, add a wave of color jutting out from underneath the innermost concentric circle to form a scarf.

And there you have it, an aerial snowman SANS the snow!