Create a Snowman Holiday Card in Photoshop
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You can draw a snowman holiday card in Photoshop from a pencil sketch using the Ellipse Tool, the Pen Tool and a few Layer Styles.
You do not need to draw well. Every part of the card is an ellipse, a rectangle, a line or a traced path, and the color comes from Layer Styles you can edit at any time.
The illustration looks complex, but it comes together in a few repeatable moves. If you can click and drag, you can finish it.
By the end you will have a layered, fully editable illustration to print as a greeting card or post online.
The video was recorded in Photoshop CS6. The tools it uses work the same way in the latest version, and the Notes below flag the few places where current Photoshop behaves differently.
A newer PTC tutorial builds this same snowman with the Curvature Pen Tool and the shape tools: draw a snowman illustration with the Curvature Pen Tool and shape tools.
This post traces a hand sketch with the Pen Tool and the Ellipse Tool instead. The two make a pair, so start with whichever way of drawing feels more natural to you.
Key Takeaways
- A copy of the Blue channel, inverted and pushed through Levels, turns a pencil sketch into clean black lines on their own layer.
- The Pen Tool must be set to Path, not Shape, for the hills and the mountain. A Solid Color fill layer then turns each path into a shape you can recolor later.
- Color goes on as Layer Styles, not paint. Gradient Overlay handles the snow and the mountain, Color Overlay handles the trees and the sky, so every color stays editable.
- Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag the fx icon to copy a whole Layer Style onto another layer or group.
- In Photoshop CC 2019 and later, Free Transform scales proportionally on its own. Holding Shift now unlocks the proportions, the opposite of what the video shows.
- One snowflake is three rounded rectangles, flipped once and rotated 60 degrees twice.
Table of contents
- What You Will Learn
- Requirements
- Keyboard Shortcuts
- Step 1: Clean Up the Card Sketch in Photoshop
- Step 2: Build the Snowman with the Ellipse Tool
- Step 3: Trace the Hills with the Pen Tool
- Step 4: Add the Sky and the First Pine Tree
- Step 5: Add Rows of Pine Trees to the Holiday Card
- Step 6: Color the Holiday Card Snow and Trees
- Step 7: Color the Mountain and the Sky
- Step 8: Add the Buttons and the Face
- Step 9: Draw the Arms with the Line Tool
- Step 10: Color the Holiday Card Snowman
- Step 11: Build One Snowflake
- Step 12: Add Snowflakes to the Holiday Card
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Your Holiday Card in Photoshop Is Ready
- Related Links
What You Will Learn
- How to turn a pencil sketch into clean black lines with the Channels panel and Levels
- How to build a snowman from three ellipses and trace hills with the Pen Tool
- How to duplicate and scale groups to make rows of pine trees with depth
- How to color every shape with Gradient Overlay and Color Overlay Layer Styles
- How to build a snowflake from rounded rectangles and scatter it across the card
Requirements
Before you start
- Photoshop CS6 or the latest version
- A simple sketch of a snowman scene, drawn lightly in pencil and gone over with a fine point marker so the lines scan dark
- A pine tree drawing to trace, or a traced pine tree shape ready to drop in
Keyboard Shortcuts
| Action | Windows | macOS |
|---|---|---|
| Invert the channel | Ctrl I | Command I |
| Load a channel or layer as a selection | Ctrl click the thumbnail | Command click the thumbnail |
| Fill with the foreground color | Alt Backspace | Option Delete |
| Deselect | Ctrl D | Command D |
| Duplicate a layer or group | Ctrl J | Command J |
| Free Transform | Ctrl T | Command T |
| Scale from the center | Shift Alt drag a corner handle | Shift Option drag a corner handle |
| Move a shape while drawing it | Hold the spacebar | Hold the spacebar |
| Group the selected layers | Ctrl G | Command G |
| Merge the selected layers | Ctrl E | Command E |
| Save | Ctrl S | Command S |
| Step backward in CS6 | Ctrl Alt Z | Command Option Z |
| Move Tool | V | V |
| Swap the foreground and background colors | X | X |
| Duplicate a layer on the canvas | Alt drag with the Move Tool | Option drag with the Move Tool |
| Select the layer under the cursor | Ctrl click with the Move Tool | Command click with the Move Tool |
| Copy a Layer Style to another layer | Alt drag the fx icon | Option drag the fx icon |
| Move one Pen Tool handle on its own | Alt drag the handle | Option drag the handle |
| Nudge a layer one pixel | Arrow keys | Arrow keys |
| Nudge a layer ten pixels | Shift Arrow keys | Shift Arrow keys |
| Zoom out with the Zoom Tool | Alt click | Option click |
Step 1: Clean Up the Card Sketch in Photoshop
Open your sketch in Photoshop. The video’s sketch is a few simple shapes drawn lightly in pencil and gone over with a fine point Sharpie, so the lines are dark and easy to trace.
Open the Channels panel, click the Blue channel, and drag it to the New Channel icon at the bottom of the panel to copy it.
With the Blue copy selected, press CtrlI (Windows) or CommandI (macOS) to invert it. The paper turns black and the lines turn white.
Go to Image > Adjustments > Levels. Drag the black point to the right and the white point to the left, then push the midpoint right until every gray turns black. Click OK.
You might lose a few lines in the pine trees, and that is okay. The card uses a different pine tree anyway.
Hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) and click the Blue copy thumbnail to load the white lines as a selection.
Back in the Layers panel, add a new layer and press AltBackspace (Windows) or OptionDelete (macOS) to fill the selection with black, your foreground color.
Press CtrlD (Windows) or CommandD (macOS) to deselect, then delete the original sketch layer. You now have a layer with nothing but the black lines of the sketch.
Click the Lock icon on that layer so you cannot move it or draw on it by accident. Then click the Background layer, because every shape you draw next goes right above it.
Step 2: Build the Snowman with the Ellipse Tool
Select the Ellipse Tool and draw an ellipse over the bottom of the snowman, matching the sketch as closely as you can.
Tip: Hold the Spacebar (Windows) or Spacebar (macOS) while you drag to move the shape before you let go. It is the easiest way to line an ellipse up with the sketch.
The color does not matter yet. Double-click the layer thumbnail and pick a gray so you can see the shape.
Press CtrlJ (Windows) or CommandJ (macOS) to duplicate the ellipse, then CtrlT (Windows) or CommandT (macOS) for Free Transform. Drag the copy up over the middle of the body.
Hold ShiftAlt (Windows) or ShiftOption (macOS) and drag a corner handle to scale the copy down from its center. Nudge it with the arrow keys and press Enter (Windows) or Return (macOS).
Duplicate and transform once more for the head. Pull the side handles in a little if the sketch calls for a narrower shape. Something close is fine.
Note: The video holds Shift to keep a shape’s proportions while scaling. From Photoshop CC 2019 on, Free Transform is proportional by default, and Shift does the opposite. Just drag the corner handle, and hold Shift only when you want to distort a shape on purpose.
Click the bottom ellipse, hold Shift (Windows) or Shift (macOS) and click the top one. Press CtrlG (Windows) or CommandG (macOS) to group them, and rename the group Snowman.
Step 3: Trace the Hills with the Pen Tool
Click the Background layer and select the Pen Tool. In the Options bar, set it to Path, not Shape or Pixels, so you can follow along.
Click outside the canvas to start, then click and drag along the front hill to pull out handles and shape the curve. Finish outside the canvas and click the first point to close the path.
To fix a curve, switch to the Direct Selection Tool, the white arrow, and drag a point or a handle. Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) while you drag a handle to move only that side of the point.
With the path done, click the Adjustment Layer icon at the bottom of the Layers panel and choose Solid Color. Pick a dark gray for now and click OK. The path becomes the mask of a fill layer, and that fill layer is your hill.
Click the Background layer again and repeat for the back hill, then once more for the mountain. Give each fill layer a different gray so you can tell them apart.
If a line does not match the sketch exactly, that is okay. The sketch is a guide, not a rule.
Note: Photoshop CC 2018 added the Curvature Pen Tool, which draws these hills by clicking points and letting Photoshop shape the curve for you, with no handles to drag. See it in action in the snowman illustration built with the Curvature Pen Tool.
Step 4: Add the Sky and the First Pine Tree
Click the Background layer, select the Rectangle Tool and draw the sky. Start outside the canvas and drag until the rectangle passes the front hill and the mountain.
Rename the layers sky, mountain, back snow and front snow. Select all four, group them, and name the group background.
Press CtrlS (Windows) or CommandS (macOS) to save. It is always a good idea to save as you work.
Now the pine trees. Go to File > Open and open your pine tree file. The video uses a quick pine tree sketch traced with the same Pen Tool technique as the hills.
Press V (Windows) or V (macOS) for the Move Tool. Drag the pine tree layer onto the tab of your card document, wait for the document to switch, then drop the tree on the canvas.
The tree is far too big. Open Free Transform, drag a corner handle to scale it down, and place it where the sketch shows a front row tree. Nudge with the arrow keys and press Enter.
Step 5: Add Rows of Pine Trees to the Holiday Card
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag the tree with the Move Tool to make an exact copy. Do that three more times to fill the front row, then group the four trees as front pine trees.
Tip: To move one tree, hold Ctrl (Windows) or Command (macOS) and click it with the Move Tool. Photoshop selects that layer for you, so you can drag it or nudge it without hunting through the Layers panel.
Duplicate the group and rename the copy middle pine trees. Drag it up the hill, transform it a little smaller, and use the tip above to drag each tree into a new spot. If a tree is in the way, select it the same way and press the Delete key.
Drag the middle group below the front group in the Layers panel.
Duplicate the middle group for the back row. Scale that row smaller still, spread the trees out, and move the group below the middle one. Three rows, and the scene has real depth.
Note: The video says CtrlJ (Windows) or CommandJ (macOS) only duplicates a group in CS6, and older versions need the group dragged onto the New Layer icon. Every current version duplicates a group with the shortcut, so skip the workaround.
Step 6: Color the Holiday Card Snow and Trees
Open the background group and double-click the front snow layer to open the Layer Style dialog. Click Gradient Overlay.
Double-click the gradient bar to open the Gradient Editor. Click the black stop, open the Color Picker, and enter 29bdfd for the snow blue. Click OK twice.
Drag on the canvas to slide the gradient into place and bring the Scale down to around 72 percent. If the blend looks too smooth, pull the gradient up until you get a firmer edge.
Add an Inner Glow, set its color to white, and click OK. The snow gets a soft white rim. Hide the sketch layer for now.
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag the fx icon from front snow down to back snow. The whole style copies over. Double-click back snow and scale its gradient down further so the two hills read as separate layers.
Select the three pine tree groups, group them as pine trees, and drag that group between the back snow layer and the mountain layer.
Double-click the front pine trees group and add a Color Overlay of 2166c5. Do the same for the middle row with 114d9f and the back row with 012d69. The deeper blues push the back rows into the distance.
Note: The video says versions before CS6 cannot put a Layer Style on a group and need it converted to a Smart Object first. Current Photoshop styles a group directly, so skip that step.
Note: To back out of a change, the video presses CtrlAltZ (Windows) or CommandOptionZ (macOS). Since Photoshop CC 2019, CtrlZ (Windows) or CommandZ (macOS) steps back through several states on its own.
Step 7: Color the Mountain and the Sky
Double-click the mountain layer and click Gradient Overlay. Build a gradient from 307dab to 6db4de, set the Style to Linear and the Angle to 0.
Drag on the canvas until the darker side sits behind the snowman. Then add an Inner Glow, lower its Size and Opacity until it is barely there, and click OK.
Double-click the sky layer and add a Color Overlay of 2b75a3.
Add a new layer above the sky and name it highlight. Select the Brush Tool, make the brush large and soft, and tap once or twice with white where you want the sky to glow.
Set the layer’s Blending Mode to Overlay. Lower the Opacity if it is too bright. The video leaves it at 60 percent.
Add another layer named shadow. Press X (Windows) or X (macOS) to swap your foreground color to black and paint along the opposite side of the sky. Set the layer to Overlay and drop the Opacity to about 25 percent.
Select the shadow layer, hold Shift (Windows) or Shift (macOS) and click the sky layer, and group them as sky. The background is done. Turn the sketch back on.
Step 8: Add the Buttons and the Face
Unlock the sketch layer, lower its Opacity to about 28 percent so the lines show faintly through the color, and lock it again.
Select the Ellipse Tool and draw a small circle over the top button, above the Snowman group. Double-click it, click Gradient Overlay, set the Style to Radial, and make it a light gray to darker gray blend.
Increase the Scale and drag the gradient off center so the button looks rounded. Click OK and rename the layer button.
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag the button with the Move Tool to copy it down the body twice. Nudge with the arrow keys, then group the three as buttons.
Now the face. Select the Zoom Tool and zoom in on the head. Draw a new ellipse for one eye, then switch to the Move Tool and drag out a copy for the second eye the same way you copied the buttons.
Drag more copies down for the smile. Transform each dot a little smaller as the smile curves toward the corners. Group the eyes and the smile as face.
For the nose, select the Polygon Tool, set Sides to 3, and draw a triangle. With the Direct Selection Tool, select the two bottom points and drag them down to stretch it.
Pick the Convert Point Tool from under the Pen Tool and drag on each corner to soften the points. Open Free Transform, drag the reference point to the wide end of the nose, and rotate and scale it into the sketch.
Give the nose a Gradient Overlay that runs from orange to a slightly lighter orange, so a faint highlight shows. Click OK.
Step 9: Draw the Arms with the Line Tool
Select the Line Tool, set it to Shape in the Options bar, and set the Weight to about 6 pixels.
Click and drag one line from the body out to the end of the arm, then two shorter lines at the tip for the fingers. Group the three lines as arm.
Duplicate the group and name the copy bottom arm. Go to Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal, then move it to the other side of the body with the Move Tool.
Open Free Transform, drag the reference point to the shoulder end of the arm, and rotate it to match the sketch. Press Enter.
Drag the face, buttons and both arm groups into the Snowman group. Put the bottom arm below the body ellipses so it tucks behind the snowman, and leave the other arm on top.
Tip: Double-click the Zoom Tool to jump back to 100 percent. Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and click with the Zoom Tool to zoom out one more level.
Step 10: Color the Holiday Card Snowman
Open the background group. Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag the fx icon from front snow onto the bottom body ellipse inside the Snowman group. Turn the sketch off for good.
Double-click the new style, click Gradient Overlay, and change the Style to Radial. Increase the Scale.
Uncheck Align with Layer so you can drag the bright center of the gradient wherever you want. Drag it up and to one side, then click OK.
Copy that style to the middle ellipse the same way, double-click it, and drag the gradient up to match. Repeat for the head, pulling the gradient down a little so the highlight sits where the light hits.
Save, then collapse the groups so you have room to work. All that is left is the snow.
Step 11: Build One Snowflake
Select the Rounded Rectangle Tool, set it to Shape with a Radius of 20 pixels, and draw a tall thin bar about 25 pixels wide and 280 pixels tall. You do not have to hit those exact numbers.
Duplicate the bar, switch to the Move Tool, and move the copy up to the tip. Transform it down to about a quarter of the size and press Enter, then transform again and rotate it 45 degrees. Move it to one side of the tip.
Duplicate that small bar and go to Edit > Transform Path > Flip Horizontal. Hold Shift (Windows) or Shift (macOS) and tap an arrow key to move it 10 pixels at a time until it mirrors the first one.
Select all three shapes and group them. That is one arm of the snowflake.
Duplicate the group, transform it, and go to Edit > Transform > Flip Vertical. Move the copy down so the two arms meet in the middle, then group both.
Duplicate that group, transform it, and hold Shift (Windows) or Shift (macOS) while you rotate it 60 degrees. Press Enter, then duplicate again and rotate another 60 degrees.
Select all the groups, group them one more time, and drag the snowflake to the middle of the card. Six arms, sixty degrees apart.
Step 12: Add Snowflakes to the Holiday Card
Press CtrlE (Windows) or CommandE (macOS) to merge the snowflake into one layer. If you would rather keep the shapes editable, convert the group to a Smart Object instead.
Double-click the snowflake and add a white Color Overlay. Then transform it down until it looks right against the snowman. It will probably need to be smaller than you think.
Hold Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and drag out copies with the Move Tool. Space them far apart, because smaller flakes fill the gaps next. Group them as front snowflakes.
Duplicate one snowflake into a new group and scale it smaller. Scatter copies of the small flake between the big ones, higher up the card, and group them as back snowflakes.
Select both groups and group them as snowflakes. There is no right or wrong here. Put the flakes wherever they look good to you.
If you want falling snow on a photo instead of an illustration, see how to create realistic snow in Photoshop.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes. The card is built from ellipses, rectangles, lines and a few traced paths, so the only drawing is a rough pencil sketch. The Ellipse Tool, the Rectangle Tool and the Pen Tool do the clean work for you.
The Pen Tool has three modes in the Options bar: Shape, Path and Pixels. Set it to Path for the hills and the mountain, then add a Solid Color fill layer to turn the path into a shape. Shape mode also works, but Path is what the video uses.
Photoshop flipped this behavior in CC 2019. Free Transform now scales proportionally on its own, and holding Shift frees the aspect ratio. Drag a corner handle to scale without distorting, and hold Shift only when you want to stretch a shape on purpose.
You can in Photoshop CS6 and every version since. Double-click the group in the Layers panel and add a Color Overlay or Gradient Overlay, and it colors every layer inside. Only versions older than CS6 need the group converted to a Smart Object first.
Hold Alt on Windows or Option on macOS, then drag the small fx icon from the styled layer onto the target layer. The whole Layer Style copies over and the original stays in place. Double-click the copy to adjust its gradient or color.
Yes, and it is easier. The Curvature Pen Tool, added in Photoshop CC 2018, draws a smooth curve from simple clicks with no handles to drag. Set it to Path, click along the hill, and add the Solid Color fill layer the same way.
Draw one tall rounded rectangle with the Rounded Rectangle Tool, then add two shorter copies rotated 45 degrees at its tip. Flip that arm vertically, group both arms, and duplicate the group twice while rotating each copy 60 degrees. Merge the six arms and give the result a white Color Overlay.
No. The video’s sketch is a few simple shapes drawn in pencil and gone over with a fine point marker so the lines scan dark. The channel cleanup in Step 1 removes the paper texture, and the shapes you draw on top can drift from the lines wherever you like.
Your Holiday Card in Photoshop Is Ready
You turned a rough pencil sketch into a finished holiday card in Photoshop with nothing but shapes, paths and Layer Styles.
Because every color is a Layer Style and every part sits in a group, you can recolor the whole card or move the snowman in seconds.
Watch the full video above to see every click and drag in real time, and comment on the video with a link to your own illustration.
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Next, build the same snowman the faster way with the Curvature Pen Tool and the shape tools in Photoshop.
Awesome tutorial. Thank you for all you do. Your work imho is among the very best on the net. Thanks for being thorough with all the tips and tricks. Please keep’em coming!!
Ron
Thanks for the comment Tioga,
Glad you liked this tutorial!
very nice design thanks.
You’re welcome!
thank you. i watch your training from iran.
You’re welcome, Mohammad!
Thank you for watching!
Nicely done, I did not know about Control + clicking on the object to select it and go to it’s layer as well.
Thank You!