How to Create Art That Feels Like a Warm Cup of Cocoa for Your Soul

My workspace consists of my iPad, cup of coffee, and an activity to take breaks! 

*Tapping the glass of your screen* Hello there! I'm taking the time away from my little hobbit-hole to chat with you. For the last two years, I have found my niche in the art world by creating cozy artwork. Not only has it been fun to use my whimsical aesthetic to create these, but it’s been a source of healing to warm up my day. Today, I wanna chat about my process of creating these little windows to cozy scenes with you, and maybe inspire you to create some of your own. So grab your favorite warm drink and let’s get creating!  

Step 1: What’s your definition of cozy? 

We all have different ideas on what makes things cozy. Some like light puzzle games, no-stakes book plots, and a fluffy blanket. Others define cozy as a chunk of time where they’re fighting Lionels in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, chugging down Red Bulls and getting things done with a candle lit. It depends on the individual. This gives us a vast pool to choose from when creating cozy work. Right now (or as of writing this depending on when you read this), it’s autumn, so what I think about is the changing leaves in the woodland areas around me, and wishing I could go on a picnic and stare at it all. This turned into the inspiration for one of my illustrations this season.

Speaking of inspiration…

Step 2: Get that inspo! 

Not to sound like a broken record, but researching inspiration is great. I have many pins for rooms, hidden coves, and more! It helps you figure out what scene you want to create. For this example piece, I looked up a lot of fall foliage, squirrels, different leaf shapes, and warm clothes that could work well to set the mood.

Step 3: Angles

Play around with your composition. Different perspectives or viewpoints could help emphasize the mood you would like in your cozy art. For this autumn illustration, I liked this composition because you’re up close with the character like you’re sitting right next to them having one of the warm cinnamon rolls from the tin and even talking to the squirrels. Hey, you might have a speak with animals spell on ya, you never know in these worlds you can create.

That’s another thing! 

Step 4: Go Beyond the Real World

That’s what I love to do with my work. I sprinkle in some fantasy elements. Give your characters faun ears, add some pixies, do whatever. To me, those elements outside of our modern world help draw your audience into your work. This also can pertain to the colors you use if you aren’t really into fantasy elements. They don’t have to be accurate color picking choices, give them a boost of vibrance to set the warm mood higher. 

Step 5: The Color Palette makes or breaks it

Like I said, pick colors that help set that tone you want. This autumn piece is going for a lot of warm tones already because it’s set in fall. But in other scenes like a living room or a coffee shop, you can warm up your color palette to push it. You do need to find that balance however, you can accidentally make it so saturated that the color rendering won’t balance or go too low and your piece turns dull. We don’t want to look at a dull scene when we want to warm up and feel cozy. 

Step 6: Have fun! 

That’s key here. You need to have fun, play about, and just feel good and warm yourself while making this. Your energy will reflect in your finished product. I can tell you right now, that having the wrong mindset affects our work. I can go back to an old piece that I didn’t have a good mood while working on it, or I was just too invested in getting something out there. It reflected in that work negatively. A lot of artists these days struggle with how much content they need the churn out to stay relevant. We sometimes forget that we first started making art for ourselves.

Final Thoughts

Art is a medium to transfer emotions to the viewer who comes across it. It has been that way for thousands of years. I strive to give my audience that warm feeling in their soul when they look at my recent work. I want them to jump into a world of no worries, full of imagination and comfort. I hope my discussion with you today inspires you to create something similar. I would love even to see it. If you create something using my guidelines, please let me know in the comments below, I would love to see your work. 

Back to my hobbit hole I go! 

Have a very cozy day!