Santa’s Surprise Book by Joan Potter Elwart with illustrations by Florence Sarah Winship from 1966 is a chief source of inspiration for my new illustration of a character I’ve dubbed Etti the Yeti. Other sources such as James P. Sullivan from Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. have also provided influence on her design. This work was also my first solid opportunity to utilize a custom brush I created in Procreate Pocket now dubbed ‘cottonsandy’ for it’s sandy movement and similarity to cotton candy. This was the primary tool I used to paint Etti.
Seeing how well the music I used to promote TREAT HOUSE went over, I thought it might be worth exploring and developing a little song for Etti. The song evolved alongside the development of the character and I’ve now decided that Etti was born Elizabeth, and through a cycle of Bess, Bet, and Betty stayed there a while til she tried spaghetti for the first time immediately falling in love. She then became Bettie Spaghetti which was shortened to Betti Sketti and finally landed on Etti. Here are the lyrics set to, and heavily influenced by, James Taylor's Jelly Man Kelly.
Here’s a story bout Etti the Yeti.
She loves ‘sketti the most.
Yeah, but most of all
Etti the Yeti loves her ‘sketti with sauce.
So, Etti, putchur ‘sketti on
Getchur sauce ready
Getta strawberry milkshake for the side.
That yeti ‘sketti ready?
Fetta betta then a chedda,
But a parm’ll take it up another notch.
Ohhhhh, getchur ‘sketti ready, Etti,
Getchur ‘sketti ready, Etti,
Witchur sauce.
Yes’m,
Ohhhhh, getchur ‘sketti ready, Etti,
Witchur strawbbleberry milkshake
Like a boss.
The strawberry milkshake came from a discussion I'd had with a friend about having desserts along side a meal and I also thought perhaps yeti's may be more inclined to cozy up with something cold to drink over something warm. Following is the time-lapse of the creation of Etti wherein I was able to use, for the first time, my own custom designed brush in Procreate Pocket that I named cottonsandy- sandy for how it moves and the fact it looks like cotton candy. Etti herself was painted almost entirely with it! Also, while it was rather hastily done, the music, originally utilized for a shorter WIP (work in progress) posted over a week ago on Instagram and Facebook, has been polished a bit- tweaking/finishing up the lyrics and sung in three part harmony by yours truly.
The design is now available for purchase on about 30 products in my shop at laurabmakesart.threadless.com.