Santa’s eyebrows!

My friend Jerry Russell (whose fantastic work you can see here) observed that in The Year Without a Santa Claus I “made Santa’s eyebrows black, instead. For more expressive impact, I’m guessing.”

It’s true that the darker eyebrows make Santa’s face livelier.  I’ve always loved the interpretation of Santa in old Coca-Cola ads by Haddon Sundblom.  Click on his name to read about his work.  His Santa has those dark eyebrows, in pleasant contrast with the white beard.  Sundblom turned out paintings of Santa from the 30s through the 60s—so I got to see his new work when I was a kid.  You don’t hear his name much, but Sundblom’s work represents the best of the golden age of illustration.