Needle Felting Lesson: 2D and 3D Rock Band

Welcome to the needle felting lesson: Combining 2D and 3D Together we’ll work throughout the process of developing the bodies of three musicians attached directly to the base layer and each of their musical instruments popping off the base. This is one of the illustrations of my picture book, Flock of Rock! Thank you for sharing this journey with me. This lesson was originally recorded in August 2024.

Composition and Scale

Like many of my pieces, I start with a video lesson to go over the process of placement and scale to be sure our composition works well. I will be placing the three musicians in Leon’as band, to scale in conjunction with Leona in the foreground on the righthand page of the book spread. The torso of each musician is felted directly to the base layer in a traditional 2D technique, with a slight pop of dimension.

Forming Drum Sticks & Attaching Drummer’s Arms

In this video lesson, we form two arms and two small drum sticks and attach the drum sticks to each hoof before then attaching each to the torso on our base layer.

Felting Sheep Heads and Ears

In this video lesson, I form three sheep heads, ears, and also the red ballcap and blue scarf for two of the characters. For those who like to speed things up, there is also a timelapse video (40 minutes of felting sped up to 5 minutes) that starts with cleaning up the edges of the keyboard and firming up that shape and then moves into felting our bass guitar player’s cap visor, ears, face, and adding bulk to the neck.

Time Lapse Videos

Tidying up the Paino, Sheep Head, Sheep Arms and Neck & Securing the Figures to the Base

Here are two short time lapse videos. In the first video, I am showing you the process of tidying up the shape of the piano before I dive into the head and arms of our bass player. In the second video, I felt the bodies of two band members more securely onto the base layer. This process makes the figures smaller and flattens them into shapes that are a bt more 2 dimensional than fully 3D.

Felting a Bass Guitar, Foreshortening & Color

In this video lesson, I felt another small bass guitar. I also talk about when foreshortening and color can influence your attention to detail.

Image Gallery: Drum Set, More 2D Than 3D

This gallery contains a series of still images detailing the process of forming three drums of the drum set. Since the goal is to keep the three band members more two-dimensional, these three drums are flatter than the drums in my drum video lessons. When attached to the illustration they don’t pop as much and help to draw the picture further into the background.

Viewing Tip: Click on the first image and then scroll through the enlarged format, you’re able to see everything much better.

Meet Your Instructor

Hi, my name is Hillary Dow. A few of my many hats include mother, wife, traveler, outdoor adventurer, author, family chef, marketing professional, felting artist in Maine, and oh so many more. I write children’s books illustrated with my wool creations. I picked up my first felting needle about five years ago and it wasn’t long before I realized I had finally found MY medium! Like any labor of love, I simply keep going to learn more while honing my skills. It is such a thrill to be a part of helping someone develop their skills and CREATE artwork. Thank you for joining me!

Want even more? Take your felting to a whole new level! Join the Felting Master Class today for a one time payment of $200.