Day Of The Dead Collage

Hola! In this project Get Arty artist, Ally, shows us how to make a Day of the Dead Collage!

Click here for a PDF of this project.

What you will need

• Liviano coloured card
• The Paper House Watercolour Paper
• Patterned paper / wrapping paper, metallic card
• Liquitex Paint Markers
• Reeves paint in various colours
• Celco scissors
• Celco Glue Stick
• Jasart Sketch Pencil
• Jasart paint brush
• Water

How to do it

1. Get your cardboard and paint your background black. Leave this to dry.
2. Paint a few sheets of paper in 4-5 colours and patterns. You can mix colours and styles of painting. Set them aside to dry as well.
3. Draw and cut out two skeleton heads. Start by drawing a big semi-circle. It should be around the size of your own head. At the end of the semi-circle, draw two curved arches, followed by four smaller humps that look like a caterpillar or a worm.
4. Then cut it out and glue it down to your painted cardboard.
5. And now add the largest details like the clothes, hats and hair. Add a hat for one and hair for the other. If you’re using patterned paper, use that for the clothes. Glue into position.
6. Time for the facial features. Use different shapes as well as circles for the eyes, like a cloud and a star from cardboard. Layer 2-3 different shapes and colours. Add in detail with a maker, like dots and stripes. For the nose draw an upside-down heart. For the mouth draw a stitched-up mouth. Add other details in like tear drops and love hearts on the cheeks with paint pens, even some patterns on the top of the skull. Draw on neck bones.
7. Decorate the clothes and give these skeletons some accessories. Add a collar, pocket and braces to the skeleton with the hat. Also, add a belt and flower to the hat. For the skeleton with hair also give braces and add a necklace, earrings and flowers to the hair. Do all this with scrap cardboard. Place it on the artwork and when you are happy with it glue it down.