Cheyenne Pagan - Quarter 1 Mask

A sugar skull is a Mexican mask that is usually made with hardened sugar and designed for the Day of the Dead, similar to our Halloween, in an almost spooky way. The main design for sugar skulls are skeleton faces. For this piece I began with creating my mask to get an idea on what would be possible on my canvas. Kamilah and Sophie helped me with this step so I give them credit for the finished product. I then researched some usual designs of a sugar skull and a lot of the same designs came up. I decided to put a twist on a classic art and really make it my own. This project was done right around the time of Halloween and I was planning on dressing up as Harley Quinn (the Joker's girlfriend from Batman). Her style is almost Mardi Gras inspired and I put this into consideration when I was drafting my design. I chose to sneak in a heart, as the lips, and a spade, as the nose. Trying to make it look as professional as possible I smoothed down what I could and trimmed the outer rim of the mask. I then based it with a few layers of white Gesso paint. After it dried I sketched, in pencil, an outline of my final design. I chose my colors, red and black, and began to paint it. At one point I decided that I wasn't fully satisfied with the style of the lips therefore I painted over that part with the white Gesso and started again. Even after everything was painted to my liking I touched up, making my lines as neat and crisp as possible. After all was said, done, and dry I carefully glazed the front of the mask. I had to be very precise with this process because of possible smearing and blending. Overall I am extremely pleased with the final result and would only want to change the texture of the mask if I could do it all again, perhaps sand it down.