Introduction: Graphic Sugar Skull Painting

About: I make it up as I go.

Confession: I'm a girly-girl, but for some reason I'm obsessed with skulls.

In this tutorial, you will learn how to draw and paint a pretty, sugar skull, just in time for Halloween.

Enjoy.

Step 1: Supplies

What you will need:

Pencil
Eraser
Ruler
Canvas
Acrylic Paint
Paint Brushes

Step 2: Draw Guide Marks

Measure out the half-way points of the length and width of your canvas
Draw a line down and a line across.

Step 3: Rough Sketch of an Egg

Lightly draw an egg shape, making sure that it is centered on the canvas.

I left about an inch above the top of the skull, and 2 inches below.

Step 4: Draw the Eyes

The eyes are circles which are centered the the horizontal lines in the egg shape drawn earlier.

Step 5: Draw the Nose

The nose is an upside down heart. The top of it should be past the bottoms of the eye sockets.

Step 6: The Top of the Cheekbones

From the horizontal guide draw slanted lines going in towards the skull.

Step 7: The Bottom of the Cheekbone

From the horizontal guide, draw a slanted line down and into the face.

Step 8: The Top Jaw

From the bottom of each of the cheekbone lines, draw horizontal lines. They should line up with the center of the eye sockets.

Step 9: The Top Jaw Continued

Continue with short lines which are slightly slanted inwards.

Step 10: The Mouth

Connect the two points with a slightly curved line. You want your skull to smile!

Add 5 marks on the line as guides for the teeth.

Step 11: The Teeth

The teeth are arches on either side of the line. The front two teeth are the biggest and get smaller towards the end.

Step 12: The Lower Jaw

From a little bit past the bottom point of the cheekbones, draw short slanted lines inwards.

Step 13: The Lower Jaw Continued

Draw short lines slanting away from the face.

Step 14: The Bottom of the Jaw

Draw long slanted lines down and inwards.

Draw a straight line across to join the lines.

Jaw completed!

Step 15: The Temple

Returning to the top of the cheek bones, draw slanted lines away from the face.

Step 16: The Dome

Connected the two points of the temple by following your sketch from earlier of the top of the egg/skull.

Skull outline completed!

Step 17: Flower Eyes

Draw arches around the circles of the eye sockets.

Now they look like flowers. Delightful.

Step 18: Dots on Dots on Dots

Add rows of dots between the eyes, on the cheek bones, and upper jaw.

Step 19: Decorate the Chin

The chin features half a flower with dots along the sides.

Follow the corresponding images for a detailed guide.

Step 20: The Pear-shaped Jewel

In the center of the forehead, draw an upside down tear. Draw the arches as directed.

Step 21: The Headpiece

Draw lines coming out of the jeweled piece. Add dots for interest.

Step 22: Adding Jewels to the Headpiece

Draw pears and circles below the line of the headpiece to create the effect of dangling jewels.

Add a flower to the center jewel.

Boom. Sketch completed!

Step 23: Paint It!

Painting your skull is as easy as carefully tracing over the pencil with some paint.

Do not be afraid to paint details that were not in your sketch, or to not paint details that were.

After the paint is dry, erase the pencil marks.

Step 24: Finished!

Now that it is all painted and dry, you can hang that bad boy up and admire it while it scares your mother.

Thank you for stopping by!