Draw a Mexican Skull

Calaveras have been around for nearly a century. And their success continues to endure, having become very fashionable all over the world.
They're especially popular in the world of tattoos and makeup as their designs are characterized by very simple lines and bright colors.

 

 

EXAMPLES OF MEXICAN SKULLS

 

 

In this article, we will learn how to draw these cheerful skulls. We will focus mainly on possible patterns, rather than drawing a standard skull. You can learn how to draw a skull on our blog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DRAWING THE BASE OF THE SKULL

 

To begin with, two simple methods can be used for the base of the skull.

The first step is to simplify a realistic skull graphic reference. (Here I had to use a royalty-free image for the article, but you can use any illustrations/photos since the result will not be the same anyway.)

Trace your outline like this:

 

 

Or by trying to start from the proportions of a face. (I borrowed an anatomical drawing of the head from a former teacher, but there are plenty of others available for free on the internet.)

 

 

 

 

 

Instead of following the curve of the main circle, it is necessary to make the cheekbones, located exactly in the middle, stand out by two types of half-circles.

And the lower face should be represented by a half capsule, that is to say, a shape that is a bit more "rectangular."

 

 

 

 

 

You can see that the size of the eyes is twice as large as normal. They can be closer together depending on the shape of the skull, but be careful not to make them too close either.

The nose is positioned in the center. It can be depicted as an upside-down heart or two drops of water.

Finally, the mouth (here the teeth and gums) is positioned just slightly lower than on an ordinary face, and the height is also doubled.

Also, do not hesitate to draw thick lines, especially for the outlines of the skull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

DRAWING THE DECORATION

 

Let's now tackle the decorations. We will color everything in at the end.

To do this, we need to make a choice on the possible shapes.
With some quick research, we can see that there are recurring patterns.
In particular, there are flowers, leaves, spider webs, crosses, diamonds, hearts, stars, and rounded geometric shapes.

 

I want my two skulls to be different so that I will be able to use all the aforementioned patterns. However, I will use flowers on both.

And we will start by placing the flowers.

 

You can place them anywhere on your skull. The main thing is to leave enough space for all the other desired patterns.
To draw a flower, you just need to draw a circle and then ovals symmetrically around it. Nice and simple!

Speaking of symmetry, you may have noticed that it is an essential concept in the placement of shapes on the skull. That is to say, if you create a flower on the left, it will need to be transposed vertically to the other side to make the whole thing coherent.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's move on to drawing the eyes. For the first skull, I chose to use a star (I am aware that this is not the easiest shape to draw).

However, although it's very simple to draw using a compass and a protractor, nowadays computer tools give us direct access to shapes that can be modified by their number of sides and their angle value.
You may also notice that I added equidistant dots around the eyes.

 

For the second skull, I chose to draw a diamond that simply consists of an even number of triangles. I could have added triangles on the sides to give it more volume if I wanted to. It's up to you to see what you prefer for your overall design.

I could have easily created petals around the eyes to make them look like flowers. But since I've already used that pattern several times, it was better to focus on other shapes to maintain good diversity. What I mean is that the composition is completely free as long as it's not too repetitive.

For example, for the first skull, if instead of stars there were flowers, then the flower at the top should be replaced by another shape.

 

 

 

 

 

As there is already a design at the top of the first skull, I decided to enrich the nose with an outer contour that is more or less faithful to its original shape and a type of spiral for the interior.

For the second skull, I thought about creating a spider web. This simply involves drawing several lines (here seven) starting from the same point and then connecting these lines with semi-circles (forming here five divisions).
Note that the spider web could very well have been at the bottom of the skull or even on the sides. It's up to you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the center of the forehead, on one side, there is a "cartoon" style heart adorned with spirals inside. (This recalls the design of the nose, which is symmetrically positioned horizontally this time.)

And on the other skull, there is an ornate cross decorated with flowers and petals (because we must remember that flowers are very present in the design of Calaveras). As for the orientation of the cross, that is, whether it points upwards or downwards, I advise staying with the first option since I haven't seen any references involving an inverted cross, and it remains logical since Calaveras are primarily considered offerings, a sense of mourning but certainly not an attack containing offensive aspects.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now we just need to place the kind of drops I was talking about into the recurring shapes.
They can remain as they are, or they can transform into leaves through a simple line connecting them. Or even into eyebrows, as is the case with the second skull.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some spirals here, some zigzags there...

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, circles, dots, and diamonds to fill it all in. Make a distinction between those that will be colored and those that will remain black in order to have a minimally balanced composition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the result! I think that the second skull is the most true to the subject because of its shape, and I prefer the slightly off-center symmetry, which gives it a bit more identity.
But the first one is also on theme, and the shape of the skull gives it a certain originality.

 

 

 

 

COLORING THE DRAWINGS

I think that colors play a major role in making the skulls look festive.
In fact, Calaveras are distinguished by their contrast between a dark design evoking death and colorful, jovial shapes.
I invite you to finish your drawing with saturated colors, and why not some gradients to make them look even more fantastical?

 

Any color is possible. However, warm colors logically help to give the skull a more cheerful look and stay true to the message conveyed in the art of Calaveras. Obviously, it is also important to ensure that when a color is used, it is repeated at least two other times elsewhere to maintain a certain consistency.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Illustrator and writer: Mathéa