Shape & Layer Design

Sugar Skull

Carli McGinty, 8th

Shape & Layer Design

For this project, I used Google Slides to create my sugar skull. I used a lot of shapes. Here is a list of all the shapes I used: rectangle, oval, triangle, right triangle, semi circle, pentagon, diamond, line tool, and the curved connector tool.

I decided to create this project based on my interest in learning what holidays are about. I chose to participate in this project because I have never created an image using only shapes, and I thought it would be interesting. I chose to make a sugar skull design because I think they look cool. 

I took some oval shapes & added a black border to them. I then arranged them to look like a skull. However, the black borders weren’t only for the outline, as the whole oval had a border, not just the outside. So, I had to create white oval shapes & add them to the inside of the skull to cover up the oval borders. 

I used the curved connector tool to create the jawline; I made one curved line, added it to the left of the skull, and copied it. With the copy, I flipped it on its horizontal side & added the curved line to the other side of the skull. Then, I took some semi circles and shaped them to look like a set of teeth. I placed the teeth in between the two curved lines (the jawline).

I changed the color of some shapes, depending on where the shape was placed & what the shape was supposed to build. I increased and decreased the size of the shapes to create visuals, such as the rose at the top of the skull. For the rain drops, I copied & pasted them and moved/resized/rotated them where I needed them to be & to make them fit better in its environment. For the shapes that create the shape of the skull, I added a drop shadow to them to make it look like the skull was popping out of the slide.  

Next, I had to create the eyes, and nose on the skull. For the nose, I created a small circle & colored it black. I attached a black right triangle on top of the circle to create one nostril. I copied the nostril & flipped it vertically, then placed it above the teeth. For the eyes, I created two black circles, resized them, and placed them above the nose. I created a flower shape using triangles, rectangles, and circles then placed it inside the eye.

Finally, I had to create the floral designs on the skull and the background. I used many designs on the skull. One version of a leaf was using a grouped triangle & rectangle (as seen on the bottom of the skull). Another version of the leaf was using a grouped heart and triangle (as seen on the top of the skull). For the rose at the top of the skull, I used the design I used for the nostrils, but turned it upside down. I used two ovals for the background of the rose. Then, I made each shape have a drop shadow. To make the teardrops, I grouped a circle with a triangle, then resized & rotated as needed. Other shapes I used for different designs were the curved connector tool, a diamond, and a line. 

Lastly, to create the background, I copied & pasted many black lines. I then went back and placed colored lines (colors used were blue, pink, orange, and yellow) to create flower shapes on the background. I decided to add a background after seeing a Romanian artist create contemporary line art. I thought this would look interesting behind the sugar skull.

The audience for my shape and layer design is anyone who wants to learn more about Day of the Dead.

The purpose of my shape and layer design is to spread the word of why Day of the Dead is celebrated and what it is.

A problem I encountered was trying to create the rose that is on top of the skull. I couldn’t figure out why the drop shadows were showing up on grouped shapes, but I figured out that I could just cover it with a shape that was the same color.

What I enjoyed most about creating my shape and layer design was learning about what sugar skulls were and why they existed. I also liked learning about the sugar skull’s background, such as who the creator was.