Our page banner is a detail of an African mask from Cameroon.
Photo: (Creative Commons) © Daderot
Designing an African Mask - Step 5
Designing the shape of the face - 1
- Draw a simple shape for the outline of the face on the light paper.
- This shape could be oval, circular, rectangular, elongated, heart-shaped, animal-shaped or human, or any combination of these.
- Different outline shapes will give you different expressive effects.
Designing the shape of the face - 2
- Cut around the outline of the face but leave the face shape in place.
- Now take the leftover background shape, flip it over to the other side and align it with the vertical centre line.
- This will create the background for the negative side of the face. The remaining space will become the background for the positive side of the face.
- This example is designed to form the shape of a heart - a symbol often used in mask design.
