Oval Faux-Framed Calavera for Dia de Los Muertos

So far, all of my colored pencil work since starting my class has been on white paper. For today's project, an oval-framed calavera for Dia de los Muertos, I started with black paper. I love the way the colored pencil pops against the black! Affiliate links below. 

Oval Faux-Framed Calavera for Dia de Los Muertos

Materials:

• black chipboard
• Prismacolor colored pencils
• Fiskars oval template
• Fiskars microtip scissors
• gold trim (not what I used, but would make a pretty frame)
• craft glue

Steps:

Use a white colored pencil to lightly sketch the outline of a skull on the black chipboard. Add two large eye sockets, a nose, and a mouth.

Test your colored pencils on a scrap of the chipboard. Use the most vibrant colors to add flowers, swirls, dots, and other decorations to the skull. 

Color the skull white, leaving the eye sockets, nose, and mouth black. Add teeth, then draw oval vertebrae. Then add clothing at the bottom. 

Position the oval template over your calavera and lightly trace a cutting line. I used the largest oval on the template. 

Cut out the oval, then glue the trim to the back. 

Using my colored pencils (particularly the white) on black was a fun experiment. It was a departure from my other Dia de Los Muertos crafts, which are all black (and other colors) on white. I'm definitely going to be experimenting with this again.