Hollywood Skull
Shaye Ellerbe
What did you do?
If you look at my ark work you see the basics of Hollywood. You see the humongous sign, the landscape, the red carpet, the camera, etc. When I look at my art work I see much more than that. I see what’s in my heart; my love for acting. That’s the reason why my sugar skull is smiling while frowning to represent the theater. During and after college I plan to pursue my acting career and that’s where my inspiration came from.
Hollywood iconic sign
Hollywood walk of fame
Old school movie camera
Marilyn Monroe
How did you do it?
To create my project I used paper mache to make the actual sugar skull. The paper mache consisted of: a fake skull, newspaper, glue, water and flour. First I laid aluminum foil over the fake skull to form the shape. Then I used a paint brush to base it with a water and flour mixture and laid medium to small sized strips on top to fully cover the skull. I repeated the step a couple times, until glue was added to the mixture. I made sure to get at least 4 layers on before I set the skull aside to dry. I used cardboard for my back drop and I used the same technique on the sides to give it a nicer and cleaner finish. After the skull and the cardboard was completely dry I painted both with white paint to give it a base/primer. Lastly I used paint and glitter to make the art piece a one of a kind. I used two different types of paint brushes; a small and a bigger one. Also for my paint I primarily used primary colors and mixed them to create secondary colors for my piece.
Why did you do it?
I choose acting as my inspiration because in traditional Mexican folk art they used their artwork to represent their love ones that passed away. The artworks consisted of patterns and many colors. So that’s also a reason why I wanted to incorporate patterns and colors into my skull. In my sugar skull I wanted to show balance by separating the face in halve. There are pattern of circles, dashes, arrows, and slight swirls within the skull in different colors to represent all the light and beauty in acting as well. As for my background, I kept it predominately white so everything can pop to show contrast. The red carpet has a texture so that it stands out. Also in the trees/hills around the Hollywood sign I made two different shades of green to show value, rhythm and perspective/space. Lastly everything else in the backdrop consist of shapes and words.