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Activities / Cheriyal Scroll Painting / Cheriyal Painting

Cheriyal Painting

Cheriyal Scroll-Style Painting: Narrative Panels on a Red Ground

Level
Advanced
Duration
5 - 10 hours (over 2-3 days)
Budget
₹1,091 – ₹1,514
Age
16+
State
Telangana

Materials

  • Acrylic or canvas-textured paper, A3 (US pad is 12 x 16 in)
  • Acrylic paint set (you need red, yellow, blue, green, white, black and extra red)
  • Paint brush set (one wide flat brush and a few small round ones)
  • Black waterproof fineliner, 0.5 mm
  • Masking tape, about 2.4 cm wide
  • Pencil, ruler and eraser
  • Drawing board or stiff cardboard, bigger than A3
  • Water jar, mixing plate and a rag
  • Newspaper to cover the table

Steps

  1. Gather your supplies and cover the table
    Cover a large table with newspaper and set up near a window. You need an A3 sheet of acrylic or canvas-textured paper, a board a little bigger than the sheet, masking tape, acrylic paints, brushes, a pencil, a ruler, an eraser, a water jar and a plate for mixing. Plan two or three short sessions over 2 to 3 days. Common mistake: trying to finish it in one sitting. Fine work gets sloppy when your hand is tired.
    Tip: Rest your eyes and hands every 30 minutes. Look far away for a minute.
  2. Tape the paper to a board
    Place the A3 sheet on the board and stick masking tape along all four edges, about 1 cm onto the paper. Press the tape down with your thumbnail. This keeps the paper flat when it gets wet and leaves a clean white border when you peel the tape off at the end. Common mistake: skipping the tape, which makes the paper curl and ripple.
  3. Paint the whole surface deep red in two thin coats
    Squeeze most of a red tube onto the plate and add a tiny drop of brown or dark blue to deepen it. Use the biggest flat brush and paint in long strokes from left to right, covering the sheet within the tape. Wait 30 minutes until dry to touch, then paint a second coat from top to bottom. It should look solid and slightly warm, like brick. Common mistake: one thick coat, which dries with ridges and cracks.
    Tip: If the red looks streaky after the first coat, that is normal. The second coat evens it out.
  4. Let the red dry fully, ideally overnight
    Leave the board flat, away from dust and pets, for at least 4 hours and ideally overnight. Press a fingertip on a corner of the border area to test: it should feel smooth and cool, not tacky. This is a good place to end session one. Painting details on half-dry red lifts the red and muddies your colours.
  5. Divide the sheet into three panels with pencil and ruler
    Leave a 2 cm margin on every side. On A3 in landscape (42 cm by 29.7 cm), draw three panels, each about 38 cm wide and 7.9 cm tall, with a 1 cm gap between them. Press very lightly. Cheriyal scrolls tell a story in bands like this, with each band showing one scene. Common mistake: pressing hard, which leaves grooves.
    Tip: A white or yellow colour pencil shows better on red than graphite.
  6. Sketch a simple story, one scene per panel
    Choose an easy story, such as a village day: a woman carrying a pot, a cow and a tree, a house. Draw 2 to 4 large figures in each panel with big almond eyes, round faces and bold outlines. Keep every figure at least 3 cm tall so it can be painted. Leave small gaps between figures for leaves and dots. Common mistake: tiny figures, which become hard to paint.
    Tip: Look at the ArtCorner video for how Cheriyal people and animals are shaped.
  7. Paint the largest shapes in flat colour
    With a medium brush, fill big areas first: clothes, animal bodies, trees. Use blue, yellow, green and white, which stand out on red. Colour one shape at a time, in one direction, and let it dry for 10 minutes before painting beside it. Use two thin coats for light colours over red, with no shading, because Cheriyal uses flat colour. Common mistake: wet next to wet, which blends colours into mud.
    Tip: Keep a separate brush for white and yellow so red does not tint them.
  8. Fill the smaller shapes and the background gaps
    Paint faces, hands, small animals and objects with a smaller brush. Fill gaps between figures with tiny leaves, flowers and dots in white or yellow. Leave no big empty red spots. Cheriyal panels feel full but never messy, so repeat the same few leaf shapes. Work from the top of each panel down so your hand does not smudge wet paint.
  9. Add costume and jewellery details
    With the smallest brush and little paint, add stripes, dots and tiny flowers on clothing, bangles on arms, necklaces and borders on dresses. Wipe the brush tip on a rag before each stroke. Brace your wrist against the table. Common mistake: loading too much paint, which turns lines into blobs. Wait for the base colour to feel dry first.
  10. Outline every figure in black
    Wait 30 minutes for all paint to dry. Trace each figure, eye and detail with a waterproof fineliner, or with black acrylic on the smallest brush if you are comfortable. Go slowly and keep lines smooth. If you slip, thicken the line or turn the slip into a dot. Black outlines are what make Cheriyal flat colours look sharp and graphic.
    Tip: If the pen skips on thick paint, press very lightly and go over it twice.
  11. Paint a leaf-scroll border, then touch up and dry
    Between the tape and the panels, draw a repeating wavy vine with small leaves in white or yellow, then outline it in black. Check the whole piece for gaps in colour and touch them up. Let it dry flat for 48 hours. Then peel the masking tape slowly at a 45 degree angle for a clean edge. Hang it only after it has fully dried.

Sustainability

Medium - paper or cloth base; acrylic is plastic-based; traditional Cheriyal uses natural colours on cloth

Safety

Paint fumes, so ventilate; eye strain and hand fatigue from fine work; rest every 30 minutes