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Gond Art Bookmark

Gond Art Bookmark: A Dotted-Line Animal from Madhya Pradesh

Level
Intermediate
Duration
45 - 90 mins
Budget
₹761 – ₹1,435
Age
12+
State
Madhya Pradesh

Materials

  • Heavy cardstock or thick drawing paper, A4 or US Letter, 200 gsm or thicker
  • Acrylic paint set (4 or 5 bright colours)
  • Paint brush set with a small round brush
  • Black waterproof fineliner, 0.5 mm
  • Single hole punch (or use a sharp pencil)
  • Satin ribbon, 6 mm wide, assorted colours
  • Pencil, eraser, ruler and scissors
  • Water cup, paint plate, scrap paper and newspaper

Steps

  1. Set up your table and your supplies
    Sit near a window with newspaper on the table. Lay out your heavy paper, pencil, eraser, ruler, scissors, a small cup of water, a plate for paint, acrylic paints, a small round brush, the black fineliner, a hole punch and a ribbon. Squeeze out only a pea-sized blob of each colour and put a scrap sheet under your drawing hand. Common mistake: squeezing out lots of paint, most of which dries on the plate.
    Tip: Wear an old shirt. Acrylic stains clothes for good.
  2. Cut a 6 by 18 cm strip and round the top corners
    Measure and mark a 6 cm by 18 cm rectangle on heavy cardstock or thick drawing paper. Cut it out with scissors, cutting slowly on the line. Draw round the top corners by tracing a coin and cut along the curve. The strip should stand up straight and not bend. Common mistake: using thin paper, which curls when painted, so use paper of at least 200 gsm.
  3. Sketch a simple animal that fills the strip
    Lightly draw an animal such as a deer, a fish or a bird, standing upright so that it fills most of the strip, about 14 cm tall. Leave a 5 mm margin around it for the border. Keep the outline simple, with a rounded body and few curves. Common mistake: too many details. The patterns come later.
    Tip: Draw faintly. You will erase the pencil later.
  4. Divide the animal into 4 or 5 zones
    Draw curved lines across the animal to create zones: head, body, legs and tail, and maybe a neck. Make each zone about the size of a thumbnail or larger. The zones are the secret of Gond art, because each one will carry a different pattern. Common mistake: tiny zones that are hard to fill.
  5. Paint each zone in a bright flat colour
    Paint each zone with a small round brush, using bright colours like yellow, orange, blue, green and red. Make neighbouring zones contrast in colour, so a yellow zone sits next to a blue one. Use one thin coat first and a second if the paper shows through. Common mistake: painting over the pencil lines, so stay just inside them.
  6. Let the paint dry for 20 minutes
    Leave the strip flat on newspaper. Touch a corner of the border lightly with a clean finger, which should feel dry and cool, not tacky. If the paper curls, put the strip under a heavy book for 10 minutes once the paint is fully dry. Drawing with a pen on wet paint will drag the ink.
  7. Draw a different pattern in each zone with the fineliner
    With the black fineliner, fill each painted zone with a pattern: dots in the body, short parallel lines in the legs, a wavy line in the tail, little scales in the head. Draw one row at a time, keep each pattern even, and make dots by touching the pen down and lifting. Common mistake: dragging the pen on bumpy paint, which makes the line skip. Press lightly and go slowly.
    Tip: If the pen skips, go over the line a second time.
  8. Outline the animal and add a dotted border
    Go over the outline of the animal twice, so it looks bolder than the inside lines. Draw a border of continuous small dots or a thin line about 3 mm from the edge of the strip. Then add a few tiny leaves or flowers around the animal in the gaps. Wait 5 minutes, then erase the visible pencil lines gently.
  9. Punch a hole and tie on a ribbon
    Punch a hole in the middle of the top edge, about 8 mm from the top. If you have no punch, press a sharp pencil point through the paper onto a folded towel, then widen the hole by turning the pencil. Fold a 20 cm piece of ribbon in half, push the loop through the hole, pull the ends through the loop and tighten. Trim the ends at a slant so they do not fray.

Sustainability

Medium - uses card offcuts; acrylic and markers are plastic-based

Safety

Marker ink stains; eye strain from fine detail, so rest every 20 minutes