Let's PLAY! – Fingerprint Caterpillar
Perfect is boring. Let's play and make a fingerprint caterpillar!
Hello friends!
This is the first post for Let’s PLAY! column and I’m really excited! This month, we are going to make a 3D fingerprint caterpillar—what a fancy name for it! Don’t be intimidated by it’s name, it’s really REALLY simple, I promise. Let’s play, shall we?
Materials:
Your precious fingers
Acrylic paint(you can use any kind of paints available to you, quality doesn’t matter)
Sketch paper/Mixed media paper
Rocks, leaves, used matches (optional)
Glue stick/ super glue/ tape (optional)
Methods:
Mix a colour that you want for your caterpillar. I used a light green here by mixing yellow and blue acrylic. You don’t have to mix your own colour if you’re not confident enough. Simply use the paint directly from the tube. And of course, you can use more than one colour! Get creative!
Paint your finger. I prefer using a brush than dipping my finger into the paint directly because this prevent having too much paint—which will make the fingerprints less clear on the paper later. I love having the pattern of my fingerprint on the paper. Again, you can use more than one finger if you want more varieties.
Create the head and the body of your caterpillar. Put the paint on paper with your fingers! Don’t worry about the shape of the caterpillar. You don’t need to make a perfect straight line or curve. Enjoy the process. Sketching before painting is NOT ALLOWED because it’s gonna spoil the fun! the purpose of this session is to PLAY, not making a perfect piece.
While you are waiting for the paint to dry, we can now create an environment for Mr. caterpillar. This is where the 3D element comes in. Where is he? Woodland or maybe, the space? What is he doing? Is he playing, reading or eating? Who is he with? Is he alone or with his friends?
I decided to add some rocks and leaves to create a forest environment for him. I glued them on the paper with super glue. I then found some used matches in my studio and I think it will be fun to include them too. Get out of your house and see what you could find!
Time to bring Mr. Caterpillar to life! Draw him a face and don’t forget his antennae. I also added legs for him. I wasn’t playful enough when I was creating . Now I’m thinking I should have give him a fun hat, glasses or shoes—can you count how many shoes does he need? The point here is to have fun and enjoy the process of drawing without worrying!!
Ta-da!!!! Congratulations on making time for yourself and treating yourself seriously. Frame it or stick it on your wall to remind yourself to play.
Thoughts:
I’m thrilled with my final painting not only because it looks cute, it’s mainly because I had fun. The hardest part was to start. You might come up with a lot of excuses not to do it, like what I experienced.
I don’t have enough time to play. This is not portfolio worthy. There’s no value doing this. This is a waste of time. I’m not artistic enough. I can draw.
But once you shut that voice down and focus on playing, it’s very rewarding. This is serious play—which is essential for every artist. I’m sure that voice will come up every time when I try to nurture my inner child. But that’s okay. As long as I’m aware that those comments are nonsense, all I have to do is to ignore them and do it anyway.
I hope this inspire you to create your fingerprint art and allow yourself to have fun again! Remember your goal is to play and fill your creative well—not a perfect piece of painting.
P.S. Perfect is boring.
I apologise if there’s any grammatical, logical or slpeling mistakes because it’s written by me, a human being who makes mistakes.
So fun! 🐛