How-to: Activity

How to: Paint a symmetrical Tiger

You will need:

  • Pencil
  • Any shade of blue paper
  • Brushes
  • Orange, Black and White Tempera paint
tiger head reference drawing
image of tiger's head artwork

1. Reference images help, as everyone knows, to show kids beforehand so this could be used to show the symmetry of a tiger’s head. To start off, fold your blue paper in half to have two equal sides. This fold line will be the center line of the tiger’s head. Students only need to draw half of the tiger’s head. Starting with a nice big half circle almost the whole side of the paper. Off that half circle the mane and triangular ears can be drawn. Then inside the half circle, draw the triangular bottom of the nose plus the curve up the side, the half circle eye off the nose, the curve of the mouth and finally the two sets of three triangle shapes for the black markings on the top of the head and the side. Students can add other details in paint later, for example the white above the eyes in the reference image. Also, the whiskers could be added at the end by scratching into the paint with the end of the paintbrush, or painted on.

How to Symmetrical tiger head sketch

2. Once the students have the drawing established the rest is a combination of continuous painting and printing. Students will paint a section and then fold it together to imprint that paint onto the other side. The black outlining and detail is a good place to start. Emphasize that a good amount of paint should be used to make the print but not too much that it bleeds beyond the lines. A back and forth between painting and printing should be constant. You can redo an area if needed to make a better print, too.

3. When the black outlining and triangle details are to the students satisfaction, then the orange and white paint can be added. Use the same technique of painting and printing (folding the paper together) as used with the black paint. For example, the mane can be just white and not outlined, like the example above. Also, as with the black paint, students can add paint to an already painted area to reprint if the paint is too dry or thin and it isn’t printing. Students can also go back to the black paint and reinforce details in black again if they get lost in the orange and white areas.

Final drawing, symmetrical tiger's head