Portraits of Dead Artists – Mimi Ilnitskaya
Drawing skulls is appealing to so many students. If you then want your students to make connections with artists, illustrator Mimi Ilnitskaya from Kazakhstan is an artist worth knowing about.
Her whimsical drawings of skulls are inspired by some of her favourite artists: Frida Kahlo, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, Vincent Van Gogh, Leonardo da Vinci, Gustav Klimt, and Ivan Ivazovsky.
Created digitally, you could you Apps such as Adobe Illustrator Draw (which is free), Brushes or Procreate to create artwork like this in the art room. Alternatively, this could be a painting or drawing project.
In each artwork, Ilnitskaya selects images associated with each artist and adds them to the skull. Even without the name added at the bottom of each artwork, it is obvious who the artist is.
It would be a great game to play with your students would be to print these off, cover up the name and see if they can find out who the artist is. You could even create a competitive element.
The Arty Teacher website has lots of blog posts about artists that are great to use in the artroom with students. Click the image below for art lessons about drawing skulls.
