A digital lesson about African masks and masquerading  2005 Pearson Publishing

Masks are central to our ideas about African art. We may know them best by the way they are displayed in art galleries, museums, books and on the Internet. Here, masks are often exhibited for their sculptural qualities. But these qualities were only appreciated after masks had been discovered as art by the French Primitivist artists in the early 20th century. Originally though, African masks were worn as part of a costume that completely covered the masker. They were used as part of a ritual called masquerading.

In some societies, the masked figure was thought to be a nature or ‘bush’ spirit, an ancestor or some kind of supernatural being. Sometimes, however, the masker and the audience did not have such precise ideas about the nature of the mask, and the delight of masquerading was partly in the interaction with the unknown. In a masked event, a masquerader might be kind and friendly. However, they might shout at, chase, beat or, in extreme cases, even kill members of the audience.

These ideas may seem strange to us if we have never been part of such a culture. However, we might think of a masquerade as a mixture of things we do know more about, such as a theatre performance, religion, dance or a festival. This presentation focuses on the exaggerated features and decorated surfaces that are at the heart of so many of the designs of the African masks. I shall use drawing and digital techniques to explore the designs as I make my own art.

My starting point is drawing. I am lucky to have seen masks such as these in exhibitions; however, these drawings are based on images found from the Internet. Drawing allows me to spend time looking carefully at the form and textures of the masks. The masks I am looking at are all from the Congo in West Africa. They all have amazing titles.

This mask is called ‘courage and anger’.

This mask is called ‘dangerous forces’.

This mask is called ‘royal sister wife’.

This mask is called ‘feminine beauty, cultural pride’.

This mask is called ‘knowledge and power’.

Now for some digital work to experiment with some of these ideas.

Sorry everyone, but I haven’t started yet – this is really what I look like! But I’m about to change. If you are at all nervous, or easily shocked, please look away now …

I’ve used a tool called liquify to make my eyes bigger …

… and my eyebrows and mouth bigger too …

… my nose narrower and chin rounder …

I’ve altered the colour to look more dramatic, removed my ears and started to decorate using the airbrush tool, with pattern inspired by the original masks.

The wrinkly neck’s gone, and I’ve got a patterned chin copied from the ‘courage and anger’ mask.

This is nearly there, I like the quality, the extra airbrushing and the facet filter has really helped … but … I still look pretty mild … not really the effect I want.

Eek! now that’s scary – maybe another ‘dangerous forces’ mask. I’ve simply inverted the colours … don’t worry, it’s not for real!

Let’s see that again without the captions. Just watch how the picture develops.

Thank you for following this lesson. Now it’s time for you to try out some of these ideas … if you dare!