In the last article ‘Warli – Presenting Lifestyle Through Traditional Art,’ we talked about the origin of Warli Art and its evolution over time.
Now that you know what the art is about, let us get into the intricacies of creating one of the most popular tribal art of India.
#1 Background
In earlier times, paintings were made by the tribal inmates on mud walls of their own houses. Walls were coated with cow dung, topped with a layer of Geru powder/ Terracotta solution to give a background of earthen or reddish-brown colour.
With its journey through the times, warli painting has found many other media like canvas, paper, fabric, wood, and not remained restricted to the mud walls coated with cow dung.
Today, the classic Geru base has given way to bright colors like Beige, Maroon, Bottle Green, Green, Black, Red as well as muted shades of Purple, Green, and Yellow are also increasingly used in Warli, especially for textile prints.
#2 Use of Colours
The traditional Warli Artists used just one colour throughout the painting, i.e., white. With limited resources at their disposal, the Warli tribe used Powdered Rice along with water and gum to make the white paste.
Occasionally, yellow and red coloured dots were added to the designs. These additional colours were extracted from natural resources like Turmeric and Flower petals. The designs were painted on the wall with wooden sticks of Bamboo and Baharu Tree.
Now that a variety of ready to use materials are available to us, in the current times, artists use professional brushes or nibs and a diverse range of contrasting colours to make the warli designs look more eye-catching.
All said and done; on a personal note, I would recommend using Geru as the base and white paint for the designs so as to retain the traditionality of the artwork.
#3 Use of Geometry
The simple yet exquisite designs in a warli art painting are made using some most basic geometrical shapes such as circles, triangles, lines, dots, and squares.
Each of these shapes depicts an element from nature. A circle is associated with the Sun and the Moon, while triangles represent mountains and pointed trees. Squares indicate a piece of land or a sacred enclosure.
Talking about the very basics –
The faces of the human figures are drawn as circles without the facial features nose, eyes, ears, and the body are made with two triangles joined at the tips.
How to distinguish between males and females?
The females are identified with a protruding curve line on the head, symbolizing a ponytail or a smaller circle joined to the face symbolizing the female bun.
For the male body, the upper triangle is broader, and the lower triangle is narrower. In contrast, for the female, the upper triangle is narrow and the lower triangle is drawn wider.
Also, the males can be shown wearing a pagdi/ turban on the head and carrying a scarf on the shoulder. Similarly, females have flowers tucked in their bun or different designs can be shown on their dress.
In regards to animals - horse, hen, deer, duck, cow, bull, goat, and dog are made using two triangles side by side joined at tips. Their tails and facial structure, including horns and ears, depict/show their actual identity.
The position and placement of their legs depict their posture or movement. The size of the triangles should be according to the size of the creature being depicted.
Peacocks and other birds are designed using circles and different geometric shapes for the body structure that is decorated with tuft (kalgi) and feathers.
Warli tribe farming and hunting equipment used are shown in various activities performed by the tribals for survival and living.
Tribal Houses are drawn with different designs and can be of various sizes, shapes, and complexities. They are also shown to contain storage spaces for storing grains and people resting therein.
Trees form an integral part of the paintings depicting nature. Coconut trees and Banyan Trees, several bushy plant designs, and flowering plants can be drawn.
Farmlands, water bodies, and mountains are shown with appropriate shapes filled with uniform patterns of dash or dots.
How to draw warli art without paint?
With excellent resources readily available to us now, using white gel pens or pencils make it much easier to draw. It also makes the designs look neat and intricate. Not to forget, using pens even speeds up the making time of warli art designs.
Buy it here.
So, get your basics right and keep your paintbrushes ready!
We’ll get back to you with the details of specific warli tribal art designs, the intricate patterns, and their significance in the upcoming article.
Till then, subscribe to our website and stay updated on our latest posts.
Happy Drawing!