Detailed Day of the Dead Catrina Coloring Page

Detailed Day of the Dead Catrina Coloring Page is an elegant catrina portrait. She wears a wide brimmed hat loaded with feathers and one enormous flower, her hair falls in long waves past her shoulders, and a beaded collar and patterned bodice fill the lower half of the page.

How this coloring page was created

The concept we gave the generator was "An elegant catrina portrait with a plumed hat, flowing hair, a lace collar and floral detailing" into Colorin AI, in the intricate style. This is the catrina at full detail, and it sits at the opposite end of the collection from the kawaii version of the same figure.

The mandala pattern across the bodice was not requested. The generator added it and it stayed, because it gives the bottom third of the page as much to do as the hat does at the top.

Details of this detailed catrina coloring page

The hat brim curves right across the page, scalloped at the edge and patterned along its underside, with a band of small repeated shapes around the crown.

Three long feathers rise behind it and a large layered flower sits at the right side of the band, with a second, smaller one tucked at the left of the face.

Her face is a skull drawn with lashes and a stitched smile, so it reads as painted rather than bare, and a pair of drop earrings hangs at both sides.

The hair falls in long wavy strands down both sides of the neck and past the shoulders, each strand a separate closed shape.

Below, a beaded collar of three rows sits above a bodice covered in a mandala of petals, dots and scallops that fans out to both edges of the page.

There is no background at all. The figure fills the sheet from top to bottom, which is what makes it read as a portrait rather than a scene.

Coloring Ideas and Techniques

Hair first and in one flat colour. It is the largest area on the page and everything else is easier to judge once it is down.

Feathers want a lighter tone than the hat so they stay behind it. Same colour on both flattens the entire top of the page.

The bodice mandala reads best in two colours used alternately across its bands. Three or more and the pattern stops being legible.

Keep the face white and colour only the eye sockets, the nose and the stitches. This is the rule for every painted face in the collection.

Give the beaded collar a metallic or a single dark tone. It sits between two heavily patterned areas and it needs to read as one solid object.

The big flower on the hat is the one place for the brightest colour available. It is the focal point of the drawing and it should win.

Allow two sittings. Hat and face first, hair and bodice second, which is also roughly how the drawing divides in half.

There are four catrinas across this collection, from the kawaii face to this one. Printed in order they make a decent demonstration of how one figure changes with the amount of line work, which is worth the wall space in a classroom.