We and our students paint our shamanic drums with a variety of substances. These are usually goat, cow or deer skin heads, usually using a soft beater (wood wrapped in tanned deer hide). I use a horse rib which is much harder. (Horse died of natural causes on a farm near here.) I have successfully used acrylic paint, others have used oil paint, and also high quality colored drawing inks. Thinning paint seems to work better than applying thickly. A soft beater is less hard on the finished product. And if your drum is subject to loosening in damp weather and having to be tightened with heat that will cause wear as well. If you want to be able to control the way the finished art looks you need to think about method of application (markers go on differently from paint or ink applied with brushes. Also if you make a mistake Acrylics are easier to clean off the surface and leave less trace that certain other colorants. Also paints can be painted over.

Bekki