Tuesday, June 3, 2008

[BONUS] 365.25 Leap Skull

Several people have pointed out that this year is a leap year and so to be perfectly accurate I should make 366 skulls! However, I felt like ending on my birthday with the more standard 365 was the most poetic choice, but I hate to let down the fans...so I have created a special bonus "quarter" skull to commemorate the additional quarter day that each year should actually have!

For this one I returned to the material and technique of my very first skull: orange paper cut with large scissors while looking at a model skull. This is the same kind of paper from before (and the very last piece of it I had sitting around) and the same scissors and model skull as well. An interesting side note, the model I used for the first skull was never used again as a model for the rest of the project (until now).

I made a point of not reviewing the first skull right before making this, so hopefully it would be less influenced by what I had done previously. I did however intentionally flip the direction so that they could be nice bookends to the project.

So how was this a different experience a year later? I took longer! Mostly because I was paying more attention to the nuances of the model as I found myself trying to emulate it more closely.

I looked back at the original now that this is done and I'm surprised at minimal and stylized it really is. And it has such a sweet expression, while this one seems much more serious. What do you make of the differences?

9 comments:

agnorth said...

How wonderful to get up this morning and find all these skulls waiting! Thank you!!
Love the revisit to #1 - very poetic

bonnie-ann black said...

Congratulations on your birthday and your wonderful achievement. your skulls have gone from strength to strength over the past year. you were also incredibly generous to share your project with the hundreds of people who sent you photos and their own art work (mine included)! this bonus skull compared to your first one just shows how really working at something improves the skills. i love 365.25! and i will keep visiting your site. can't wait to see what your next project will be.

Couchgirl13 said...

So as it began, so shall it end? I think its excellent that you did this 1/4 skull. Not only for us, but for you as well. Look how far you've come. It just goes to show that with practice you truly do get better at things. Like you said, seeing the more subtle nuances of the model and such. They are both excellent! And its so cool to be guided back to the beginning for those of us that came in later. It just gives me hope that one day, I, too, will be able to draw, skullpt, cut, etc. a skull out of anything. Kodos.

katillac deVille said...

The first one reminds me more of a monkey skull, whereas #366 is more human.

Your work evolved, Noah!

Tim said...

I was wondering today if your project would qualify you to be a certified medical illustrator.

You should contact the Association of Medical Illustrators and find out ;-)

silvergirl said...

yes, #366 is more human-seeming, i agree.
And love the "bookend" concept, Noah. You're a genius!
Carry on, then.

silvergirl said...

(oops, i meant #365.25! sorry.)

Share your experiences with Bipolar said...

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BA said...

Congratulation for all of your works. I'm a pre-columbian skulls collector, here is my website for curious => www.ab-skulls.com

I'll link this blog on my links page as fast as I can.