Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Skull-A-Day on Tour: Hollywood, October 9th

If you're in the LA area I hope you'll come by my art exhibition/book signing at the Chaos Gallery at the Museum of Death on October 9th. I'll have copies of the book for sale, but feel free to bring by copies you already have as well. Details are below...


October 9th 6-9pm
Skulls exhibition opening & Book Signing
Chaos Gallery at Museum of Death
6033 Hollywood Blvd.
Hollywood, CA
(exhibition runs through just October 14th)


Commemorative Card Skulls

Kitty Valentine from London, England sent us some examples from her current project. She said: “ I adore your site - it's so blissfully savage. i am sending you a few pictures. i make skulls most days. this is my current project, the savojas - a set of old Italian commemorative cards defaced by my good self. ” You can also see more of Kitty's work HERE.

First up is “generale danyron ”
Next is “maria teresa di austria”
Carte de Visite C says:

This is amazing work, I am sorry I wasn't able to show off all the great cards you sent in. What I find the most fascinating about your work is the slow disappearance of the original image creating an spirit like manifestation. It is this ghostly manifestation that is now revealing the skull inside. Thanks for submitting your work.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Tuesdays With Tatman #17

"So I grabbed up the skeleton thick sunflower and stuck
it at my side like a scepter,
and deliver my sermon to my soul, and Jack's soul
too, and anyone who'll listen,
--We're not our skin of grime, we're not our dread
bleak dusty imageless locomotive, we're all
beautiful golden sunflowers inside, we're blessed by our own seed & golden hairy naked accomplishment-bodies growing into mad black
formal sunflowers in the sunset, spied on by our
eyes under the shadow of the mad locomotive
riverbank sunset Frisco hilly tincan evening sit-down vision." - Allen Ginsberg



Discover the sunflower inside of you. - Tatman

Each Tuesday in the 3.0 year will bring a new Tuesday With Tatman. As a tribute to the Skull Master's astounding feat let's all get creative and try something new(and hopefully skull related).

Abe Lincoln Skull

Hector Hasegawa shows us what old Abe Lincoln might have looked like if he had risen from the dead for some revenge on John Wilkes Booth.



Honest Abe was known as a peaceful man, but let's not forget his memorable quote about General Ulysses S. Grant when he said, "I like him; he fights."

Monday, September 28, 2009

C-Rations: 0C10001

This week’s offering is Cereal treats

“Bake Sale” each approx. 4" X 5" X 3" molded Rice & Coco Krispies on 11" plate

Late Edition C says:

Battle Creek, MI- Police uncovered a grisly scene today as they responded to an anonymous tip about the current whereabouts of Rice Krispies’ spokes elves Snap, Crackle, Pop missing since the summer. The lead came during an ongoing corruption scandal involving black market bakeries inside hollow trees run by the Keebler Family. A source close to the investigation mention an ongoing feud between the spokes elves and the Keeblers going back hundred of years as a possible connection. Tony, who worked with the trio, said: “We are in the mist of GRRRRRate economic uncertainty, and shifts in market shares, however slight, have a huge impact on personal livelihood. Since the elves’ square treats moved into the cookie aisle back in the 1990s, the feud between the two parties continued to escalate. I just never thought it would go this far.” The Battle Creek PD released this statement: "After processing the scene we can rule out The Big Corn Syndicate as a suspect, enlisting the help of the profiler from the Cookie Crisp Cops we have determines that this crime could only have been committed by one mascot, "Son of Toucan Sam" the notorious Cereal Killer.”

Remember each Monday during the 3.0 year I am posting an original skull design. My weekly offerings are nothing compared to the one-a-day massive project done by the Skullmaster in 1.0, but hopefully you will find some nourishment in these weekly offerings.

Crâne de champignons (Mushroom Skull)

Xolth from France wrote: “This is a very delicious Mushskrullm, I made for Skulladay.Com!” Xolth went to say that he plans on drying out his “Champignon de Paris” in order to make a pocket shrunken head skull.


Truffle C says:

I am thinking you need the pig from “Lord of the Flies” in order to root out this creation. Thanks for taking the time to share your work with us. Please make sure you send us an update on this when you are done “shrinking” it.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.17

This week’s simulacra are all worn out.

John Moser from Richmond, VA sent us this: “Thought of your project today while I was making some photos of decaying flooring over at the old Azalea mall site in Northside Richmond. This is a piece of torn and worn sheet vinyl flooring.”


Raymond Hill said: “I found this little guy on top of my ladder whilst doing some rehab work on an old warehouse. It's a (probably lead-based) paint chip.”

Abraham Ordoñez Zarco in Acapulco de Juarez Guerreroand, Mexico wrote: “Today I was looking at an old door in my house.. then I saw a skull on the sided to take a picture for you.”



Weary C says:

Thanks all for submitting these great finds. You explored many aspects of everyday life that usually go unnoticed. Just goes to show that simulacra can show up anywhere. This week I was down by the water and there was a foamy mass that was floating by that was a perfect simulacra, unfortunately I was without any sort of recording device, so that one is now lost to the world.

Keep sending those pictures in to our submissions address. Just keep in mind that since we only post simulacra once a week it might take a little longer than normal for it to be posted.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

[BONUS] 370. Where The Sidewalk Skull Ends

Some of the sidewalks in downtown Petersburg, Virginia are badly in need of repair and when the city said it didn't have the budget to fix them up for a few years, local residents decided to take matters into their own hands. With the city's permission the Art Underfoot project was initiated. The sidewalk on the 200 block of N. Sycamore St. was divided into 50 rectangles and area artists were asked to submit proposals for murals to go in the spaces. Of course when I was contacted I offered to paint a skull and surprisingly was given the green light. I chose to work with just black paint using the sidewalk itself as the base color...

Acrylic on Cement (approx 4ft x 5 ft).

The project will be officially unveiled at Friday for the Arts on October 9th, followed by a Street Art Fair on Saturday, October 10th from noon until 4pm. And the work will be on display until the city replaces the sidewalks or the images fade away.

Here are a couple other pics to give you some context...




p.s. The white rectangle above my piece is actually reserved for students from a school for troubled kids! I have a feeling they'll like what I did. I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

Doodlepalooza Skull

Designer and illustrator John Andrews brings us this skull doodle from his blog "doodlepalooza". He writes, "i came across your site some time ago but like much of the net, it was a fleeting moment. last week i was at chapters and saw your book. the ol' juicy database started firing and i ended up picking up the book. kudos! excellent endeavor! i also enjoyed going back to your site. here's a little pen and ink offering to your enterprise."



I always like the simplest of skull drawings. The washed out colors really make me see this as an old skull dug up out of it's grave and put on display. Let's hope those missing teeth were lost due to natural causes. Thanks, John.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Skull-A-Day: Talk20

I'm one of several local artists who are going to give a brief slide show as part of the upcoming Talk20 event hosted by C3 - The Creative Change Center and 1708 Gallery here in Richmond, Virginia. It should be a fun night and it's free! Space is limited so be sure to register now. Details below...


Talk 20
FREE
October 7th 6pm
1708 Gallery
319 West Broad Street
Richmond, VA 23220
804.643.1708

RSVP HERE

Each presenter will show and discuss 20 slides, 20 seconds each slide, and then take your questions.
Finger foods provided. Cash bar.

with
Thea Duskin, co-director of Ghostprint Gallery, multimedia and tattoo artist.
Shaun Irving, ultra-large format photographer.
E.B. Kellinger, visual artist and creator of the Reveal/Conceal Project.
Matthew Lively, visual and multimedia artist.
Michael Pellis, of Baskervill, innovative and sustainable architecture and design
Angeline Robertson and Charley Foley, of the print and interactive media firm Scout Design.

[Flashback Friday] 152. Hair Skull

Flashback Friday is a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.0. Each week I'll be posting an original skull along with some additional commentary in order from lowest to highest rated, with the #1 skull appearing in the last week of year 3 of the project...

#36: 152. Hair Skull

I frequently discussed the project with my barber during the course of the year, so it seems inevitable that I'd end up using my own hair after one of my haircuts. It was one of the more satisfying materials to work with and I actually think I'd like to do more pieces this way someday. Conversely it is the piece people are most grossed out by.

P.S. This skull has now been added to the Send-A-Skull application on Facebook!

Heart ‘n’ Skull

Justyna from Chicago, IL wrote: “This is a painting that I did for my 365 Days of Love project.** It is a project that is actually inspired by [Noah’s] work with skulls and the desire to do this came after reading [Noah’s] book, ‘Skulls.’ Thank you for all of your influence and I can't wait to see more work!!”



Pianist C says:

Heart of Skulls, I fell in love with you...

I love the feeling of this piece, with your use of a bright color on an ominous background. I am reminded of the work of Keith Haring and our very own Skullmaster with this piece. Thanks for including a skull inspiration in your project. Please update us with a link when you are back from your sabbatical.

** Editor’s note: Justyna’s project is currently on hiatus that is why a link was not provided to it.

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Skull-A-Day Sweater News

There's a nifty video to go with the new collection from Sibling that features the sweater made using my work. Watch it HERE, but be warned there is some vintage topless dancing footage in it, so it's Not Safe For Work/Kids.


Also I've been told that the sweater will be on sale in January 2010 at stores in Paris and Japan as well as on the Sibling website! I'll let you know when it's officially available.

After After Life

After my Skulll-A-Day art show After Life closed I brought all the skulls back home again to store for future exhibitions. In the meantime my cats have decided that the skull chairs are definitely their new thrones. Here's one of the royalty waiting to be served...

Desktop Wallpaper Skull And Bones

Warm Skull Wallpaper created by Ataedun for Migomagi Brand. Grab the small square below to use on your own desktop!


Wednesday, September 23, 2009

[BONUS] The Gift of Skulls

Here's another batch of skull gifts I've been given lately (definitely one of the nicer benefits of being "The Skull Guy"):

Several friends have given me items they found at the beach during their summer vacations...


Jo Ann sent me a box of lovely soaps! The price tag said they were "skull scented", but I'm not sure what that would really mean...


And Ekkeherd Beck of Germany, creator of the terrific Designers Skulls project, sent me this fantastic T-shirt...

Skull-A-Day Press: LA Ink

Just found out that my book Skulls made a cameo appearance on TLC's LA Ink! Thanks to @LoveandBacon for the heads up and screen grab!

It looks like the episode will air again on Thursday & Friday so keep an eye out.

Speaking of LA, I'll actually be there signing books at the opening of my Skulls art show at the Chaos Gallery on October 9th, so please stop on by if you're in the area (and hey, if you know Kat Von D tell her to come by too)!

Air Force Skull

SrA Sean Richardson wrote: “I'm an F-15 Avionics Technician working on Kadena Air Force Base, Okinawa, Japan; serving in the United States Air Force. I was strolling through the shop the other day and noticed this old piece of equipment, and decided it needed a skull on it. I hope you like it.”

DEFCON C says:

Attention! Don't be alarmed, but I think that was a launch sequence used at one point during the days of The Cold War. I find it amazing the number of times older obsolete technology has been featured here on Skull-A-Day since the start. Adding a skull to these pieces creates a tombstone like presence marking their passing. Thanks for submitting the skull and having the US Air Force properly represented here on Skull-A-Day. You have now joined the ranks of the other skulls in uniform from the US Marines, and the US Army. Carry on soldier.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Tuesdays With Tatman #16

Today's TWT was made possible with the help of my twin brother, Pudge. I always have lots of skull design ideas in my head, but sometimes the tools needed to accomplish the skull are beyond my reach. Thanks to Pudge's handy use of a plasma cutter we now have the first "skuvel".



The "skuvel" is made from a real shovel head. There's no way I could have cut this hardened steel with any saw that I possess so I'm sending out a big thanks to Pudge for making this happen. Here's a pic of him doing the dirty work.



Thanks again, bro. When you get to Texas we'll have to make something new.

Each Tuesday in the 3.0 year will bring a new Tuesday With Tatman. As a tribute to the Skull Master's astounding feat let's all get creative and try something new(and hopefully skull related).

Embroidered Skull

Art Teacher Robin New moves to the head of the class with this embroidered skull sewn onto found vintage embroidery. She works with her husband on these under the name "Super Stitched Chaos".



I'm sure all of your students at Clark-Moores Middle School will be thrilled to see their teacher's work. Hey, maybe you can get some of them interested in skull art with this month's "Back To Skull" contest. Kudos to you for teaching today's youth about the art of tomorrow.

Monday, September 21, 2009

C-Rations: 0C10000

This week’s offering is for “He who walks behind the rows.”

“Isaac” Approx. 6" X 3" X 5" Corn Husks assembled and molded

Malachai C says:

In honor of the 25th anniversary of the original release, the anticipation of the Syfy remake, and the Fall Equinox I have decided to bring in the harvest this week. Enjoy, but beware of “He who walks behind the rows.”

Remember each Monday during the 3.0 year I am posting an original skull design. My weekly offerings are nothing compared to the one-a-day massive project done by the Skullmaster in 1.0, but hopefully you will find some nourishment in these weekly offerings.

Help Countdown To Halloween

Skull-A-Day is always counting down to Halloween, but we're especially doing that in the month of October and our friends at Countdown To Halloween would love you to participate too. Here are the details from John Rozum...

On October 1, 2006, a handful of bloggers spontaneously created their own Halloween Countdowns, month long celebrations of Halloween and all of its affiliated trappings; books, movies, decorations, art, costumes, nostalgia, comics, traditions, lore, masks, yard haunting, games, etc. It didn’t take long for us to find each other, especially since some of us were already on each others radar. We began providing links to each other, and to sites that had the same spirit of the Halloween Countdown, even if they were not actually conducting one.

The following year these same bloggers loosely assembled, and were joined over the course of the month by around forty participants. In 2008 I decided to create an official list of links, which everyone participating was welcome to post on their own blogs. My feeling that there were still plenty of people blogging about Halloween all month long, and not finding the audience the deserved, or the sense of community that really began to make this annual event fun. My hope was that they’d stumble onto at least one of the participating blogs, and would find the list of links to everyone else. It turns out that this was the case, as we had a list of over 70 participating sites by the end of the month. This year I anticipate even more.

The beauty of the Halloween Countdown is that even with so many people taking part, each of whom is posting at least one thing each day (or at least striving to) throughout October, there has been very little overlap, even after three years. It's pretty astonishing if you think about it.

Anyone is welcome to join. There is no criteria, except that, obviously, these should be posts that have some connection to Halloween. While almost everyone strives to post something each day, as any one of the veterans will tell you, unless you start preparing your posts ahead of time, you’re in for a lot of grief. That is to say, don’t pressure yourself into daily posts if you can’t do it. The purpose is to have fun, and to participate in a community of like-minded individuals who are sharing some really great treats all month long.

This year Shawn Robare created a launch site for the Countdown, which will include a constantly revised list of links to participating blogs. Joining in is as simple as visiting

http://www.countdowntohalloween.com/


and notifying either Shawn or Myself, or leaving a comment in the links page which will be up on October 1 at Midnight.

-John Rozum
John even shared his lovely illustration "The Changing of the Guard" (shown above) to get you inspired! Hope you'll join in the fun.

A Kid's Bedroom Skull

Mark Bateman from England said: “ I decided to decorate my kids bedroom and I though what better than a skull!”

Blueman C says:

*Blink* *Blink* *Head tilt* *Eye Bulge*

That’s Blueman for this is a wonderful piece, thanks for submitting it. Make sure you let the child know this painting was featured here. A Skull-A-Day posting must be worth something in the playground hierarchy, like a free cootie inoculation or a get out of tag jail pass.

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Skull-A-Day Honored: Top 100 Oddities Blogs

I'm honored to find out that Skull-A-Day has been chosen as one of the Top 100 Oddities Blogs by The Daily Reviewer! Thanks to the folks who submitted and voted for it (I had no idea!).

Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.16

Another Sunday brings another fun day of skull hunting. Today we feature skulls found in liquid form. Usually the hard bones of the skull never find a liquid form, but the skulls surrounding us everyday come in all shapes, sizes, and different forms of matter.

Zachary Z. Handler from Baltimore, MD just finished up another cup of water and saw this condensational beauty at the bottom.



Txelu Balboa sends us a casual picture of a casual phenomenon, a skull made by the mark of a beer glass in a Burger King(obviously not in America, darn it).



Ruby Fox of Sheffield, England found this neon colored skull in a jar she had used for ink and glue.



Excellent finds by all of you, thanks for submitting these wet and wild skulls.

To all of you skull hunters out there, keep sending those pictures in to our submissions address. Just keep in mind that since we only post simulacra once a week it might take a little longer than normal for it to be posted.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

[BONUS] Skulledelic In Use

The folks at Sibling, a knitwear company in England, recently asked for permission to use my 347. Skulledelic image as part of their upcoming collection. The result is this gorgeous update of the classic Breton sailor's sweater...

The piece is included in a film that will be part of an installation at London Fashion Week's Fashion East on September 23rd. I'll post a link when the video is online.

These sweaters are not currently for sale, but more information about Sibling's collection should be available on their site soon.

Petoskey Stone Skulls

On my last weekend living in Michigan my family made a trip to Manistee and visited the street craft fair in the downtown area. I made a most glorious discovery of these wonderful skulls carved by Tom Thompson. These are called petoskey stones and are recognizable by their unique patterns.





These were even more impressive in person. I want to thank Tom for allowing me to post his work here. If you are in Michigan and run across Tom and his stone carvings(he does more than just skulls) then prepare to be amazed. I couldn't pass up on buying one of his lower peninsula of Michigan stones for a reminder of my great years spent living here.

Friday, September 18, 2009

Skull-A-Day on Tour: October

It should come as no surprise that October will be a busy month for me. Here's a list of the events I've got scheduled, if you're in the area I hope you'll come out to one or more and say "hi"...



October 7th: Richmond, VA
Talk 20 slide presention on Skull-A-Day
6pm @1708 Gallery 319 W. Broad St.
RSVP HERE
FREE

October 9th: Hollywood, CA
Skulls exhibition opening & Book Signing @ Chaos Gallery at Museum of Death
6-9pm @ 6033 Hollywood Blvd.
(exhibition runs through just October 14th)

October 15th: Louisville, KY
Lecture & Book Signing
Louisville Graphic Design Association 100 Show
6-9pm @ The Mellwood Art Center 1860 Mellwood Ave.

October 17th: Richmond, VA
Book signing at Blood Lake
7:30-11:30 @ 13131 Overhill Lake Lane

October 25th: Sandusky, OH
Skull-A-Day exhibition Lecture & Book Signing.
Sandusky Cultural Art Center
Details TBA @ 2130 Hayes Ave.

October 31st: Philadelphia, PA
Talk, workshop, & book signing.
Day of The Dead event at the Mütter Museum
10am-5pm @ 19 S. 22nd St.
Free with museum admission.

image: 139. Skull-O-Lantern

[Flashback Friday] 168. (Escape To) Skull Mountain

Flashback Friday is a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.0. Each week I'll be posting an original skull along with some additional commentary in order from lowest to highest rated, with the #1 skull appearing in the last week of year 3 of the project...

#37: 168. (Escape To) Skull Mountain

After seeing the original Star Wars movie I became obsessed with becoming a special effects maker. I would buy model kits and then customize and photograph them. It was fun tapping back into that skill set to build this. The mountain is papier-mâché, the snow is cornstarch, the trees are moss used for train set models, the ground is sandpaper colored with pastels and the water is an old mirror. I took it to a local park so that I could shoot a photo with an unblocked sky in the background and actual sunlight on it. I guess it did the job since several people have thought this was an actual place.

UPDATE: This skull has been added to the Send-A-Skull application on Facebook.

Mosaic Skull

Eve Lynch from Kraken Mosaics sent us this: “I've been a fan of skull-a-day since my son received your book as a gift so I just had to send a photo of my newest mosaic skull in for review! I'm a mosaic artist that works with mostly stained glass and I have (sort of) an obsession with skulls and skeletons. I created this life size skull for a Frida Kahlo exhibit.”


Diego C says:

An excellent tribute to Frida. Thanks for sending in this piece to us. The flowers on a this piece are a wonderful addition to it. It reminds me that although I am looking at a piece of 3-D sculpture, I can't forget the smooth, flat, 2-D aspect of the material it was created with.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

[BONUS] Skull Stencil In Use

Jeff Jackson did another great project using my original Skull Stencil. See the entire process of how he built this "Skull Box" HERE.

3 Line Skull

Kev & Lynda with eXist Designs in New Zealand get simply creative with this 3 line skull.



I really like just how simple this is. It reminds me a lot of the Skull Master's 13 Line Skull. Usually human body parts are so complicated. Thanks for showing the simpler side of life.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Get ready for Halloween with Skull-A-Day

Since Halloween is just over a month away, I thought should take a moment to remind you of all the resources from Skull-A-Day that can help you prepare for whatever shenanigans you have planned...

First a bunch of FREE stuff to download:

Two fonts perfect for invitations, signs, and cards:

Skullphabet #1 and Skullphabet #2



Five stencils great for decoration making:
Original Stencil

Cocoa Stencil

Two-Part Stencil

Stylized Stencil
Secret Skull Stencil

A Papercraft Toy, that makes a great decoration, gift, or DIY project for kids & adults.

A Paper Doll, that's a fun DIY project for kids & adults.

A Connect-The-Dots to keep the kids busy.

And a few more advanced options:
Paper Cut-Out Pattern
Cross-Stitch Pattern.
Paper Sculpture
Crossword Puzzle
Dance Steps
Paint-By-Numbers

And of course if you're in the holiday gift giving mood, I hope you'll consider buying some Skull-A-Day stuff (and thus support the site in the process!):

The official Skull-A-Day book SKULLS is available at your local independent bookstore. And of course you can get it at all the usual places online: Powells, Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble. You can even get it personalized by me! Details are HERE.




I'm selling a limited edition Ornament(al) Skull print (Don't wait to get this, it's almost sold out!)



A L33T Keyboard Skull T-shirt is being sold by LOLmart HERE.

Cardboard Puzzle Skulls & Skull Wreaths are available at Cardboard Safari HERE.


A selection of Skull Notebooks are available at Modofly HERE.

Limited edition silkscreen posters are available from Team Eight Press HERE.

Face Metal Design is offering a limited edition replica's of my Cube Skull HERE.

And for the skull lovers who have everything, Ornament(al) Skull pattern wallpaper is available from Designer Wallcoverings HERE.