Skull-A-Day on Tour: Gel 2010

I'm happy to announce that I will be once again participating in the Gel Conference in NYC on April 29 & 30! This year I'll be leading a workshop called "Generating Creative Energy" in which participants will meet at the Etsy headquarters and take part in a hands-on exercise to experience the benefits I found in creating Skull-A-Day. For more information and to sign-up for the nearly sold-out conference go HERE.

And if you haven't seen it yet, here's my talk from the 2009 Gel Conference...

Noah Scalin at Gel 2009 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.35

Tyrone from Kunkletown, PA said: “The image is from when I was installing ceramic tile and I noticed this sneaky guy watching me from the floor. The material is thin-set mortar used as tile adhesive.”

Phil Cheney wrote: “The picture was taken in our shower. I saw this collection of hair
when I got in.”

Luka Znaor from Northbridge, Perth in Western Australia told us: “HI S.A.D. Well it's finally my time to share a skull and where of all places to find one, but on an old towel of mine used as a backing for ironing my t-shirts.”

W.C. says:

Today’s simulacra reminded me of the before, during, and after steps of taking a shower. However, I don’t usually need to set tiles before I take one. I am always pleasantly surprised by the places our visitors find simulacra. Thank you all for taking the time out of your day to submit the amazing specimens you have found.

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.

Welded Buckle Skull

This killer belt buckle comes from Jody Collier. It's an all welded piece of art and you can even find out how to make one of your own right here.



I love personal, handmade art and jewelry. I sure hope your son wears this a lot. A handmade gift is always a treasure. Especially when it resembles it. Plus, we all know how many kids could use a good belt and buckle these days. Thanks, Jody!

[Flashback Friday] 30. 45 Minutes of Cartoon Skulls

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...

#18: 30. 45 Minutes of Cartoon Skulls

I've never been very good at cartooning so I decided to do this piece as an excuse to practice. I really only intended to do this exercise for a few minutes, but I just kept going. Once I was done I realized I should have made the whole thing into the shape of a skull. A few months later I had the opportunity when I was asked to make a piece for the Halloween Skull Mask Project.

Handmade Mosaic skull

Margarita Lopez, San Antonio, TX told us: “The skull is about the size of a basketball and everything about it is handmade. No mold was used at all.”

Artist doing some touch up work

Lonestar C says:

We always appreciate seeing a mosaic skull, as well as artists hard at work. I am impressed by the creativity that is needed to accomplish a piece like this. Getting everything together so smoothly as well as line up is a feat that you can be proud of. Thank you for submitting these pictures to us.

The Gift of Skulls: Trepanation

I was recently sent this gorgeous print from Kelly Nelson who teaches at Longwood University. Titled "Trepanation" the media is solar plates on paper and teabags with sewing and punch. She says, "I discovered your skull work when visiting the Mütter Museum's site and watched your interview online. I decided to pull a proof for you and hope you enjoy it." The print is part of a twelve artist portfolio called Anatomy/Anomaly which was curated by Shelley Gibson at Arkansas State Unviersity and was actually inspired by the Mütter Museum's collection! The portfolio will be part of an exhibition at the Southern Graphics Council Conference 2010. Thanks again to Kelly for her kind and beautiful gift, which will have a place of honor on my wall!

Crooked Cross Skull

My evil twin Pudge has been busy in the shop creating yet another skull for us. Here's what he says about his newest piece, "I am submitting my new skull "The Crooked Cross". The cross is made from one long continuous chain that has been welded together. The skull is cut out from an old tool box lid and then welded to the cross. The chain was tough to weld in place but I am very please with the result. Enjoy."



You know I'm a sucker for heavy metal! Plus, I really like the skull and crossbones design you made. Thanks for sharing this, Pudge. Keep 'em coming and keep it heavy!

[BONUS] Skull Pop-Up In Use

Takashi Alekseev used my Pop-Up Skull pattern to make possibly the coolest card ever! He says, "I found the pop-up skull pattern on your site and used it to make a birthday card for my friend. She is a fanatic of Damien Hirst's work, especially his 'For the Love of God' piece - a jewel-encrusted platinum skull." You can read the entire process of how he made the card on his blog HERE.

Assemblage Skull

Marilyn Cummins of Invincible Summer Studios in Columbia, Missouri wrote: “I created this skull from a broken guitar body, torn wallpaper collage, a stick of memory, an oven knob and paint. It is called ‘Je ne suis pas mort’ --- ‘I am not dead.’ ”

Skull with Artist showing the size of the piece

3-Chord C says:

That local folk cover band for “The Who” really knows how to rock out! Thank you for sharing this cool piece. I enjoy your ability to assemble found objects into great work of art. By the way, this would have been the perfect pick to use with your work.

Tuesdays With Tatman #34

Let's set the record straight. I DO NOT like olives. What I do like are skulls and Bombay Sapphire. Now, I actually have a chance to combine the two.



Once these little guys finished their intoxicating photo op they were promptly removed from my drink. No offense to you olive lovers, but the gin tastes good enough on it's own.

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).

[CONTEST] Win a Handmade Skull Mug

Cris from Skeletal Dropkick kindly offered to give away a fantastic hand thrown skull mug to one lucky reader of Skull-A-Day

To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below describing what a skull's favorite food or beverage would be. [NOTE: If you're reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave your comment on the actual Skull-A-Day.com post if you want to be actually entered in the contest]

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to include a way to contact you (either an e-mail in the post OR make sure your Blogger profile has an e-mail link for you on it).

Everyone is welcome to enter, but please note that if you're out of the US Cris will only cover the first $8 of shipping and you will have to pay the rest.

You have until just Midnight Eastern Time February 2nd to enter so don't delay!  [UPDATE: The contest is over, thanks to everyone who participated! The winner will be announced soon.]

And of course you don't have to wait til the end of the contest to get your own mug from Cris, check out the range of items for sale on the Skeletal Dropkick Etsy page!

Good luck!

Hoody Skull

Allen "onesian" Vili of New Zealand sends us this one of a kind airbrushed hooded jacket he painted for an exhibition. An almost osteologically correct design for keeping you warm even if you get chilled to the bone.



I especially like the bone structure being present. That hood probably looks pretty badass when it's up also. Thanks for keeping it skullified on the South Side!

C-Rations: 0C100010

This week’s offering is Cardboard Cutout.

“The Noid” 10" X 10" top of cardboard pizza box cut, with crayon shading

C’s Famous Pizza says:

I had way too much pizza over the last week, when I looked over at the trash can there was a larger box on top of the smaller box. Both were on their sides so it looked like a skull to me. Story for another time, but everything looks like a skull this week. I tried to duplicate the boxy feeling of the skull I saw with this cutout.

[BONUS]
When I got done taking the picture above I set my skull by the window to get it out of the way. When I turned off the lights in the room I was greeted with a surprise on the wall courtesy of a Con Ed street light outside the window. I positioned my creation a little better and here is the result.

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.

Need more nourishment? You can always Friend or Follow.

Skull of The Year!

I'm an delighted to announce that my 375. Menagerie Skull was the winner of the 2009 Skull of The Year competition put on by Designers Skulls!

In addition my updated United Skull of America tied for 5th place! You can see all the winners HERE.

I'll post a photo when I get my trophy (it's a skull of course!).

And the Skull Beads winners are...

Congratulations to Polexia and Guzz69 who were the two randomly selected winners of the Skull Beads Giveaway!

Thanks again for everyone who participated, I loved reading all of your submissions and I'm glad I didn't have to choose a favorite! Stay tuned for a new contest tomorrow!

And don't forget even if you didn't win you can still get your own skull beads and more directly from  eebeads.com.

Skull Bag

Product Designer, Filipe Natanael, from Brazil, sent us these amazing pieces. The bags are constructed from plastic canvas that is used to make large one time use advertising signs.

Detail

Woven C says:

I love that you upcycle material headed for the landfill. You are able to accomplish an amazing feat with other's disposable items, as well as make a cool product people will want. Thank you for sharing these pieces with us they are well done.

[BONUS] 730 More Skulls!

I was very happy to discover that two more people have been inspired by Skull-A-Day to start their own daily skull making challenges!

Frose has been diligently making skulls since November of last year in a wide range of media, but we only just found out about it recently! Her work has been terrifically creative so far...

 

Be sure to add her to your daily blog reading schedule!

AND

Rich has set up is own Skull-A-Day Flicker page where he's been posting illustrations of skulls in a variety of techniques since January 1st and he's already off to a really great start...

Be sure to follow his progress HERE.


Have you started your own Skull-A-Day challenge? Definitely let us know so we can share it with all the skull-loving fans here!

Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.34

This week's round of simulacra is an expression of cause and effect.

First up is from regular contributor, President Wishnack. He writes, "I couldn't remember if you'd done this or not, but it sort of happened half accidentally, half on purpose while in the kitchen.", thus showing the effects of beer on the brain.



Kevin Greenham shows us how beer can cause reminiscing when enjoyed properly. He writes, "I took this picture in the bar Ellangowan Hotel in Creetown Scotland, which is the bar used for the exterior of the "Green Man" in the 1973 version of the 'Wicker Man'. Hope you like it."



And lastly, we can see what the effect of one to many beer skulls could be, but not in this case. Erin from N.C. fills us in, "my son was rough-housing with my husband and had a run in with a cousin's head. this is about five days into the injury and last night i noticed a skull and crossbones on his bruise. i took a few pics and asked some friends if they saw anything. the jolly roger was highly noticed!"



Now we can all see how seeing skulls everywhere affects us daily. Thanks to all of you for being on the lookout for more causes of skull simulacra. Keep them coming to the submissions inbox and don't forget that since we only do this once a week it may take a little longer before it gets posted.

"Mariachi De Los Muertos" Skull

Graphic Artist Derek Deal brings us this festive looking fellow. According to his site , "Its a 4 color 18×24 screenprint entitled, “Mariachi De Los Muertos".



I can think of only one thing to say... ARRIBA! Gracia, Derek, gracias.

[Flashback Friday] 197. Tooth Skull A.K.A. Cavity Creep

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...

#19: 197. Tooth Skull A.K.A. Cavity Creep

Yes this is really one of my teeth. I had two left over from when I had my wisdom teeth pulled, so I knew I had at least two tries to get it right! Happily it only took one.

Check out the original post for the reason for the name "Cavity Creep".

Pair of Painted Skulls

We finish the work week with a pair of paintings by Tattoo artist Jordana Hawen from New Orleans, Louisiana.

untitled

“Mariposa de las animas”

C. Stardust says:

I enjoy the use of clean lines, bright colors, and the sparkly enhancements that you bring to your pieces. As I looked at your work I was reminded of the Skullmaster’s 14. Cutest Skull...Ever! it is probably the well defined heart shape noses. Your “Mariposa de las animas” piece also reminded me of the story about the butterflies that was shared here. Thank you for sharing your work with us.

Looks like this week, I managed a Threepete. It was a great week of showing off tattoo artists not working with their regular tools. Thank you all, and once again thanks to all of our readers who make everyday a Skull-A-Day.

Reimagined Skull

Imagine if you will, a blog that features daily skull art that extends into the deepest, darkest regions of the internet. Now take a moment to imagine those skulls in a new way, shape, and form. That's what Christopher Soprano has done here with his painting "Reimagined Skull".



Thanks for taking us to a new dimension, Christopher. Thanks for taking us to... The Skull Zone!

“7sins Skull”

It appears I have another theme building this week . Joby Cummings, who pushes ink at Freak Chic in Los Angeles, CA submitted this “7sins Skull” piece to us.


Absolution C says:

This is an incredible piece. I was so taken in the beautiful flowing lines, that I forgot about the meaning behind them. Thank you for submitting this piece to us and many well wishes on your new exhibit.**

** If you happen to be in the LA area, Joby has work being exhibited at EM & Co from January 21-February 9, 2010. You can see the announcement here.

Tuesdays With Tatman #33

This week's skull is something that Bert from Sesame Street might even be a fan of- bottle caps. Thanks to my buddy Erick and his collection of bottle caps for helping me through this week.(P.S.- we did NOT drink all of these the same night I made this).



The editors of Skull-A-Day would like to remind you to use your skull and always drink responsibly and and to never EVER drink and drive. Seriously! Your skull will thank you when it makes it home in one piece. Unless of course you had too many, and then it might be a little sore at you.

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).

Smiley Skull Desktop Wallpaper

Illustrator Kenneth Botsford Jr. submits this cool wallpaper with a fun skull who might be having a brain storm. This is a great desktop wall paper when you tile it. You can get the original version on his blog here as well as instructions on how to tile it(if you have trouble).



Thanks for the new desktop, Kenneth. Even my kids are liking the silly smile of this one.

C-Rations: 0C100001

This week’s offering is Ceramic tile.

“Unfinished” 25" X 20"approximately, arranged 2" hexagon floor tile.

Subfloor C says:

This week I found myself at the local "Do It Yourself" store. I ended up in a clearance area where I found the tiles for today's project. Not enough around for anything but an art project. As I was working on this my thoughts were with those around the world in crisis who need building materials. Everyone has an opinion on which organization is best equipped to help the most people , whichever one you like please do your part to help them respond to the current crises in the world.

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.

Need more nourishment? You can always Friend or Follow.

Non-Tattooed Skulls

Today’s skulls come from a pair of Tattoo artists on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean.

The first piece is done by “Big Frank” who works at the Royal Peacock Tattoo Parlor in Sacramento, CA.

The next piece, done in oil, is made by Benny who works at Chopstick Tattoo in Osaka, Japan.

2 Coil C says:

It is wonderful to see you two put down your guns long enough to show off your work. Often times people forget that to be good at what you do with ink you also need to have the skill away from the ink. Thank you for allowing us to see your multi-talented skills, and sharing your work with us.

[BONUS] Skulls of India

I recently spent two weeks in India and of course was on a constant lookout for skulls. I'm not sure if it was just because of the areas I was in (Goa, Hampi, Mumbai) or if it's a cultural thing, but the only ones I encountered were of the traditional warning of danger variety (mostly regarding swimming and electricity). Still it was great to see the unique ways it could be expressed...

 

Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.33

Today’s simulacra are very saucy.

First up is Amy Roberson who wrote: “Found this skull in chili splatter on my kitchen counter. Yummy!”



Next is Marnie Hilash from Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories of Canada, who said: “I follow your blog daily and find it very entertaining. It was meatballs for supper tonight, and look at what was peeping back at me as I went into the kitchen to put away leftovers.”

Lastly is Caleb who told us: “I wanted to submit this guy that slid off a piece of my pie right out of the oven. I thought the marinara and cheese combo made a quite gory effect. Sadly the background is my carpet. This skull was roughly the size of a quarter for reference. Thanks. I love the site, keep up the awesome work.”


Béarnaise C says:

You might think that we are all hitting the sauce to be seeing all these skulls, but they are really something to relish. Our hard working skully scouts found some delicious-looking simulacra for us. For the site's editor's, the rest is just gravy.

Thanks for sending in this rarebit of simulacra, everyone. They are making me hungry.

Sorry about your carpet, Caleb. There is nothing Worcestershire than getting tomato sauce out of your rug.

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.