[Flashback Friday] 169. Found Skull #4: Apartment Grayskull

Flashback Friday is a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.o. 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...

#44: 169. Found Skull #4: Apartment Grayskull




This building is actually right outside of the building where I teach here in Richmond, Virginia. I had noticed it a long time ago, but a friend of mine, who used to actually live in that building and gave it that nickname, reminded me of it during the project and I immediate though I needed to use it. Since just taking a picture of it seemed like too simple a task for my project I decided I would illustrate it as well, making some changes in the process to make it more my own. I drew the outline in pen and then scanned it into Illustrator where I added the shades of gray. For some reason I always think of the show Invader Zim when I look at the finished product.

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

Skulls for Kids at Quirk Gallery

Skull-A-Day fans with kids in the Richmond area, come out to Quirk Gallery on Saturday, August 8th for a special skull-making craft event from 10AM - Noon. I'll be on hand to talk about the project and document the work that is created and of course my kid friendly show After Life will still be on display. It's FREE and children of all ages are welcome!

SKULLS FOR KIDS
Saturday, August 8th 10AM - Noon
@Quirk Gallery
311 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23220
804.644.5450

ALSO don't forget these additional events at the gallery that are coming up...

First Friday Art Walk: Friday, August 7th 7-10pm
A fun way to see the show with a big crowd along with lots of other gallery openings on Broad St. More details on the event HERE.

TEA PARTY: Saturday, August 15th 2-4pm
Enjoy a spot of tea while giving the show another look before the closing.
I will give a short talk about the history of the project and be on hand to answer questions.

And of course Quirk also has regular gallery hours:
10-5 Monday - Friday & 11-4 Saturdays

The show runs through August 22.

Silver Skull Spoon

A long time fan of Skull-A-Day has submitted another great piece of work to us. The Silver Skull Spoons are made by Pinky Diablo (aka Tom Sale). They are available directly from the artist here
Affluent C says:

First I love how this photo has an eriey glow about it. It reminds me of being invited to Tea with the damned. Another great example of upcycling found items into art. I see plenty of single spoons at flea markets, now I know what I can do with them... send them to you to make art with. Thanks for submitting your work to us. For those who weren't born into this life, the Skullmaster in Skull-A-Day 1.0 showed us how to make another version here .

[UPDATE from Noah] So I had to ask Tom if he was influenced by my Skoon or if this was just a bit of synchronicty on our parts and this was his answer..."The answer is both! I had been thinking about skull spoons when I saw your cool spoon and some skull absinthe spoons a while back – I have been painting skeletons for several years and made a version of your skull out of a plastic spoon to go with bone collection. Then started toying w working them w/ ornate spoons. I have also made some cow skulls out of some longer grapefruit spoons."

P.S. If anyone is interested in buying my original Skoon, it's for sale via the gallery where it's currently on display HERE.

Skull-A-Day Press: After Life on Boing Boing

Boing Boing kindly posted about my Skull-A-Day show After Life. Read the post HERE.


Boing Boing
July 30, 2009

[BONUS] Ruffian Skull Headphones Review

When the nice folks at Subjekt offered to give away a set of their Ruffian Skull Headphones they also kindly sent me a set to review myself! I'm not an expert on headphones, but I do use them when I travel (which I do fairly frequently), so I was glad to be offered the opportunity...

(thanks to my intern Gina for modelling them!)

The first thing I noticed about them is that they are heavy. Not fall out of your ear heavy, but rather "this is definitely not cheaply made crap" heavy. The second thing I noticed, which explained point one, is that they're really made of metal. Yep, this is not metal-ish foil over plastic, which I have to admit is what I expected, but honest-to-goodness cast metal! Even the packaging says quality: a small velvet bag, which came with an extra set of the color-coded rubber tips for your ears (in two-sizes no less!).

Of course the only thing that really matters is how they work. The large tips fit my ear easily and comfortably on first try and they really blocked out a good deal of outside noise right away.

Listening to a variety of styles of music on my computer the sound is clean and distinct, nothing's muffled and I could hear plenty of quiet details. There's a good balance of treble and bass, with perhaps a bit more emphasis on the bass than I use on my regular speakers (which have a separate subwoofer), but I think that's not uncommon for headphones and I didn't mind. Turning the volume up to even uncomfortably loud levels didn't seem to distort the sound, though at comfortably loud levels a small amount of sound does leak out, but in most environments (or at lower levels) that would probably not be an issue.

So what's the verdict? I will definitely be using the Ruffian's as my everyday headpones from here on out! Kudos to Radius for making a product that both sounds good and looks good!

Don't forget you have just under a week to enter our contest to try to win a set of these bad boys for yourself. And of course you don't have to wait, you can always go to the Subjekt website to buy some right now.

[BONUS] Skull Stencil In Use

Mike did a great job using my original Skull Stencil to make his Cardboard Tube Fighting League costume! You can see more pix HERE.

Grafitti Wallpaper Skull

U.K.'s Rob Hilken shows us his skullified home improvement. He writes, "Hi, I found your sight and thought you might like this graffiti I did in my back yard. I had to piece together the image in photoshop as my yard is quite small and I couldn't stand back far enough to get it all in, but you get the idea."


Awesome looking work, Rob. Your site and deviant art page have tons of great stuff. Has anyone else done any skullified home improvements? Be sure to submit them. And don't forget that even your backyard qualifies as a place to have fun with our current contest.

Send To Phone

[CONTEST] Win a pair of Ruffian Skull Earphones

The kind folks at Radius have graciously offered to give away a set of their awesome Ruffian Skull Headphones to one lucky Skull-A-Day reader!


To be entered in a random drawing for your choice of color, just leave a comment below naming your favorite song that features a skull, skeleton, or something about Halloween. [If you're reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave your comment on the actual Skull-A-Day.com post]

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).

You have until just Midnight Eastern Time August 4th to enter so don't delay! [UPDATE: The contest is over and the winner will be announced soon, thanks to everyone who entered!]

And of course you don't have to wait til the end of the contest to get your own headphones from Radius!

Good luck!

Cardboard Sugar Skulls

Pablo wrote:"I'm obsessed with colorful mexican skulls, i made these with spray paint and cardboard to stick up on my walls."


Alternative view to show scale.
Casa de C says:

I like the way in which you have displayed them on the wall together. The simple yet colorful nature of this trio would also make a great T-Shirt design. Thank you for sending it in, I absolutely love your work on them.

Tuesdays With Tatman #8

We've all written "wash me" on someone's car at one point in time, but most of us aren't as talented as this guy(especially me). I went ahead gave dust art a try anyway. One very dirty finger later I came up with this:


Unfortunately my coworker decided to get his vehicle washed a few days later.

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).

Send To Phone

Skulls In Bloom

From the Blue Water of Somewhere, Earth, "Nikki" Lee Anne Ghilain brings us some delightfully colorful and stylish skulls that she decorated. Some silver paint, gems, and flowers make these skulls perfect for the skullrific ladies who like a feminine touch.




More and more I see skulls that aren't just for guys anymore. Thanks for sharing these, Nikki. Women are just as skullacious as men. Even my own wife, Kendra, is getting the skull eye. She adds, "I noticed these little skulls inside of my flowers. I saw the other ones up a while back so now I look at all of my flowers for hidden skulls."


It makes me wonder how many skulls we're passing when we don't stop to smell the flowers.

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

C-Rations: 0C1000

This week's offering is a Card of the playing variety *spit* {DING}

"Aces & Eights" Standard playing card 3.5" x 2.5" cut and burned

Marshall C says:

Deadwood, Dakota Territory August 2, 1876, while sitting at a table playing poker, "Wild Bill" Hickok was killed by a pistol shot to back of the head, and the cards he was holding at the time of his murder have now made their way into poker history as the "Dead Man's Hand".

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.

Designing Skull

Nikie Monteleone from New York sent us this piece titled "Skulls Will Never Go Away".


C in the Sky with Diamonds says:

Picture a submission on a blog about skulls,
made up of postings that readers supply.
Thanks for submitting, I say it's quite lovely,
this skull with kaleidoscope eyes.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.8

Today's round of simulacrum comes via the insect world. There are many bugs out there that can resemble skulls and some of our readers are here to help out:

Dwayne Carpenter from Richmond, Va. found this creepy looking fellow


David Jaskiewicz from Perth, Western Australia overcomes fear to bring us this moth. He tells us, "Here is a photo I took a couple of years ago from the inside of my kitchen window. Just letting you know I have an unexplainable phobia of moths (however - totally love skulls), so I had to work up the courage to photograph this moth, which appears to have little skulls on the underside of its wings. Thought you might like it.


Long time viewer and first time submitter Jax Easton found what was most certainly a bug at some point. "This is a splotch of bird poo on a park bench outside the Kelvingrove art gallery in Glasgow...It hasn't been modified at all, and was taken by me."


Plus, a bonus this week from Colin Greenleaf to help remind us about the current contest. "This natural coral rock was found on the beach of the Big Island of Hawaii off the Kohala Coast. The black lava rock called A'a (ah-ah) made this white treasure stand out clearly. As soon as I saw this piece of skull booty, we knew it needed to be found on your website. My wife and I are huge fans. Keep up the good work!" Colin took Skull-A-Day with him on his vacation to Hawaii. Thanks, but next time Noah, Citizen, and myself would prefer actual plane tickets. Just kidding. Thanks for sharing everyone!


If anyone knows what type of bugs these are then feel free to leave a note in the comments. Thanks.

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

Send To Phone

Apt Pupil Skull

Tim Rodgers Jr. is a former student of the Skull Master at VCU in his Design Rebels class. He submits his skull and wishes everyone a good weekend.



Tim's blog is full of great looking doodles. Not just skulls either. Thanks for sharing, Tim. We hope your weekend is great as well.

Send To Phone

[Flashback Friday] 36. CD-R Skull

Flashback Friday is a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.o. 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...

#45: 36. CD-R Skull
When I decided to make a CD-R skull, the first trick was to figure out how to incorporate the hole, once I decided it was an eye, I had to figure out how to make the rest of the skull fit in the limited space available. It took a couple tries to get this cut out using a scroll saw that I've owned since I was in high school, and really hadn't used in years before I started this project. The biggest issue was that the silver material inside the CD would flake off where the disc was cut. Rather than photographing this I actually just put it on a scanner and captured the image that way. This is one of the pieces that is currently on display (and for sale) in my show After Life.

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

Blu-Tack Skull

Sean Steele from Liverpool, U.K. said: "Here is a skull i made from blu tack*, hope you like it."

*Blu-tack from wiki

Fun-Tak C says:

That little blue adhesive goes by many different names, but it keeps the world together. Thanks for submitting your skull to us. I checked out to Blu-Tack home page in order to find out more about this product. Did you know when not making skulls with Blu-Tack that it can be used for holding toll money to a motorbike. I read it on the internet so it must be true. Thanks again Sean and you should consider submitting this skull to their creative page.

[BONUS] Googly Eye Skull In Use

M@ says, "I was playing around with the laser cutter at Techshop and made this little acrylic skull puzzle. You'll recognize the image from your googly eye skull of some months past." Be sure to check out his other cool creations HERE.

Mirror Mosaic Skull

"Hi there! This is is a mirror mosaic skull I made last year", writes Jasmine Milberger from Loganville, GA. "The frame was an ugly fake bamboo style that I carved a little and painted to look like bones. My goal is to do a series of different skeleton parts in different frames, i.e., ribcage, arm, pelvis, etc., that can be hung to form a whole skeleton. Still collecting mirrors to break and trying to find interesting frames to alter for this project. Enjoy!"


I don't know how many years of bad luck you'll encounter with a project like this, Jasmine, but it's definitely worth it. Be sure to update us if you ever get the full set completed. Thanks for sharing this super cool and creative method of recycling.

Send To Phone

Needle Felted Skull

Caroline Jones from Virginia wrote: "This is a needle felted skull I just recently made." Caroline went on to tell us that this was a prize she had made as part of her "100th post blog giveaway". The winner had a choice of the skull or a needle felted pumpkin, and of course the winner choose this skull.


Barbed C says:

Thank you for submitting such a wonderful skull for us. The winner of this piece was one lucky person, hopefully you will make some for other skull fans out there to purchase. Please check out Caroline's other amazing work she has posted on her blog, and remember to support independent artists when you can.

Tuesdays With Tatman #7

Today's offering is somewhat of a new hobby I picked up. The technical term would be a petroglyph skull. I have seen skulls in rocks before, but now I am finding myself creating them on other rocks that just seem to want them.



2 3/4" wide x 3 3/4" high. I carved this with an engraver. He seemed to appear to me as I drew it. This is by far one of my favorite of my small collection of other rocks.

Don't forget that there's only a little more than a week to submit your "I ♥ Skull-A-Day" entries for this month's contest.

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).

Send To Phone

Bobcat skull

This great sketch was shared with us by Cody Miles. He adds, "Here's something I did a few months ago, it's a still-life in graphite of a bobcat skull I bought in SF".

I also noticed that Cody had a few more skulls on his blog amongst various other paintings and drawings. A couple of the images may not be SFW(according to where you work), but they are all tastefully done. Thanks for sharing, Cody!

Send To Phone

C-Rations: 0C111

This week's offering is Construction Cone (toy)

"Caution: Envy at Play" Plastic toy Construction Cone approx 3" X 4" carved with exacto. Black paper added to inside

Also an alternative view of it in placeSafety Officer C says:

I was inspired by the recent work being done near where I live on a new sidewalk. Surrounding the 10' x 5' work area is a forest of 34 orange cones. I was originally planning to make paper skull faces on them, but it has been done before. Then I thought about cutting skulls into them, but then remembered this guy. I finally settled on purchasing my own cone to cut up. It's ok little skull, you can hang out with the big guys.

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.

And the Wiskullsin winner is...

Congratulations to Denise, who was the randomly chosen winner of the Wiskullsin T-Shirt giveaway! And thanks again to everyone for their awesome suggestions for the Wiskullsin state motto. Just for fun (sorry no additional prizes to give away) I went ahead and asked Josh, the creator of the shirts, to pick out his own favorite to be the "official" state motto. He couldn't pick one, so the co-winners are:

"America's Scaryland"
by Rebar

and

"Cold Beers, Colder Hearts"
by John E

Don't forget you can still get your very own Wiskullsin shirts HERE.

Skull-A-Day Press: After Life in Street Anatomy

My art show After Life got a nice mention on the super cool Street Anatomy site...




Street Anatomy
July 19, 2009

Storm Drain Skull

Jea from Miami says: "...found your book "Skulls" at Barnes & Noble in South Miami today and added it to my favorites collection. we just had a major Thunder storm roll through and leave a lot of debris near my abode so I thought you might enjoy these images as Skulls are every where!! "
A detail
Tropical Depression C says:

"Skulls are everywhere!" indeed. I like that you were inspired by the Skullmaster's book and decided to go and make a skull for yourself. Your use of found materials to build upon a permanent object is amazing, and I am glad you took pictures before the next storm came through to wash it away. Thanks for sharing your work with us.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 3.7

Around the world in 80 seconds (that's 3 skulls to you and me)

We start our skull adventure in London, England
Tomato from Italy shares: "Walking in London (London near Holloway Station) and looking around I found in the ground this odd metal skull shaped plates.. are these for electricity or other plugs?? I thought of electricity because it looks also like a light bulb.. immediately after I saw them, I thought of your site..."


Our next stop brings us to Hangzhou, China
Sarah wrote: "I live in a city called Hangzhou, and pictured here is a three wheeled trash container. Workers bike them around and sweep up litter."


And finally we arrive in Chicago, USA
Robyn says: "On state and harrison in downtown chicago."


Passepartout C says:

Thank you all for submitting your pictures. As you can see hunting for skulls is a worldwide phenomenon, and the next stop may be your neighborhood. Make sure you have your camera ready, Happy Hunting!

Just a Remider: While you are out and about in the next two weeks be sure to submit a picture for our "I ♥ Skull-A-Day" Contest. The details are here.


Keep sending those pictures in to our submissions address. Just keep in mind that since we only do this once a week it might take a little longer to have it posted.

Hard boiled skull

Edith Zimmerman has cooked up a great skull for us today. Edith tells us, "I do food art occasionally, and recently I carved a hard boiled egg into a skull. One of my readers turned me on to your site, and it's awesome."



I can't help but say, "Eggcellent work, Edith". Thanks also to your reader Eric Howe for suggesting that you submit it. It's another tasty addition to the food skull collection.

P.S.- Don't forget to show your love for the daily skull art blog you think is best with this month's contest. There are prizes!!!

[Flashback Friday] 365. Birthday Skull

Flashback Friday is a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.o. 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...

#46: 365. Birthday Skull

It was such a relief to make this piece knowing that I would finally have some time off from my daily practice of skull making after a full year (of course I made one more the next day, but it was a much less intensive piece). After decorating the cake, I brought it with me to my own birthday dinner and my friends helped me celebrate by eating it! The last bit was left for the staff of the restaurant to enjoy.

Of course since then there have been a whole bunch of great skull cakes shared by the awesome Skull-A-Day fans. There's always room for more, so definitely keep them coming!

And speaking of cakes, if you aren't already, you should absolutely follow the hilarious Cake Wrecks blog!

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

Lampwork Glass Skulls

Eliza Zelachowski from Pompano Beach, Florida says: "I am a lampwork glass artist in my spare time. That means I melt rods of colored glass about the size of pencils with a small torch into works of art and glass beads to be used in jewelry, home decor, and collecting. I have made many calaveras (day of the dead skulls). Each calavera is made one at a time with primitive tools such as small knives and pointed metal rods to shape the glass. There are no molds or presses involved. "


Murano C says:

Thank you for sharing your amazing work with us. One of my favorite parts of being a guest editor on Skull-A-Day is being able to experience the vast diversity of art forms that are practiced by our loyal fans.

SKULLS Book Signing - Richmond, VA

If you're in the Richmond area and have yet to see my Skull-A-Day show After Life at Quirk Gallery, here's one more excuse to stop by...

I'll be signing copies of my book SKULLS
Saturday, July 25th 1-3pm
@Quirk Gallery
311 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23220
804.644.5450

ALSO mark your calendar for these additional events at the gallery that are coming up...

First Friday Art Walk: Friday, August 7th 7-10pm
A fun way to see the show with a big crowd along with lots of other gallery openings on Broad St. More details on the event HERE.

SKULLS FOR KIDS: Saturday, August 8th 10am-noon
A great opportunity for kids to engage with the project by making their own skulls from a wide range of craft materials. I’ll be on hand to talk about the project and document the results.
FREE for kids of all ages.

TEA PARTY: Saturday, August 15th 2-4pm
Enjoy a spot of tea while giving the show another look before the closing.
I will give a short talk about the history of the project and be on hand to answer questions.

And of course Quirk also has regular gallery hours:
10-5 Monday - Friday & 11-4 Saturdays

The show runs through August 22.

War Suit Skull

Comic artist Rob Marsh invades Skull-A-Day with his robotic bad guy from his all ages webcomic December Sun. Rob tells us, "I've got a skull/robot/battle suit image from a webcomic that I draw that I'd like to share. I penciled and inked this myself for the comic. Basically, it's a war suit worn by enemy characters in the webcomic in an upcoming issue."



That's a pretty killer looking war suit. I'll definitely be looking for the next issue of December Sun to see this in action. Hopefully the other skulls that we post won't be too intimidated to appear.

Or maybe there's an army of these skull warriors invading your favorite vacation destination. Get a pic of them along with an "I ♥ Skull-A-Day" sign of some type and submit it for this month's contest.

Send To Phone

Skull-A-Day Press: Design Sponge

My art show got a nice shout out on Design*Sponge as part of their guide to Richmond, Virginia...


Design Sponge
July 14, 2009

Ides of Skull Fanatic: WoOpeR

As you can tell from the title, on the 15th of each month during year 3.0 we will be featuring another fanatic who makes Skull-A-Day so special for all of us. Sit back, grab your favorite soothsayer and enjoy a part of Skull-A-Day that even Caesar himself would not be fearful of.

This month's über fanatic is Alan Trallero (WoOpeR) from France. He made a private room in his home "with a lot of skull" as he says. Here are the pictures of his private room.





Peeping C says:

Thanks for opening up your private domain to us. You have truly earned the title "Fanatic". I wish I could have shared all the amazing detail shots you sent in, but that would take a week.

Perhaps WoOpeR would be happy to share them with you if you leave a comment. Unfortunately, his blog is NSFW/K so he will need to come up with an alternative place to post them for us to share it.

Are you a certified/certifiable Skull Fanatic? If so, send an image or two, maybe a video of your personal skull/skeleton collection and tell us a bit about what makes you so crazy for skulls, how many skulls you own, and whatever else you think is pertinent!

[CONTEST] Win an I Suck At Golf Skull Shirt

The folks at ISuckAtGolf.net have graciously offered to give away one of their nifty “RIP IT” skull T-shirts to one lucky Skull-A-Day fan!

(Yes, that is our very own Tatman, showing off the shirt above!)

To be entered in a random drawing for the shirt just leave a comment below saying what else you suck at (remember, kids visit this site, so try to be family friendly)! [If you're reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave your comment on the actual Skull-A-Day.com post]

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to include a way to contact you (either an e-mail address in the post OR make sure your Blogger profile has an e-mail link for you on it). If you're randomly selected and there's no way to contact you, we'll pick another winner.

You have until just Midnight Eastern Time, July 21 to enter so don't delay! [UPDATE: The contest is over. Thanks to everyone who participated!]

Of course you don't have to wait to get your very own I Suck At Golf shirt, you can get it today HERE (they come in both men’s and women’s T’s and men’s tanks). AND if you use coupon code "skulladay" at the checkout you'll get free shipping in the continental US!

Good luck!