Paul Alexander Thornton's Skulls

One day, I was looking around YouTube for watercolor tutorials and came across Paul Alexander Thornton. He made a sped-up video of creating this artwork. He describes the piece as "A drawing made with Bic pens and watercolour paints. The drawing measures 76cm x 56cm (about 30in x 22in) and was drawn over a period of 2 weeks over a lot of sessions and many hours of work. The soundtrack is called 'A Worrisome Day' it's written and played by Paul Alexander Thornton on guitar."

If for some reason you can't watch the video, here is a still of the artwork in progress.

Here are some other pieces that Paul included with his submission. They all use the same mediums of Bic pen and watercolors.

For many years, I've used ball point pens to sketch with while at work, or public school. I love the controlled shading I can get with them. I can easily see why Paul has chosen this medium for his skull drawings. I love the combination of the anatomical skulls with the freeform flowers and birds. The controlled drawings with the freely flowing paint of the flowers and birds is a nice balance. Though the sped up videos make his work look effortless, Paul says they all take many hours to complete. For more videos of Paul's work, visit his YouTube page. For more images of his work, visit his blog.