Birds and Skulls

Dan and Anna Barrett, of ChuckleTree, collaborate on a lot of their artworks. Anna explained, "The Crow piece was colored with charcoal, and this has also been made 3 times because my husband is a perfectionist. The Pelican Skeleton was originally created for an art challenge. But we had always wanted a pelican skeleton because every household should have one of those. This was inked by hand, digitally colored, cut by a machine and assembled by hand." I love that they create such wonderful artwork together. I agree, everyone should have a pelican skeleton in their house. Especially if it's as cool as this one. You can see more of their artwork in their Etsy store.

We want to share your skull art! Be a part of the Skull-A-Day project. Details are HERE.

Chan's Charcoal Skull

"Who is Chan?" you might ask. Chan Bliss is a man to be respected. He teaches Elementary School Art in Tampa, FL. He's turned his assignment in early and presented the class with this skull drawing on a 5x5 inch piece of blackboard painted plywood, and drawn with white charcoal. Chan has been using skulls in his classes for years. "I found it to be an interesting way for me to show the kids about drawing highlights and creating form in a drawing", writes Chan. Anyone who can mold the minds of our young deserves a pat on the back, and Chan gets a hearty group pat from all of us by starting with the young ones. Thanks for sharing your skull with us, and for sharing your gifts with your students, Chan!

Alyssa's Skulls

Alyssa Cooper submitted three different skulls. She included explanations of each.

This skull is a study of a canine skull done with charcoal.

This skull "was my costume for Halloween. I used a traditional film camera with black and white film to showcase the face paint, and was pleased at the way it came out.

This skull "was a nametag I made for myself. First, I took a picture with a blank sheet of paper, then after printing it, I added the skeleton in ink."

I love seeing the variety of her work. That is something that all of us editors can appreciate. The shading of the canine skull is beautiful. The makeup is dramatic and eerie, which is great for a Halloween costume. The skeleton is neat because she's drawn it in a way where when she holds it for a photograph, it looks like an x-ray. It's nice to see someone else doing what all of us editors have done, make skulls in different ways.

Skulls on Paper

Chris Tures from St. Paul, MN learned about Skull-A-Day through a friend who encouraged him to share some of his recent work.

"Charcoal Skull" (Charcoal on Paper)

"Yellow Skull" (Oil Pastel on Paper)

Easy Listening C says:

What a wonderful friend you have make sure you thank them for us. I really enjoy the two pieces you have shared with us. You have transformed a traditionally dark subject matter and you have filled it so full of joy. Thank you for your submission and now that you have found us please visit often.

“Countdown To Halloween”
12 more days and counting...

Richmond, VA Skulls

To get the countdown started with only 10 days left to Skull Appreciation Day a collection of Richmond, VA artists.

First up is Lindsey O'Hara who wrote: “I thought your website was so cool! I actually draw/paint skulls often.”



Next, Stacy DeFreitas Boyer said: “This is a mixed media piece...charcoal drawing with layered text and stitched skull titled ‘I hold my tension in my face’ .”



In addition, Robin Selby told us: “I saw these all over Italy, in cathedrals, paintings, sculpture. Even in St Peter's Cathedral. I am taking a drawing class and our last still life was a skull!! So I took a couple of liberties and made mine a Memento Mori.”



Finally, from Randy Toy who wrote: “Thought about you when I ran across this skull doodle I made on my ipod awhile back.


Monument C says:

With Richmond, VA holding the honor of being the birthplace of Skull-A-Day it is no wonder we received a large number of items from Richmond, VA based artists. Thank you all for submitting your work and hopefully you will have time to participate in some of the local festivities there.

Skull Appreciation Day Daily Button Giveaway

To be entered in the drawing just leave a comment below stating: What is your best name for a skull city? Sorry Skull, Ireland is already taken.

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to include a way to contact you!
(Either your e-mail in the post OR make sure your profile has an e-mail link for you. If all else fails drop us an email to our submission address with your profile name. )

NOTE: If you're reading this on Facebook, be sure to leave your comment on the original Skull-A-Day.com post if you want to be actually entered in the contest

Dia de la Abby #35: Charcoal Skull

I've been drawing since my parents let me have a crayon and have worked with many different mediums since. I've had charcoal in all of the many different art kits that I've had, but oddly enough, I never worked with it. This is my 1st time doing anything with it. The medium seems similar to graphite pencil, but darker, which was nice for shading.

I watched two video tutorials to learn how to use charcoal. They were about using charcoal to draw a skull, which I thought was appropriate given the subject matter.
Charcoal Drawing of a Skull Part 1
Charcoal Drawing of a Skull Part 2

I used my handy skull model to draw from. It was back lit towards the left with the only lamp in my living room. I could have moved it around, but I liked the heavy shadow because it made the skull more eerie. I used a soft charcoal pencil for the outlines and shading, a white charcoal pencil for the highlights (which still ended up gray), a rolled paper smudge stick and normal smooth sketch paper. It took me about an hour to do.

Every week in the 4.0 year, I will post my own Dia de la Abby posts as well as a tutorial with instructions on how I made my piece. Hopefully you feel inspired by my posts just as I was by Noah's Skull-A-Day 1.0 daily project. Need more of me than just a weekly dose, follow me on Facebook.

Skull Studies

Mary Sue Muscarella of Mary Sue Tattoo, submitted three great pieces. Here is her explanation of each.

The first is a sugar skull that I sculpted out of Plastalina.

The next is a charcoal drawing of a monkey skull.

The last is a study of multiple angles of a monkey skull in charcoal.

I like how each of these are different, yet incorporate the same subject, a skull. Sculptures always fascinate me, because they are a hands on approach to art. With clay, you have to use your hands to mold the medium to your desired form. This clay interpretation of a traditional sugar skull is neat to see, since sugar skulls are one of my favor parts of Day of the Dead. The charcoal drawings of the monkey skull are fascinating. Primates are my favorite animals...well next to Giraffes...because they are very similar to humans. Here you can clearly see the differences that a monkey skull has to a human skull. The head looks more elongated and with more crevices and shaping. I love the use of shading to show off these details. I have a replica of a human skull that I use for many Skull-A-Day projects, so I like seeing how someone else makes art using a physical skull for reference. All of these are wonderful. Keep making more beautiful art!

Skull Illusion

We've seen other skull optical illusions here on Skull-A-Day before, but today UK based artist Tom French sends us his own work of genius. This beautiful charcoal on paper measures 70 x 80 cm.

*Click on this smaller pic for a better detailed view

The works you do are amazing, Tom. I absolutely love "skullusions" and this piece you have provided is one of the best. Your work with charcoal is superb and your soft touch with shades shows that you are highly skilled with this medium. Bravo for your excellent work and thanks for sharing these lovely ladies with us.

Charcoal Skulls

These excellent charcoal drawings are from deviant artist Gretchen(Lady-de-sade).

"Perched On A Deer Skull"


"Say Cheese"


I always love the way charcoal's soft shades can make hard bones seem so smooth and silky. Plus, I can only imagine what may have been in the background in "Say Cheese". A trip to a famous place..a visit to a park...a trip to the moon? The entire picture is stripped away and left as bare as it can be, letting us fill in the blanks with our imaginations. Or maybe he's just posing with his I ♥ Skull-A-Day t-shirt on for this month's contest? Thanks, Gretchen.

C-Rations: 0C100

I tossed away the classics this week and returned to the unconventional.

This week's offering is Charcoal Briquettes


"Candescence Casualty" Approx 18" x 22" mixed use of heated and new briquettes.

Nerdy C says:
The Summer Solstice marks the longest period of daylight for the year, after the Solstice daylight begins to decrease each day as we move towards the Winter Solstice where the daily move reverses. The start of Summer marks the decline of daylight hours. This year, Summer began officially at 1:45 am EDT on June 21, 2009 . In 2009 something special took place- The First Day of Summer was a day earlier June 20, 2009 in Western North America. Why you ask? So glad you did... because 1:45am EDT June 21st is June 20th 11:45PM MDT, 10:45PM PDT, and so on back to the international dateline.

PS: [bonus] this week the fate of C-Rations: 0C10

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.

207. Stump(ed) Skull

Charcoal on Tree Stump (approx. 3ft x 3ft). The bark had been falling off a large old tree near my house for a while so the city came by the other day and cut it down. The white underneath the charcoal is a large "D" that they spray painted on it, I'm not sure what it means, anyone know?

120. Found Skull #3: Oil & Vinegar

I was casting about for today's skull when happily one revealed itself to me in the remnants of my olive oil and balsamic vinegar at dinner. Below my interpretation in charcoal...

BONUS: As I was working with the original photo I noticed a creepy image in the right "eye". This is an actual unedited close-up (seriously this isn't Photoshop trickery)...

59. Sketchy Skull

Charcoal on Paper (7"x9"). I was reading some beautifully drawn comic books by Ashley Wood yesterday and was inspired to try my hand at a more stylized illustration technique than I'm used to. It took about a dozen tries to get something I was satisfied with.