Watery Ink Skull

Alexandra Jones is an artist from Shropshire, England. She doodled this skull using only black ink and some watery paper.  Perhaps it's the shape of this skull or the washed out wateriness, but it gives me the appearance of a potato stamp.  Thanks for sharing your doodle, Alexandra!

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

Setback Sunday

Just throwing a flashback out there for those who celebrate today as a holiday. This revisit to my Tuesday With Tatman from 2010 goes out to all of you out there enjoying the moment!

Folded Paper Skeleton

Donny Mitchem created this folded paper skeleton. Glad he included some flat photos of it, so we could get an idea of how it's made. The head reminds me of Noah's 72. Papercraft Skull, in that it uses a similar folding concept. I wish there was a template available for this skeleton, so other people could make their own folded paper skeleton.

Quilled Skull

Zoe Brener made this skull with paper spirals. We've had a few quilled skulls on Skull-A-Day, but I've never seen on that uses spiraled paper on it's side. Quilling normally has coiled paper that is glued flat, so you can see the spirals. This stretches out those coils to create spiraled tubes. The curved patterns remind me of Noah's 246. Yarn Painting Skull. This is a great redesign of traditional quilling.

Cubist Skull

We've seen our fair share of blockheads around here at Skull-A-Day, but this pair are featured in a true cubist style.  Raye Mayo of Virginia used acrylic paints on an "upcycled" canvas to create a piece that might very well be "searching" for an identity.  To use a reference that some of the younger readers might not get, I'll let my "fingers do the walking" when I type this thanks to you, Raye!

HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!!!

[BONUS] 415. Viva La Muerte

I was invited to participate in A Tribute to José Guadalupe Posada at the Sandusky Cultural Center in Sandusky, Ohio. I decided to created a cut paper image in the spirit of Posada...

The other participating artists include Linda Ayala, Marsha Gray Carrington, Sean Carroll, Hector Castellanos-Lara, Daniel Corrigan, R!ch Cihlar, John Gulyas & Maryann Posch, Joshua Haplea, Nina Vivian Huryn, Salavador Jimenez, George Kocar, Craig Matis, Amanda Plavan, Dante Rodriguez, Andrew Shannon and Gary Spinosa.

If you're in the area you can find out more about the exhibition HERE. 

Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.50

Today's simulacrum come from our very own Skull Master, Noah Scalin.

He noticed this somewhat surprised skull in a paper creation from Charles T. Mayer...

... as well as this skullrific gift box!

Almost 7 years after starting Skull-A-Day Noah still sees those sneaky skulls hiding around us everyday. With your help and watchful eyes maybe we can continue presenting these for another 7 years. Jut make sure you submit them to us and we'll continue to post them. Thanks for showing us your finds(again), Noah!

Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.43

Past contributor, Potter Rob Lorenz of Simple Circle Studios in Carbondale, IL said: "One afternoon I was carving some pots out by my fire pit.  As I worked, warmed by the mellow glow of the fire, a rogue ember alighted on a stack of papers I was using for reference.  It began burning a couple small holes through the papers before I saw it and put it out. These pictures are what resulted."

Sweet C says:

Oh lord simulacra it's a fire! Thank you for sharing these accidental simulacra with us, we are happy that the damage was contained in an interesting way, and nothing too serious happened.

Keep sending those pictures in, we always love seeing what our skull hunters find. Anyone is welcomed to participate, it's fun and it's easy- if you see a simulacra skull, photograph it and send those pictures in to our submissions address with a little something about what it is really and maybe a little about you.

[BONUS] 409. Recycle or Die

I was recently asked to visit the University of Wyoming in Laramie, to give a talk about my work and as part of my visit I agreed to create a new skull installation with the students of the graphic design department...

I was given access to the large lobby of the new Department of Art building and it was decided that I would work with a material that was plentiful in the building: paper. Specifically paper that had been collected for recycling purposes (including the posters announcing my talk previous in the week).

The piece was created anamorphically (in the spirit of Hans Holbein's The Ambassadors) so that it only looks correct from one spot in the room (in this case on the landing of the staircase between the lobby and 2nd floor). It measures 19'-3" x 7'-4" (5.8 x 2.2 meters).

The piece is a temporary installation that will of course be recycled after it is dismantled. Thanks to all of the students who skipped class to help me out and especially to my host Jenny Venn for suggesting it!

[BONUS] The Gift of Skulls: 365 Skeletons?

I was the keynote speaker at the recent Virginia Arts Education Association annual conference, and a craft party following my talk I was gifted this lovely creation by one of the attendees Ruby...

On the back she wrote "I'm challenging you to make 365 Skeletons!" While I appreciate her enthusiasm, I definitely won't be taking on that challenge anytime soon, but hey is anyone else out there is up for it? I'd love to see what you make!

Brown Paper Skull

Donnie Day from Pittsburgh, PA told us: "I have always been attracted to skulls, Day of the Dead, so I was delighted to find Skull-A-Day which demonstrates such creativity. Therefore, I decided to contribute a skull. This is brown paper torn into squares and assembled with dried rose petals."

Grocery C says:

Thank you for your kind words about the site.  We are always ecstatic to find out that our viewers are inspired by the work here that they are encouraged to jump in feet first and submit their own work. 

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

Skull Card

Jennifer Ferrell, created a skull card for Halloween.

Receiving a card is always a nice way to know someone is thinking about it. Receiving a hand made personalized card oozes love. Jennifer created the skull by tearing and aging white cardstock. She used a stamp set for the spider and web designs. She placed a red rhinestone in the misshapen eye, to resemble a pirate's eye patch. For more of Jennifer's work, visit her blog, Ferrellgraph.

Napkin Skull

Craig Perra from Rocklin, CA, made a skull with little pieces of napkins.

Sometimes playing with ordinary objects (in this case a napkin) can lead to extraordinary results. I love the lightness of this piece, cause by the ply of the napkin being separated. The starkness of the white paper against the black background helps accent the soft details. Pieces like this make me want to play with my normal materials, in a different way.

Designed Skulls

Chad Wehrle from Ohio said: “I am a graphic designer by day, but after hours I push myself to be creative on my own. I have been a big fan of this site/blog/idea since I stumbled upon it a few years ago and have checked it every morning since. I’d like to submit a few pieces of my own. I recently purchased Noah’s Skulls book and have really enjoyed it. Everyone I have shown it to is overly impressed with the dedication to a project lasting 365 days.”

Skeleton Marionette. Soldered metal and fishing line. Fully functional with hinged limbs. 7” x 17” x 2”

Human Skull, 2009. Pencil on paper. 6 1/4” x 9 ¼”


Skull, 2011. Pencil on paper. Homage piece to the amazing Stephen Gammell. 4 ½” x 6”


Strings Attached C says:

Thank you for being a fan of the site. We always love to get submissions from our loyal readers. I am impressed by your marionette I really like sculpture that is beautiful and functional at the same time. Thank you for sharing your “after hours” work with us.

Alpha Skull

Artist Leah from Curious Art Lab sent us this skully piece that she created for the AlphaBeasts! project. You can lean more about the process to create this skull specific piece HERE, as well as, flashback to another of Leah's submissions to our site HERE and HERE.


Dial C for Character says:

Thank you for sharing another piece of your illustrated family. I had a wonderful time going through your created collection of “Oddments & Curiosities”. Also Thank you for being a long time reader and contributor to the Skull-A-Day project.

Paper Skull Sculpture

Sculptor Ricardo Goldammer from São Paulo, Brazil showed us some of his sculpted skull work.




Coverstock C says:

I am in awe of the way you are able to cut and bend a single sheet of paper into these amazing results. They perfectly capture the light and produce accent shadows that adds great dimension to the pieces. Thank you for sharing this incredible work with us.

Dia de la Abby: #70 Skull Mail

Recently, Wenchkin and I decided to trade mail art. She made me this piece, so this is my art for her. It will be mailed off today.

I made this mixed media piece using water color paints, water color pencil, salt, ink, flower images from a gardening magazine, and thread, on water color paper. I wanted to do something reminiscent of the sugar skull and flower styles in past pieces, but with layers of patterns, mediums, and texture. To find out how I made this piece, read the tutorial.

Every other Thursday in the 5.0 year, I will post my own Dia de la Abby creations   Every Thursday in the 4.0 year, I posted my Dia de la Abby creations and occasionally tutorials with instructions on how I made my pieces. 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, Google+ and/or Twitter.

Dia de la Abby: #68 Confetti Skull

Since New Years Eve is Saturday, I felt the need to make a sparkly skull with confetti.

This is one of the most sparkly and messy pieces that I've made. I was fun to do. My daughter even made her own designs using tissue paper and white glue. Since this was fairly easy to do, I wrote a tutorial to show you all how to make your own. Of course, you can make any design you want using this technique.


Every other Thursday in the 5.0 year, I will post my own Dia de la Abby creations   Every Thursday in the 4.0 year, I posted my Dia de la Abby creations and occasionally tutorials with instructions on how I made my pieces. 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, Google+ and/or Twitter.

Deepa de Jour - "Feville"

On June 4, 2011 Skull-A-Day celebrated Skull Appreciation Day with an exhibit of over 100 skulls at Gallery 5 in Richmond, VA. If you didn't have a chance to make it to the gallery while the show was up, we now proudly present: "Skull Appreciation Day - The Exhibition".

Deepa de Jour- “Feville” $80.00

Deepa de Jour is a Richmond, VA based artist, book repair specialist, and burlesque dancer.

Please visit the artist’s exhibit page for information on if this work is available for purchase.


The 2011 Skull Appreciation Day - The Exhibition was a collective art show celebrating the 5th anniversary of Skull-A-Day.com and its tremendous audience of artists and readers.Throughout year 5.0 we will be featuring artwork from the show a few times a week. This is a chance to see all of the excellent skulls that were on display, and FOR SALE. Some of these pieces may still be available and this is a wonderful opportunity to own an original piece of skullriffic artwork. There are many well known artists who have contributed very reasonably priced works and many of them have donated their portion of the sale to benefit a great charity, the Richmond Peace Education Center.

Please take a moment to view all of the remarkable work that was created for the onset of this annual festivity. Your skull will appreciate you for showing it some love.

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...