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).

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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!

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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.

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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!

Crocheted Skull

Dewey Decimal Crafts submitted the following crocheted skull handmade by her.


Professor C says:

I can solve this case: Dewey Decimal did it in the library with the crochet hook. It was an amazing crime and one I look forward to seeing recreated over and over. Thanks for submitting your artwork, I am happy you shared this with us.

Skull-A-Day Press: Virginia This Morning

For those of you who missed it, here's my recent appearance on local live talk show Virginia This Morning on WTVR CBS 6...



Virginia This Morning
July 6, 2009

Tuesdays With Tatman #6

These two blokes are here today to represent the end result of a lifetime of smoking. Whether it be some kind of cancer or a complication of being ill...SMOKING KILLS! It's not my place to tell you to stop. Heck, it's not even my place to tell you not to start, but I can tell you the place you'll end up if you don't quit. If you're lucky MAYBE your skull will get to enjoy a last smoke like these fellows, but I DOUBT IT.



Since I know that we have some young readers out there, let this picture be a sign to you. If this looks gross; it's because it is. To those who do smoke, just think of how much better you'll breathe, how much better your food will taste, and how much better your clothes will smell after you quit.

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).

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Skull-A-Day Press: LA Weekly

The LA Weekly blog ran a nice interview with me a few months back in their Style Council section. Read the entire thing HERE.


Style Council: LA Weekly
May 26, 2009

Settlers Skull

Steve wrote: "We were playing Settlers of Catan* one day and I was playing with my pieces and this is what I came up with."

Dungeonmaster C says:

I love the archetypal skulls. Some of my favorite submitted skulls are done with items whose original purpose normally are not suppose to be skulls. Happy Bastille Day everyone.

*I had to look it up on wiki.