Pillowy Skulls

Ann Stelzer from Denver, Colorado said: “I have been a fan of your site for a very long time and I look forward to checking it at work when I need a break. I made these pillows to submit last year to a ‘Day of the Dead’ shows that a gallery holds every year. I played with the pattern and what would work best for them. I toyed with using buttons for the teeth; I have a lot of buttons. I finally settle onthe cloth teeth with the black behind it.”

Accent C says:

♫ It lives in the corner at the end of the couch... HA-PPY Skull Pillow ♫ I find it fascinating whenever we get something submitted in which the act of creating the piece takes as much skill as the final execution of it. You need to really be familiar with the medium you are working with in order to be able to go at it blindly and produce such amazing results. Thank you for submitting these, and please remember us when you make your next work for what sound like an interesting annual show out your way.

Dia de la Abby: #5 - Oil Pastel Skull

When I was working on the last skull, this was an image that popped into my head for this week's piece. I wanted to make a skull that looked like it was sinking into a lily pad, surrounded by other lily pads. This idea was inspired by the Hans Christian Andersen tale of "Thumbelina". Specifically, the part where she meets the frogs. The illustrations of that part are always beautiful with lily pads and water creatures.


With this idea in mind, I had to pick a medium to use, so I chose oil pastels. Like last week, this is another medium that I haven't work with in many years. Unlike last week, this is a medium that I haven't found to be easy to work with...and this time was no different. Overall the results are still very rough, but looking at famous pieces of art using oil pastels, that seems to be the general result. Overall, I'm happy with it. The use of my skull model is very helpful to create a skull in different positions and I'll definitely be using it again for more pieces.

For this week's skull, instead of a tutorial, I have a few tips on using oil pastels.

Every week in the 4.0 year, I will be 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.

Two Headed Skull

2 HEADED MONSTER from Castellon, Spain sent us this two headed skull.

I like the swirly psychedelic feel to it. It looks like two skulls being tossed down a Wonderland rabbit hole combined with the glass balls and bubbles that David Bowie was fond of in "The Labyrinth". Those skulls are off on a wild fantasy adventure. Can I come?

[BONUS] Fellow 365er: The Doodle Daily

Just have to give a shout out to Warren at The Doodle Daily, who was inspired by Skull-A-Day to start his project, and just completed his 365th doodle today! It looks like he's not stopping at one year either, so definitely keep an eye on his blog for more doodles in the future.

Ceramic Skulls

Henry Cowdery from Walnut Creek, CA showed off some of his ceramic work.

This first piece is a bowl.


Salt Glaze C says:

Everyday we are fortunate to have new artwork from our readers and seeing your submission is another reason that I like my job. I truly enjoy your pieces. From the older rustic look of the skeleton to the raw primal feeling of an actual skull bowl your work brings out a lot of feelings with it. Thank you for submitting your work, and we look forward to seeing more of it in the future.

Sometimes You Feel Like A Skull Nut...Sometimes You Don't

Today our friend Jack literally goes nuts for skulls. "I've been perusing your site for a few months and it's always very impressive! I'm from Australia and was considering how similar in colour the inside of an almond is to bone. A bit of scratching with a paper clip resulted in this simple little skull."

Fleshy meat inside,
Bony case to hold it all,
Are we really nuts?

I'm sure all of our readers feel like skull nuts. Luckily, we don't make it a habit of eating our skulls.....oh wait, yes we do! Thanks for complimenting our readers and their efforts as well as for your tasty looking little submission.

[BONUS] July Desktop from Dan Springer

Our friend, the incredibly talented Dan Springer, has created yet another fantastic desktop calendar for you to download for free! Be sure to click the image to get the full-size version...

"Make a Funny Face" Skull

Kcook, sent us this skull, entitled, "Make a Funny Face".



This piece does amuse me and reminds me of one of those repulsive faces I used to make with my brothers and friends as a child. It also remind me of the beginning a favorite movie, "One Crazy Summer", where there are two girls using their hands to make horrible faces. Someone tells them, "Girls, if you make faces like that and somebody slaps you on the back, You'll stay that way, forever." Of course, someone does slap them on the back and for the rest of the movie, the girls have these gross faces that everyone is scared of. Granted, that is only a small part of the movie, but it stayed with me...forever!

Sunday Simulacra - Version 4.4

Let the skull hunting continue onward as we bring you even more of the unseen skulls that surround us everyday.

Mike Strick writes in with this beautiful spider pic. "Thought you might enjoy this picture of the false widow spider (Steadotoda nobilis) that lives in our kitchen. She's quite shy and usually hides away in her web, so I was glad to get this shot that shows her skull pattern so clearly!"



Virginian Richard Pettus made a great discovery once he got home from a recent trip, "Here is a photo I took yesterday at Lake Jocassee in SC. I was unaware there was a skull face cloud event until I looked at the photo later."



Danielle Roberts found this natural beauty on Blackhawk Trail at Mt. Madonna County Park. "I don't know if this counts because it looks like a crow skull, but I thought it was neat looking."



It's images like these that keep me searching my own personal world for skull simulacrum. Great pics by all of you. If you are lucky enough to catch a skull simulacra then please submit it to us and we'll be happy to display your trophy.

"Hueso's de Amor" Skull

Returning artist, Roger Casanova, is back with more optimistic skulliness. His last submission carried tidings of good feelings, and his most recent works keep spreadin' the love. Here's Roger's description of "Hueso's de Amor(Bones Of Love)" from his Etsy store.

"Hand ink stamped image tags that can be used for any occasion! Approximately 2 1/4" x 3 3/4" tag/cards with their own craft paper mini bags/sleeves.

The back of the tag/cards is left blank so that you may use your own creative ideas, or write your own personal sentiments."

Dancing bones to share,
feelings of unbridled joy,
that love knows no grave

Again you have kept the love alive beyond the grave, Roger. I can only hope that my poor skeleton finds a way to dance a little jig after I'm long gone as a way to celebrate the loves that I've had in my life and the good fortune that I can be thankful for. Thanks, Roger, for reminding us all that we need to show the love.

[Flashback Friday] 219. Skull-Master

Welcome to another addition of Flashback Friday.** This year the guest editors, Azurafae, Tatman, and myself, Citizen Agent, are taking turns counting down our personal favorite 17 skulls from the Original 365.25 Year. So please join us as we visit the archives and add our additional commentary on some of the original pieces.

#15: 219. Skull-Master


Soothsayer C says:

I have to say that my original comment on this one is rather interesting considering how the Skull-A-Day 1.0 year ended. Yes, I could be nice and link you right to it, but today is a day of discovery so I will let you go and find #366 yourself. Here is a good place to start.

What has always stood out in my mind about this piece was the creative spark that made it happen. These are objects in their natural state simply arranged with a minor modification . Some may consider this piece’s style to be “Surreal”, “Avant-garde”, or even dare to suggest “Pop”. Personally, this piece reminds me specifically of Marcel Duchamp’s collection of Readymades. In it, I admire Noah’s ability to look at the disks in their natural state and give birth to what we see here. This piece, in my mind, truly helped earn him the title of “ The Skullmaster.”


**Flashback Friday was a weekly countdown of the fan selected top 52 skulls of Skull-A-Day 1.0. Each week during year 3.0 The Skullmaster posted the 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 3.0, all 52 can be found here.

QR Skull

Jack Morgan, who sent us some new technology, wrote: “I've been on your site a couple times, and I'm a big fan. I haven't seen anyone make a QR skull yet. If you use a smart phone to scan the QR code, it brings you to my blog. ”


Unfrozen Caveman C says:

I am not sure how this technology works it is strange and frightens me. I am intrigued by it and at the same time I am cautious of a future in which personal barcodes become the norm. Thank you for sharing this excellent work with us.

Skull Appreciation Day Buttons!

I've just added a 1" button honoring Skull Appreciation Day to the new Skull-A-Day shop!

You can get 1 button for $1 plus shipping & handling or 6 buttons for $5 plus shipping & handling.

Don't forget you can also get the brand new United Skull of America T-shirt there as well!

And remember we need your help to make Skull Appreciation Day 2011 a reality, so spread the word!

Dia de la Abby: #4 - Watercolor Skull

For the last few months, I've been wanting to make a piece with flowers growing out of and around a skull. I wanted to make it as if it had been buried and worked it's way up to the surface of someone's garden. It wasn't until the other day, that I finally decided on a medium...water color pencils. I haven't used water colors in about 15 years, but with inspiration from Noah's Watercolor Skull and many years of colored pencil use, I figured I could make it work. This took many hours to make, but I like how it came out and it was worth the time to try some old techniques in a new way.

I would include a tutorial for this one, but there is an excellent one that I used, so I suggest using this tutorial for Watercolor pencils and crayons too. It has images and clear instructions for different ways to use them. I applied mine dry to the paper (it looks just like a regular colored pencil when you apply it), then used a small brush with a little water to blend the pigment on the paper. To intensify some of the colors, I took the small wet brush and got some pigment off the pencil (I loaded the brush like you would with a regular set of paints). There are some other techniques mentioned, that I didn't use, but feel free to experiment and find what works best for you.

Every week in the 4.0 year, I will be 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.

[BONUS] The Gift of Skulls: Skully Birthday

I had a birthday recently and since I'm now part of the Skull-A-Day crew, I got lots of skull presents...which of course I loved. This one below, is one my best friend, Kit McSmash, made for me. I love the combination of the different black, white and grey fabrics with the bright stitching, colorful sequins and beads. Now, I have to figure out how to frame it, so I can hang it with my growing collection of skull art.

Skull Make-up

Last Halloween in West Hollywood, CA, Jason Gogerty and his partner, Ismael went to the annual West Hollywood Halloween Street Carnival in skull make-up. Jason told us that they "spent almost 4 hours painting ourselves with black body paint from our waist up", using "little makeup sponges. Then, used white paint to create a skull on our faces."

The 1st picture is of Jason, alone in the bathroom with only red lights on because, he thought the effect was cool.

The second picture, is of Ismael and Jason together in their kitchen.

Both of you did a wonderful job with the makeup. I like the stylized skull that you all painted with the half body black paint. I like how the red light changes the color of the white. That is the nice thing about white paint, it easily takes on a new tone according to the light around it. Black, having a color absorbing quality, tend to be black no matter what light it around.We have had skull make-up on Skull-A-Day before and each person has a different style of creating it. It reminds me of Dia de los Muertos, which is a celebration of the dead. What better way to celebrate it than to make your self up to look dead.

Skull make-up is something that I've wanted to do myself for a while and haven't had the chance...but soon I will as I have two close friends that are getting married... I know spoilers...

C-Rations: LV

This week’s offering is chenille pipe cleaners

“Cocoon” 8" x 6" x 5" 20 white & 6 black chenille pipe cleaners twisted together.

Caterpillar C says:

I never realized until I was working with these about what a great play on words these craft supplies are. As a kid I remember doing projects with real pipe cleaners that came in that cool yellow sleeve it is interesting to see how something that at one time was so utilitarian has now turned into a craft item that kids use. This week, I also offer some words of advice. No matter how many you think you may need buy the large package, because if you don't have any idea what you are doing when you start, you are going to end up with a nice collection of failed attempts that are difficult to re-bend.

My weekly offering of original skull designs were posted on Mondays in year 3.0, and now I am posting them each Wednesday during year 4.0 . Knowing the personal pressures of a creating a piece each week, I tip my hat to the massive one-a-day project that was undertaken by The Skullmaster, during the original Skull-A-Day year.

Hopefully you will find some nourishment in my weekly offerings, but if you need more nourishment during the week, you may always Friend me or Follow me.

Let the Skull Shine in

Dominic Borelli from Middlesex, NJ sent us this painting of a skull.


Helios C says:

I am not sure of your origional intentions on this piece, perhaps you were only merely capturing the reflection from an over head light source, but when I saw this I thought of the classic “The Midnight Sun” episode of the Twilight Zone. My thoughts also turned to all the Egyptian art in which the sun-disk imagery is portrayed as part of the headdress like the goddess Hathor. Thank you for submitting your work for us to share.

Skull-A-Day Press: Life on a Silver Platter

Writer Bekah Wright recently attended one of my creativity workshops, based on the Skull-A-Day project, and she not only wrote up a lovely post about her experiences, but was even inspired to create a challenge of her own! Read the whole thing HERE.

[BONUS] The Gift of Skulls: Birthday

Inevitably I'm given skull-y gifts on my birthday, but this year I got a particularly impressive one! My friend Robert made this giant wearable steel construction that looks like it would fit in well on some ancient battlefield! Now I just have to find an appropriate occasion to wear it out...