Skull Beads Skull

If you recently saw the awesomeness that is the Skull Master in action figure form then you've seen the creative talents of BetsyEtsy. Before stuffing 365 of these teeny brain toters in with Noah's mini-me she used these 600 to make a "'skull' skull" of her own.





The sequined background really jazzes up the blank deathly face of the skull beads. It's almost like you're telling them, "Hey, this party ain't dead yet!". Thanks for jazzing up our weekend with your skull of skulls, Betsy. Now let the par-tay begin!

100 Painted Skulls: #14

To celebrate year 5 of Skull-A-Day I've decided to paint 100 skulls on 4 x 4in (10.16 x 10.16 cm) wooden panels over the course of the year...

I didn't have a specific plan for this one. I just started by painting just the eyes and nose, but it seemed incomplete without painting the rest of it so I ended up going with a grayscale palette.

Carved Skulls

UK artist and past contributor, Trevor A. Gordon sent us his latest creation, a skull of a gnome.


Darlene Anisimowicz in Canada said: “I love the Skull-A-Day Blog and posts on facebook. My husband carved this skull one afternoon while we were living in the North West Territories.”


Lord C says:

It looks like the skull never sets on the empire. Trevor, you have an amazing amount of work in your portfolio. Darlene, this piece reminds me of that classic Twilight Zone episode “Eye of the Beholder”. Thank you both for submitting this fine work for us to share.

[Flashback Friday] 5.2 - Petoskey Stone Skulls

Agent, Azurafae, and myself, Tatman, are taking turns reflecting on 17 of our perWelcome to another addition of Flashback Friday.** This year the guest editors, Citizen sonal favorite skulls from the previous four years of postings. So please join us as we visit the archives and add our additional commentary on some of the original pieces.

Petoskey Stone Skulls





I saw these excellent Petoskey Stone carvings at a street fair in Manistee, Mi. Tom Thompson is the creator who works with all types of stone carvings. These were absolutely beautiful for their super clean look of being newly polished and still appearing as ancient and mysterious artifacts turned up in some jungle from a certain explorer. I still wish I had bought one of these so hopefully he'll be returning to manistee this summer.


**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.

100 Painted Skulls: #13

To celebrate year 5 of Skull-A-Day I've decided to paint 100 skulls on 4 x 4in (10.16 x 10.16 cm) wooden panels over the course of the year... 

I've found it's actually easier for me to be controlled than to be loose when I'm painting. So I wanted to get back to the looser style I was cultivating at the beginning of the project with this one. Oh and apparently I've started to develop a callous on my finger from using a brush so much!

Dia de la Abby #54 - Wooden Skulls

This piece is inspired by wanting to improve my carving skills using my Dremel.

Painted

Non-painted

Sawdust from hours of carving

This project took a lot longer than anticipated. Cheap wood equals inconsistent wood and therefor harder to carve and keep smooth. It's pretty good for my first try at carving with a Dremel. I used engraving bits to carve the details. I used a drill bit and a large engraving bit to carve the open areas. I used watered down acrylic paint to make the white and black color washes. All the carving created an impressive amount of sawdust, so I made a little skull with that before cleaning it up. I plan on storing my Beaded Skull Broach in it.


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..

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.

100 Painted Skulls: #12

To celebrate year 5 of Skull-A-Day I've decided to paint 100 skulls on 4 x 4in (10.16 x 10.16 cm) wooden panels over the course of the year...

This is definitely the most difficult one of these I've painted so far. I wanted to create an image in soft focus and avoid obvious brush strokes. This would have probably been a lot easier with oil paints, but I like the end result.

And since several folks have asked, yes, these will be for sale. The first 20 or so will be at my exhibition at Asbury Lanes which opens June 25th. Details are HERE. After that I will probably sell the rest directly through the site, so stay tuned for info about that when the time comes.

Sugar Skull Illustrations

Micah from Omaha, NE said: “Here is sugar skull for your consideration. The media is one shot enamel on a Nebraska license plate.”


Michael Leemann, from Charlottesville, VA wrote: “I drew this recently and wanted to share it. Thanks!”


Presidential C says:

From the land of the 3rd to land of the 16th, I am glad there are still things that we can find in common that still keep our Union strong. Thank you both for submitting your work for us to share with all the people of the world.

100 Painted Skulls: #11

To celebrate year 5 of Skull-A-Day I've decided to paint 100 skulls on 4 x 4in (10.16 x 10.16 cm) wooden panels over the course of the year...

Nothing particularly new on this one, just continuing to play with the things I've been learning over the course of doing this project. The main thing is that I'm really enjoying painting and making them are definitely a highlight of my day.

Twofer Two For Tuesday Illustrator Skulls

Did you ever in your life think that skulls and unicorns could go together? Really?!? Well, Edner Lee of Singapore created this quartet of cranial cases to show us that it can be done.





Consider this to be the first, and probably only, Twofer Two for Tuesday. This bevy of creatures habituate these empty heads in an attempt to reuse the unneeded dead. The bold colors really bring a lot of life to these, and that's including the unicorn. Thanks for helping to make this Tuesday a truly new experience, Edner!

100 Painted Skulls: #10

To celebrate year 5 of Skull-A-Day I've decided to paint 100 skulls on 4 x 4in (10.16 x 10.16 cm) wooden panels over the course of the year...

Since I said I needed more practice painting teeth, I decided to make them the the focus of this one. I put down the lightest color first and then added the rest of the colors in darker and darker layers. First in the series without visible eye sockets!

Skully Babies

Janine Sartor submitted these hand painted "Skully Babies". She explains the process of making them, "After many coats of acrylic paint, it's seal with an acrylic clear sealant."

I remember Kewpie dolls as a child. I liked their cute details and waddling stance. This recreation featuring a painted skeleton makes me think of lost dolls coming back to haunt me. You know, the one you left in the back yard that lost it's hair, got nibbled on by your dog, was covered in a film of mud and was missing an eye? Ok, maybe that was just mine. I like the details of the skeletons accented by the cute style molding of the bodies. Acrylic doesn't easily stick to plastic, so this definitely took a long time to do. I could see these accompanying other dolls on a shelf...and being the creepiest of course.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 5.2

Today’s simulacra are part of everyday objects.

Ainslee from Washington said: “I noticed in the top of a Teapot at Tamarind Tree in Seattle, WA which looks hauntingly like Jack Skellington from ‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’.”


Carson Talbot sent us this picture of a printer


Carol Feiner told us: “Just noticed that my wireless headphones sitting in their charger look like a skull! The blue light from the satellite receiver adds an eerie touch.”


Housekeeping C says:

Thank you all for allowing us to venture with you into your inner simulacra worlds. Keep up the great work and remember with summer / winter right around the corner keep your eyse out for rocks and ice which are some of the most popular simulacra found by our readers.

Keep sending those pictures in to our submissions address. Just keep in mind that since we only post simulacra once a week it might take a little longer than normal for it to be posted.

100 Painted Skulls: #9

To celebrate year 5 of Skull-A-Day I've decided to paint 100 skulls on 4 x 4in (10.16 x 10.16 cm) wooden panels over the course of the year... 

I decided to try something a bit different this one so I painted a layer of white and after it dried covered it in a layer of black which I then scratched into while it was still wet with the back end of a brush. It sort of became DIY scratchboard.

100 Painted Skulls: #8

To celebrate year 5 of Skull-A-Day I've decided to paint 100 skulls on 4 x 4in (10.16 x 10.16 cm) wooden panels over the course of the year... 

I wanted to do a murkier image so I tried using a dry brush to blend after laying down the various layers.

"Green Dress" Skull

Georgie Mullins is back from Akron today(from her prior submnission here) with a somber tale of the lady in the "Green Dress".



Lost and lonesome. Yearning for that certain someone to return someday. Waiting an eternity to see that face in the flesh again. Turning to brittle bone in the bitter end.

Maybe someday she'll encounter that person in another realm, and then the query can be posed...."WTF, Dude?!?!" Thanks again for sharing more of your great paintings, Georgie!

Skull Hanging

Marcus P. from Pomona, California sent us this embellished skull hanging.


59th Street C says:

♫ Hello lampost, Whatcha knowin? I've come to watch your Skull a glowin' ♫ This is wonderful that you were able to make a piece of public art to share. Thank you for submitting your work.

100 Painted Skulls: #7

To celebrate year 5 of Skull-A-Day I've decided to paint 100 skulls on 4 x 4in (10.16 x 10.16 cm) wooden panels over the course of the year...

Extra minimal today. I wanted to use just black and white, but it felt weird without adding a bit of grey as well. I'm sure I'll explore this style again before I'm done.

Support your Skull

If you enjoy getting your daily dose of cranium from Skull-A-Day please consider supporting us by getting something from the Skull-A-Day store, buying a glass from Tatman, getting a unique piece from Abby, or becoming a sponsor!

Thanks!