Wedding Skull

Leslie Engstrom from Bremerton, WA said "I was trying to come up with some concept art for my wedding’s theme, 'Til Death' which, for my husband and I, means ivy and skulls. I especially liked the blue ivy.

Seeing a couple focus on staying committed "Til Death" in a marriage is refreshing in an age of most marriages ending in divorce. The use of ivy makes sense to me, as ivy is very hardy and grows back stronger after being damaged. Marriages can survive the bad times, and when they do the union between the couple can be stronger than before. I hope Leslie and her husband have many wonderful and strong years of marriage together.

CONTEST REMINDER: Win A Signed Tom French "Skullusion" Print

Don't forget that you have until Midnight Eastern time on June 11th to be entered in our giveaway contest for a signed print of this piece titled "Semblance" from Tom French. Time is of the essence so if you haven't entered yet visit the original post here or click on the ad at the top of the sidebar.

I recently received my own print of this beautiful piece and this picture just can't do it justice.  It's something better seen in person so don't miss your chance to own one for yourself.

Of course you don't have to wait until the end of our contest, or if you want to assure you get a piece of Tom's work then check out his site here. Thanks again, Tom!

Skull Appreciation Day 2012 Recap

Just wanted to recap this year's Skull Appreciation Day celebrations...

For those of you who missed our one-day Skull Appreciation Day 2012 exhibition at Philadelphia's Mütter Museum here area few pix of the work we had on display...

Mütter Museum curator Anna Dhody even wore this maternity shirt especially for the day!...

More pix of the exhibition can be found on Flickr HERE. Several of the pieces are still available for purchase, find out more about them HERE.

Of course we weren't the only ones celebrating Skull Appreciation Day, here's a sampling of some other folks were up to....

Our friend Melissa at The Daily Nail painted her nails especially for the day:

Our friend and daily Pinup artist Betsy VanDeusen created this lovely piece for the day:

  

 Laurel Hill Cemetery put Skeleton Man out for an afternoon in the sun:

Jeremy Brautman posted about 20 of his favorite skulls AND featured my own 100 Painted Skulls project:

The fine folks at Smeared Ink created a second annual blog hop for the day! Below are just a few things that were shared. Be sure to click through the links on this page to see all of the excellent work that was created by the 40 participants!

Terra

Ndustrial Lemon

Croms' Cubby Hole

 

Popsicle Toes

our friend Wenchkin even created this coloring page giveaway contest!

And fellow skull-lovers Craniophiles are currently in the midst of a week-long celebration:

All in all, a wonderful celebration of the cranium this year! And plans are already in the works for another exciting event from us here at Skull-A-Day for 2013 so stay tuned for more details.

What did you do for Skull Appreciation Day this year? Post your stories/links in the comments section and send us pictures to share!

[BONUS] Skulledelic Tattoo

Check out this amazing version of my 347. Skulledelic image that Thomas put on his arm with the help of tattoo artist Micha from Ink & Pain in Leipzig, Germany!

You might also recognize this skull from the album cover for my band's vinyl release AND a lovely sweater by Sibling.

I'm always excited when my work becomes a permanent part of someone's body and I'm glad to add Thomas to the elite ranks of Skull-A-Day tattooed including our editor Abby, who has my Quoth The Skull on her arm;  Deacon who got my Ornamental skull on his back; Denis who got a skull I drew for him when I signed his copy of my book Skulls; Kevin, GlobGlob & Drew who used the Skullphabet for their tattoos; Katrina who had a tattoo designed for her by Skull-A-Day fans; Danny who got the Rorschach Skull; Tammie who got my Acorn Skull; and of course Tatman and myself! Any other Skull-A-Day tattoos out there I don't know about?

C-Rations: Carbon 1

This week’s offering is a Cedar Wood


“Traditional” 6" x 7" carved on Cedar board scrap with pencil highlights

Modern C says:

On this 5th anniversary of my first comment on Skull-A-Day I thought it would be fitting to make a traditional 5th anniversary gift. It is difficult to look back and realize that an email in that morning’s inbox many years ago set off a wonderful chain reaction that I guess you can say changed my life. When was the last time one email changed your life? Thank you to the Crown Prince of Richmond, VA for providing me with more creative wealth then I could have ever imagined, and all it cost me in return was a single comment.

My weekly offering of original skull designs were posted on Mondays in year 3.0, you can see all of them plus a few more HERE . 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 offerings, but if you need more nourishment, you may always Friend me or Follow me in their respective places.

Kalakaa Skull

This wonderfully basic piece is from Sebastian Benson and is titled "Kalakaa".

Once again the simplest of designs has some of the most to offer. The two tone color scheme keeps us focused on the image and not on the background. The stamped image shows signs of battery.  The spattered red is a clue to the atrocity that might have befallen this skull.  Horrors only known by the creator and the nonspeaking blue wall that witnessed it.  Thanks for the submission, Sebastien!

[CONTEST] Win A Signed Tom French "Skullusion" Print

Get ready folks, IT'S MIND BOGGLING TIME!!! My favorite "skullusion" painter is back and he still goes by the name of Tom French. He blew our minds in the past with this skullusion, and he's back to take cranium combustion to a whole other world. Just look into the windows of his painting's souls and you'll find the flawless blending of regular skull toting humans into our favorite body part. Now is the time when I get to blow your mind by telling you that Tom is giving away one FREE print of the piece below to one of our lucky readers.     

'Semblance' is the name of this painting, and Tom is being most gracious by GIVING A SIGNED AND NUMBERED PRINT TO A RANDOMLY CHOSEN WINNER.  You will receive a single color screenprint on somerset satin paper measuring 50 x 70cm (approx. 19 3/4" x 27 1/2").  The prints are only available in a limited edition of 30 signed and numbered by the artist so take advantage of this golden opportunity.

To be entered in this free contest you are being asked to leave a comment stating what you think this couple is discussing.  It could be philosophical or it could be nonsense.  Personally I'd go with the traditional, "Did you turn the stove off?" comment.  The point is, it doesn't matter what you say, you will only be entered if you leave a comment.  

[NOTE: If you're reading this on Facebook or Google+ then be sure to leave your comment on the original Skull-A-Day.com post if you want to be officially entered in the contest.]

IMPORTANT: Don't forget to include a way of contacting you(either an email in the post OR BE SURE your blogger profile has a working email link for you). Entries are only valid with this information.


You have until Midnight Eastern time on June 11th to be entered. 

Note: Tom has no problem shipping to our winner anywhere so this contest is open to EVERYONE IN THE WORLD!  Thanks, Tom!

Of course you don't have to wait until the end of our contest, or if you want to assure you get a piece of Tom's work then check out his site here.  If  you're still totally mesmerized by Tom's style then be sure to check out his video of the "Semblance" creation.

Sugar Skull Cookies

Today is Skull Appreciation Day. A great way to celebrate is with some festive cookies. Heather Walker said "I work at a workers’ co-operative grocery store in Stratford, Ontario and recently we’ve made sugar skull sugar cookies!" Their baker Katelyn made the cookies.

Sugar skull cookies are great for celebrating Dia de los Muertos, and delicious any time. I hope a few of you make some skull cookies, or skull art in celebration of Skull Appreciation Day 2012. If you are in the Philadelphia, PA area, please come by The Mutter Museum TODAY! The Skull-A-Day editors will be there from 10am - 5pm exhibiting over 50 pieces of skull art from last year's event, plus all the skull mail art you wonderful people have sent to The Mutter Museum! Though, I might sneak off for a cookie at some point today...hopefully a sugar skull cookie.

Sunday Simulacra - Version 6.1

Rachel Bender told us “I took this photo when I was visiting my lil' brother in UT. We were going to through a slot canyon, and stopped to have a snack near this rock. I couldn't resist and had to photograph it.”

Mj Taylor said: “I love this site! Found this beauty on the south west side of Belle Island in Richmond, VA. ”

Simon & C says:

♫ I am a Rock... I am a Simulacra... ♫ Welcome to the start of our new simulacra year. As we get ready for another exciting year of Sunday Simulacra we would like to take a moment and thank all of you who have submitted to this Skull-A-Day tradition and also thank those who have come along for this weekly journey.

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.

"Hello Skully"

Greetings and 'Happy Saturday' to you from Joby Cummings and his sweet "Hello Skully".

Hello, Skully.  Goodbye, Kitty.  I like the minimum color palette Joby uses while still brightening our day with the vibrant red.  Mixing life and death together for a perfect start to our weekend.  Thanks again for sharing, Joby! 

[Flashback Friday] 5.52 - First Skulls

Welcome to another addition of Flashback Friday.** This year the guest editors, Tatman, Citizen Agent, and myself, Azurafae are taking turns reflecting on 17 of our personal 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.

Since today is the last Flashback Friday of the 5.0 year, I decided we should flash way back to our first skulls part of the Skull-A-Day team. I'm posting them in order of appearance.

1. Orange Paper Skull

C-Rations: 0C1

Tuesdays with Tatman #1

Dia de la Abby #1 - Cut Paper Sugar Skull

I enjoy seeing how different our styles of artwork are. That's what's nice about a project using the same motif, the styles will variate between people, and even in our own artwork. Noah's piece was something simple he made one day, when he decided to start the project. Citizen Agent and Tatman's pieces were inspired by the flag contest that was going on at the time. Mine was inspired by papel picado. We've all grown as artists and art admirers, since we started working on this project, and that in it's self is a great side effect of being lovingly dedicated to something. We are pleased to continue sharing skull art with you, weather it's something we created, or the work of another artist. Cheers to another year of a wonderful project and experience!



 **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. During year 4.0 the editors had their chance to countdown their favorites Azurafae HERE, Citizen Agent HERE, and Tatman HERE.

[BONUS] Abby's Cabinet of Curiosities

A couple years ago, my grandmother moved from her two bedroom apartment into a room at a retirement home. This meant, that most of her furniture couldn't go with her. I made a special request, to take her record player cabinet, if she didn't want to bring it with her. She willingly gave it to me, since the record player no longer worked, along with some other treasured items. I decided to use the record player cabinet as a cabinet of curiosities, since it is a curious piece of furniture it's self.

It contains many Dia de la Abby pieces that I've made, as well as delicate gifts from friends, my skeleton model, and delicate things from sponsors, that I've acquired in my two years with Skull-A-Day. If you look carefully at the top shelf, you might recognize some pieces. Since the sixth year of Skull-A-Day is almost here (four more days), I wanted to share it with you. I'll try to identify them as best as I can, for you all.

1. Dia de la Abby #19: Dia de los Muertos Shrine
2. A set of three Tim Burton toys
3. A Joshua Harker skull
4. A skull quilt square that I worked on during the craft portion of last year's Skull Appreciation Day. I think under this is the quilt square that Citizen Agent made, and let me keep.
5. Dia de la Abby #40: Skull Pastie
6. A skull spider made by Amy Kopperude from her 365 Spider project
7. A skull mug made by Nicole Pangas Ceramics
8. Dia de la Abby #9: Hand Fan with Skulls
9. A skull scout badge
10. Dia de la Abby #56: Russian Matryoshka Skull Dolls
11. A button pin made by Carolyn Oord for Pin Pals Art Show
12. A button pin that I made for the same Pin Pal Art Show
13. Dia de la Abby #24: Beaded Skull Broach
14. #39 from Noah's recent 100 Painted Skulls
15. A glass Tatman made me when I first joined the Skull Team.
16. A skeleton model I bought when I first joined the Skull Team.
17. A black skull votive holder from Target.

18. A large stack of pieces I've made, prints from Wenchkin, and an embroidered piece from my best friend Kit McSmash. On the top is Dia de la Abby #51: Collage Skull.
19. Dia de la Abby #2: Filet Crochet Skull
20. Dia de la Abby #27: Skullflake (Skull Snowflake)
21. A stack of mail art and cards from Wenchkin
22. Dia de la Abby #28: Punched Metal Skull

The collection looks creepier and more mysterious behind the closed doors of this tall cabinet.

Dia de la Abby: #75 Skull of Triangles

This piece is inspired by various geometric artwork that I've seen recently.

I wanted to challenge myself by using only triangles. Many months ago, I collected paint swatches in 30 shades of blue from a hardware store. I had no project in mind when I collected them. I only thought they would be an interesting medium to work with. I included pieces with the paint color names, so the medium type was more obvious. I used the different shades and tones of the paint swatches to create shadows and highlights in the skull, and make flowers, vines, and leaves.


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.

[BONUS] 393. 100 Painted Skulls Skull

As promised here's an image of all 100 of my recently completed 100 Painted Skulls as a group!

Of course I couldn't end the project without making one more skull so I've arranged them into a very, very lo-res image of yet another cropped skull. Since it's basically just 10 x 10 pixels you may have to squint a bit to see it.

Here's a much smaller version that might help...

And since a few people have asked I've made this version of the image available as an art print, which you can buy in a variety of sizes on Society 6 HERE.

Sketched Skull

Steven Davis from Madison, WI, had an idea for a Halloween prop, and was inspired by a skull he found online. He drew a personalized version of it in his sketch book.

Sketching is a great way to work out ideas. It's a way to put your imagination on paper. I would love to see if Steven created a Halloween prop using this skull sketch as a guide. The sketch is highly detailed, which would make the transition into a 3D prop much easier.

Skull Masks

Liz Hoge of Carrion Creations in Las Vegas, NV recently created this pair of skull masks.

Comedy C says:

I am quite a mask aficionado myself so of course I am instantly drawn to these. I admire your limited pallet of colors to create these pieces as well as the amount of fine detail that you put into them. Thank you for submitting your work for us to share.

100 Painted Skulls #100

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... 

For the final one I thought I'd break my convention of the skull being upright so I tipped it on its side. It's been a really fun adventure and I'm looking forward to doing more painting in the near future!

As before I've collected the past 25 into a grid since it's nice to see them as a group...

Stay tuned for a bonus post of all 100 as a group, which I will be putting together very soon!

100 Painted Skulls #99

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 another fairly minimalist one before the end. I like that this one seems to be sinking down (or maybe rising up).

Skull Appreciation Day Sale

In honor of Skull Appreciation Day this coming Monday, June 4th we've put the Skull Appreciation Day T-shirts on sale... now only $18 each!

Black and Silver are available and printed on high-quality eco-friendly t-shirts.

Look for them and other goodies in our Skull-A-Day store.

And have a very happy Skull Appreciation Day!

Macroscopi​c Skulls

These two tangled treats are courtesy of Berlin based  Meyoko.  Her finely detailed ink drawings take a closer look into nature while keeping the overall picture in mind.    

Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice at making skulls out of, "Forests made of luxuriant
hair that are inhabited by tattooed flowers and plants ;by ravens and hummingbirds with strange silky bodies in place of feathers."

These are beautiful pieces that draw you in close to see all of the details. Don't be fooled though, they're featured on our site because they're still skulls. Impressive ink work, Meyoko!

p.s. Meyoko's work will also be featured in the upcoming Hollow Thoughts exhibition!