In preparation for the 18th's "test" of our skull knowledge, we spent this week practicing drawing a skull without a model first, doing several short sketches. The interesting part is realizing how important the structure is to creating a skull from memory. For example, if I wasn't paying attention to the structure of my skull, things quickly got out of hand and the head looked incorrect. It's important to realize early when something wasn't working, so that I wasn't digging myself into a hole that I couldn't get out of.

Wed. we tried some different perspective drawing (pictured). While this perspective wouldn't be on the test per se, gaining a knowledge of how the pieces look for many different perspectives kind of enhances the three dimensional sense of the object and how it exists in your mind. It was tough not letting the different parts get flattened, but with some intervention, and a new look at the approach to cross contour I was able to get the skull to pop and take shape.

In a somewhat related manner, I also worked this week on a self-portrait piece for a Digital Painting independent study. The piece shows my skull and different bones kind of erupting out of my skin. This is kind of showing how I see myself and whatnot when it comes to my joint issues, bone disease because it's sometimes makes me feel broken or weak. I wanted this work to look like a mixture of calm and pain in one expression.