Realistic human skull model studies 2023

I recently purchased a realistic human skull model for anatomy study, so I’m intent on creating as many sketches from life as I can bear. I’m usually bored by still life, but when a skull is involved, I’m all for it. This page contains only the highlights, not all of my recent the realistic human skull drawings.

Realistic human skull model study in colored pencil on toned paper
Faber-Castell Polychromos and Derwent Drawing colored pencils in an A5 Stillman & Birn toned sketchbook

The first drwing is on grey toned sketchbook paper which served as the color of the shadow areas. This is a very economical drawing technique, especially when framed with a strongly colored negative space.

Loosely painted colorful human skull in watercolor
Red, blue and metallic watercolor paint in a Clairefontaine watercolor sketchbook. Size of the skull is around 7x10cm.

This experimental study is loosely painted with two colors (not the first time I used red and blue exclusively in a study) over a layer of metallic watercolor. The metallic background was actually leftover rinse water from another painting session, because I’m frugal AF. I quite like how it turned out, I only wish I painted it bigger because I couldn’t get the teeth right on a size this small.

Realistic human skull sketches in black and gray ink
Gray and black Pentel brush pens in an A5 hot press sketchbook

I’ve drawn a couple of pages of grayscale skulls with ink, and this one turned out the best because I smoothed out the shading using a wet brush. I really like this technique for small studies in general because it’s fast, but looks more polished than pencil.

I’ll be adding more images to this page as I complete them.

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