Preparation is necessary before working on a portrait using the academic skull reference drawing approach. Geometrical shapes, plaster casts of the nose, mouth, eyes, and ears, male and female plaster heads, and the skull pattern, which is the foundation of the fundamentals, must all be necessary to study.
You need to be familiar with the geometric and aerial perspectives, as well as a variety of other fundamental concepts, to handle these issues correctly.
Table Of Contents
Introduction to Skull Reference Drawing
Academic skull reference drawing implies that the artist moves incrementally from the general to the specifics and back to the general as they complete their work. An instructional image of the skull is made in three parts: face, three-quarter angle and profile to better grasp the anatomical aspects of a complicated volumetric form and how to reproduce the skull reference image on a flat piece of paper.
Importance of Skull Drawing
- A wonderful activity for honing your sketching abilities is to learn how to draw a skull.
- Drawing a skull is a lot of fun since it has such an intriguing shape and structure with plenty of little, subtle features.
- Drawing a human skull is an essential skill for comprehending human anatomy.
- Drawing a skeleton skull can help us better grasp why the head is the way it is and improve our ability to sketch anatomical structures.
- As we concentrate on the different little parts of the skull that make it up, we will improve our drawing abilities as we go along.
- Skull sketching also sharpens our attention to detail.
Why Learning to Draw a Skull
The foundations of the drawing are the building blocks. To sketch the head, the skull must be the most crucial item to comprehend. We’ll demonstrate how to draw the skull. These things are necessary before proceeding or starting the skulls drawing.
- The principles of sketching a skull
- Simple procedures to follow
- Get it correctly every time
Tools for Skull Reference Drawing
The following are the tools important for the drawing:
- Mechanical pencil
- Eraser
- Sketchbook
- Ruler
You may use any materials. It is strongly advised you try out several materials. It is also recommended to use the materials suggested or comparable ones. Let’s outline these tools and explain why they are useful.
| Ruler: To set up the drawing pattern, you’ll need a good, sturdy ruler | Mechanical Pencil: A mechanical pencil is what is favorable. Mechanical pencils are useful because they consistently produce thin lines and don’t require sharpening. The range that an HB or 2B pencil lead can provide will be sufficient |
| Paper or Sketchbook: Use thicker and more durable paper for a sketch. Erasing is significantly easier on thicker paper than on thinner paper. Using smooth Bristol board or watercolor paper with less roughness is preferable | Eraser: Eraser sticks that resemble writing instruments are preferable. They are affordable and excellent for precise erasing |
Stages of the skull’s creation
Since the structural characteristics of the bones directly influence how the human head is shaped, the primary objective of the painter is to comprehend, memorize, and learn how to accurately depict the human skull’s structure.
Make the most of your efforts in learning this information so that you can avoid making several blunders when painting a portrait.
Stage 1
The skull is oblong, with a round cranium and an extended front portion containing sockets, jaws, and symmetrical paired and unpaired bones. It is essential to know at this stage that the paired facial features, including the skull bones, are drawn concurrently.
Stage 2
You may begin creating a skull by dividing the skull from your skull reference picture into two 3D shapes. Work crudely at first, then freshen up. Draw a sphere for the skull, then connect a shape to it. Consider that you are now sketching the wires and constructing the skull reference 3D. You can use vertical lines or centre lines to comprehend the 3D aspect of these objects better.
Stage 3
- Once you’ve completed the forms, lightly erase them with a soft eraser.
- Lighten the fundamental structure if you’re using a digital image.
- To make a preliminary drawing, refer to your skull reference.
- Verify that you are using the proper proportions. Additionally, be sure to sketch all of the important features of the skull.
- The proportions are the size, distance, and position correlations between various shapes and forms.
- Put the fundamental forms for the teeth, nasal cavity, and eye sockets in place.
- Moreover, emphasize clarity above neatness; you’ll get to it eventually. The more your precision, the better, but keep things straightforward.
- Drawing too slowly may cause your lines to lack movement, making your preliminary drawing appear rigid.
Stage 4
You’ll erase once more to lighten up this sloppy drawing. That way, you may trace the drawing more cleanly this time when you progress to this smooth skull reference drawing stage.
Stage 5
Make the drawing neat with broad strokes. As you review the last rough draft, you work to make the lines more aesthetically pleasing. Keep your attention on the profile line while detailing the positions of the various components on the skull.
Make whatever revisions are necessary to improve the precision and dimensions of the skull. Once again, skull reference is important as a guide. Please feel free to use parallel lines to give some shade as well.
The most common mistake at this point is the attention to every single detail out there, to the expense of the remainder of the figure, while the work should be done consistently.
Stage 6
Once your skull has been well cleaned, it’s time to add several line weights. These are the places where you may thicken or thin certain lines. In this manner, you may highlight the image’s overlapping features and structures. Make an effort to ensure that the overlaps are precise. Your drawn skull is now finished!
These procedures may be helpful to any other skeletal system anatomy. More research on skulls should be essential as your next step. Pick references from different perspectives and draw them out using the same method.
Conclusion
Skull reference drawing is necessary to help in creating a skull. You require several basic steps that help you to draw a skull easily.
