(cRaNiUm).

This last week we did a day of lecture and drawing of the SKULL! This was a fun day, I thought. Amy described the parts of the skull to us and then we set off to drawing! What mostly caught my attention during the lecture was the mastoid (I think??) or the small knob that you can feel behind your ear. This attaches to the two main tendons in the neck, which come down and attach in front where the top of the breastbone is. Amy mentioned that these two tendons support the head and are what keep it attached to the rest of the body (so we should always find these when we are drawing!). I had fun feeling this anatomy on my own neck.

We were assigned to draw the skull from a three quarters view and from a side view. I began with the side view, with some loose drawing and observation of the skull. I was doing pretty well and having a good time with it, but Amy helped me fix the eye socket which I was having difficulty with. It's hard on new structures to be able to tell what the planes are and what's really protruding or receding. A few times I walked up to the skull and felt it to see what it was really doing, because from the side it was misleading. I have never really drawn a full skull before or learned about the entire anatomy, so this was a new exploration. After Amy helped me with the planes around the eye socket, I was in the zone and had to finally tear myself away when it was time to switch angles.

The three quarter view was about the same... mostly I just did careful observation of the form and adjusted things a few times when they were off. I had to try a couple times to get the placing of the eye sockets correct, and Amy checked my drawing and just fixed where I had ended the cheekbone too soon. I think the second time around I had less time, but I was getting more comfortable with the proportions and planes of the skull. Near the end I added some contour lines to show the different plane changes. In the first skull drawing I only drew lines that I actually saw. I think the contour lines gave the drawing a little more dimension. Even though we had to skip the self portrait drawing for the final assignment, I want to someday draw one and study the planes and structure of my own face. I think it would be quite intriguing!