Whatever the case, at the end of day, skulls are pretty cool! Which is exactly why I set out to put together of a haphazard list of drawings, photos, tutorials & how-tos, videos, and illustrations dealing with the human skull.

I hope it proves useful to you and inspires you as it has me. So without further ado, categorized by what seemed to make sense, skulls:

• Anatomical Studies of Skulls
• How-to’s and tutorials on drawing skulls
• Stylized Skulls
• Photo references of Skulls
• Websites devoted to skulls

Enjoy!

Anatomical Studies of Skulls

Update: See also Skull Anatomy for Artists

Skull Left Lateral Index from Gray’s Anatomy of the Human Body

Skull Plate by Dr. Bock

Human Skull Engraving by William Miller

Human Skull Side from David Darling’s Internet Encyclopedia of Science. Great resource for the anatomy of the human skull.

Skull Drawings by Paul Doeman

Skull Drawing by Ha Young Lee

Skull Sketches by Nadine Gorham

Idealized Proportion Human Figure, The Human Skull, Plate VII by Michael M. Hensley. You’ve got to check this guy’s website out, Human Anatomicae: he’s got fantastic reference drawings of the human bodies. Especially useful is the section on hands and feet – but that’s another post

Skull – Front and Side View by krisheding

Skull Drawing by Nicole Breedyk (via Flickr)

Skull Page by Steven Russell Black (via Flickr)

How-to’s and tutorials on how to draw skulls

How to Draw a Skull on 2d-Digital-Art-Guide

How To Draw A Skull And Crossbones on Drago-Art

Discover Easy Steps To Have Your Pencil Drawing Of A Skull on Pencil-Drawing-Idea.com

How to Draw a Skull on ExpertVillage.com

Drawing the Human Skull on draw23.com

Draw a Skull with a Wacom Tablet from Go Media on Vimeo.

Stylized Skulls

Skull Reference by Matthew Amey. The image above is one of 151 drawings of the human skull Matthew Amey did in 2003. Those along with skull drawings by 150 artists can be found on the website: this is definitely for all the skull lovers out there. Here’s another one from the book (which you can buy here):

Skull by Ron Domstead

La Coka Nostra by Brian Morris. This guy has some real dope drawings and illustrations. You can get the above image on a T-Shirt over at shopbenchmark.com. One of his tees is also featured on Threadless Select.

Pinstripe Skull by Rob Schwager. Above available as print Schwager’s online store.

Skull by hydro74 and another one by the same artist:

Skull Illustration by hydro74… siiick.

Machine Skull by Eliot Flores – When I first stumbled upon this picture I thought it’d be from hydro74, they look somewhat similar… can’t decided which one is sicker!

Scaphocephaly by R. E. Wolf (via Flickr)

Trophy Skull by Danny PiG (via Flickr)

Snake and Skull by Joe_13 (via Flickr)

Pumpkin Pattern – Skulls by Chris Rushing (via Flickr)

Skull by b.media (via Flickr)

Skull Head72 by ceroakb1 (via Flickr)

Metal Skull by Marcus Tegtmeier (via Flickr)

Skull & Lotus by Usugrow – this guy is incredible, and he loves skulls. You can also check out this bit on an Usugrow art opening on Fecal Face.

Alien Biker Skull by Von R. Glitschka

Grunge Skull Illustration by Chad Lonius. Chad’s got some sick illustrations and gives away free vector illustrations from time to time, including the one shown above!

Another Skull by Shane from ShanesArt.com – dude’s got some sick skills.

Tribal Skull by Ty Lombardi

Skull Tattoo by Bazaar

Photo references of skulls

Human Skull by David Liittschwager on California Academy of Sciences Skulls website – great resource for all kinds of funky skulls.

Human Skull by DeLoy Roberts – Granted this picture is kind of crappy, but his website has tons of animal skulls as well.

Azibaza has some crazy items for sale – unfortunately this Tibetan carved human skull is sold out. Definitely check out some of their other items, including their kapalas (skull caps).

More crazy skulls can be found over at tribalartasia.com, including this Naga Headhunting Human Trophy Skull.

Cradleboard Skull from bmezine.com. Although retired, you can still look at the pictures of skulls – this one in particular from the “Deformation and other Unique Defects” category.

You can find skull replicas of all kinds of hominids over Skulls Unlimited (in the Fossil Hominids section), including this Homo neanderthalensis skull.

More ostheological reproductions are available from Bone Clones, including this skull with brain… cool

Human Skull with Horns from subversiveelement.com. According to this most entertaining site, this skull was found in 1880′s in Pennsylvania, USA, but was subsequently stolen. Sitting on top of male skeletons 7 ft. tall, these would have made for some scary fellows.

For more bizarre skulls check out this skull of a supposed fishman; apparently quite a few of them have been found according to dominorus’ site.

Websites Devoted to Skulls

For those of you who haven’t gotten their fill, here are more websites devoted to skulls exclusively:

Skull-A-Day – the blog of artist Noah Scalin. Not too long ago he decided to make a one skull a day for a year, and so he did. Recently completed, the blog lives on with user contributed skulls and spawned a book that you can find through IndieBound.

I Want Your Skull – great site that also publishes its own little sweet zine. Great skull art and plenty of inspiration here.

Sweet Skulls.com – Examines the skull in pop culture. You’ll find a lot of old b-movie posters and other assorted trash art.

Stuff to buy

The End, almost

No post on skulls would be complete without a nod to Skullface himself, Ghost Rider:

Ghost Rider cover by Marc Silvestri

… but the last laugh goes to the ultimate bonehead:

Related posts:

1. How to Draw Hands: 35 Tutorials, How-To’s, Step-by-Steps, Videos, Studies, Poses and Photo References
2. Skull Anatomy for Artists
3. Drawings and Tutorials by Brian Ewing

“February” by Jason D’Aquino

“Wrong” by Jason D’Aquino

I gotta say that I love Jason D’Aquino’s drawings – it’s like the 50′s on a bad acid trip: vintage psycho.  Jason definitely has a vision of his own that remarkably show through in all of his drawings.  The materials he chooses to draw on add a subliminal quality to the final work, and his subjects seem a study of the subconscious.

In a weird way some his drawings remind me of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” video.  Do yourself a favor and check out more of Jason D’Aquino’s work.

More pics below after the jump.

“Dirty Dan the Hot Dog Man” by Jason D’Aquino

“The Server” by Jason D’Aquino

“Lust” by Jason D’Aquino

“Abduction” by Jason D’Aquino

“Death” by Jason D’Aquino

“The Wrong Way” by Jason D’Aquino

“Suffragette” by Jason D’Aquino

“October” by Jason D’Aquino

“Cthulu Can You Come Out and Play” by Jason D’Aquino

Related posts:

1. “Mom” by Jason Chan
2. Untitled No. 33 and Others by Richard Colman
3. Godmachine

All around designer and illustrator Kirsti Anne Wakelin has some superb drawings among various other interesting posts on her blog.  She is also a contributing author on the Children’s Writers and Illustrators of BC (which stands for British Columbia I assume) blog.

Related posts:

1. How to Draw a Skull: 50 How-to’s, Tutorials, Studies, Photo References, Videos, and Inspirational Skull Illustrations
2. “Fat Pigeons” by Ryan de Haaff

Untitled (Figure with Worm Eyes) by Ken

These drawings by an artist simply identified as Ken are haunting in their simplicity and surrealism. Borderline macabre, they leave me wondering as to their meaning.

Related posts:

1. Untitled (2 Eyes 1 Body) by Saara Maria Piispa
2. Untitled (Figures on Pedestal) by Tomas Schats
3. Untitled (Young Girl) by Lotte Klaver

Untitled (Nazi Daemon) by Hethe Srodawa

Man Hethe Srodawa is incredibly talented and imaginative. If you’re ever in the need for some character inspiration check out his portfolio or stop by his blog.

Related posts:

1. "The Feeb" by Mike May
2. Untitled (Hallucination) by Wesley Burt
3. “Mom” by Jason Chan

"Prosthetic Pirate" by Heiko Windisch

Very imaginative, unique, and surreal drawings.

By Heiko Windisch

Related posts:

1. Untitled (Nazi Daemon) by Hethe Srodawa

"It's Me, Meu!" by Mel Kadel

This drawing is one of many wonderfully dark and macabre drawings by Mel Kadel.

Related posts:

1. Untitled (Figure with Worm Eyes) by Ken