Kate McCann carefully cuts apart and rearranges pages from old medical books or fashion magazines that are antique and forgotten, and from the many tiny pieces of paper she creates beastly and fragile hybrids made of bones, insects, plants, human anatomy, and more.
Here is a very rough lecture example from my "Comparative Anatomy" class (on the torso and neck). My animal references and imagery are pulled from the Joe Weatherly, Eliot Goldfinger, and Ellenberger books.
Since we’re spending a few days on neck posture, I thought I’d expand on what Mike said about bunnies in the first post: in most cases, it is awfully hard to tell the angle of the cervi…
The skull has been a very powerful symbol in human cultures, whether to commemorate ancestors or as a warning of our mortality. In the more practical world of artistic anatomy, the skull is the hard bone structure that gives form to the head. Skulls, and the muscles and features built upon them, vary greatly, across ethnicities, the sexes and individuals, but the basic structures are the same for everybody. Realist artists need to study the skull’s parts and how the muscles fit over them, and understand how these underlying structures define people’s heads and faces as we see them. Anyone who has seen forensic reconstructions of faces of long dead people or even Neanderthals, based upon skulls alone, will have an idea of the importance of variations in the bony architecture in defining the individual features. Some people have wide heads, some have narrow heads; some people have prominent cheekbones; some have large protruding chins whereas others have hardly any chin at all. These facial characteristics are rooted in the individual’s skull. Here we shall look just at the skull, and follow up with a look at the head muscles. We will explore in due course how to draw convincing heads of men, women and children of various ages and types – but first things first. If someone has, for example, a steep forehead, or high cheekbones, or a receding chin, you need to grasp that it is their skull that defines those features. I will try to cover the most important aspects here, but if you want to study the skull and muscles in detail, you should get hold of a good book of artistic anatomy. There are plenty to choose from and they cover similar ground. (My personal recommendation is Classic Human Anatomy by Valerie L. Winslow.) The skull has two main parts: 1) the cranium and 2) the mandible, or separable jaw bone. The mandible is the only bone in the skull that moves, for example when you’re chewing or talking. The skull is composed of 22 bones, not including the teeth. Almost all of them are fused together with sutures: rigid, fibrous joints found only in the cranium, which look a bit like stitches. Here are two digital paintings of mine, a front view and a side view. (The squiggly lines that look like cracks are the sutures where different bones join up.) You should draw or paint these views of the skull too. If possible your subject should be a real skull, not another artist’s interpretation of one. For what it’s worth you can see these two views without the annotations in my DeviantArt gallery here. Major bones of the skull The cranium The cranium, which houses the brain, is made of eight fused bones. The forehead and the tops of the eye sockets are formed by the frontal bone; this has prominences above the eye sockets called frontal eminences which give the forehead its form. At the back of the frontal bone on either side is a ridge known as the superior temporal line or temple line (marked red on the painting), which marks an important change from the front plane to the side plane of the skull. It sometimes creates a noticeable ‘corner’ on the forehead. Top view of the cranium The upper side walls and rear roof of the skull are formed by the parietal bones, which meet in the middle on top of the skull. The temporal line arches back across the parietals, marking a distinction between the side and roof of the skull. Viewed from the top, the skull is broader at the back, with prominences on either side known as parietal eminences. The lower side walls of the cranium, in the region of the ears, are formed by the temporal bones. There is a large, shallow depression in the side wall, called the temporal fossa, where the temporalis jaw muscle attaches. Projecting from either temporal bone is a ridge called the zygomatic process of the temporal bone, which links with the facial zygomatic bone to form a kind of bridge called the zygomatic arch; there is a gap between this arch and the side of the skull. The head of the jawbone fits into a hollow beneath this arch. Behind that is the auditory meatus or ear hole, leading into the ear canal of the fleshy ear. Bulging behind this hole is the large mastoid process, a point of attachment for several neck muscles. The sphenoid bone helps to form the floor of the cranium. Part of it appears in the side walls between the temporal and frontal bones, at the temple (the area behind the eye and above the cheekbone). The occipital bone is the lower back wall of the cranium and forms a bulge at the back of the head. Its bottom rests on the spinal column at two knob-like protuberances called occipital condyles that permit rocking movements, e.g. when we nod. There is a ridge on the underside called the occipital protuberance which is an important landmark between the back of the head and the neck, and an attachment point for neck muscles. The face The facial region of the skull is made of 14 bones, including the lower jaw, and serve as the foundation for the facial muscles and sense organs. Along the upper rims of the orbits (eye sockets) are the superciliary crests which form the brow ridge. Stephen Rogers Peck (Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Artist) describes this as like “a stretched-out letter M above the eyes”. Above the nose the ridges are separated by a wedgelike area called the glabella, below which there is an indentation where the frontal bone meets the top of the two nasal bones, known as the root of the nose. The nasal bones project from under this wedge, creating a bridge for the fleshy nose. The zygomatic bones (cheekbones) fasten to the upper jaw and create a prominence in the cheek. From the top, a spur rises to the zygomatic process of the frontal bone, forming the outer rim of the orbit. Another spur turns toward the nose, helping form the lower rim of the orbit. The rear of the zygomatic bone joins up with the ridge of the temporal bone to help form the zygomatic arch. The maxilla bones form the upper jaw and provide the upper dental arch for the upper teeth. They join at the front, at the base of the nasal cavity, to form the protruding nasal spine. The mandible The mandible (lower jawbone), shaped like a horseshoe, is the only bone in the skull that moves: it can drop down to open the mouth and close up again, but it can also move forward and back and from side to side. It provides the dental arch for the lower teeth. There is a projection at the chin called the mental protuberance (Latin mentum, chin). Small lumps on either side known as mental tubercles give squareness to the chin. On either side of the jaw, a broad blade called the ramus juts upwards, dividing into two. The front spur is the coronoid process, which attaches to the temporalis muscle for chewing. The back spur is the condyloid process, which articulates with the temporal bone via a hinge joint. The rear ‘corner’ of the jaw is the angle of the mandible. This is noticeable on people with angular jaws and is very important in defining the jaw line. My digital drawing above illustrates the relationship between the skull and the surface features of the head and face. On the image I have included the horseshoe-shaped hyoid bone, a bone in the neck between the chin and the thyroid cartilage. When at rest this small bone sits level with the bottom of the mandible. The hyoid, which helps us move our tongue and swallow, is unique as it is connected to other bones only by muscles and ligaments. The teeth People often expose their teeth, for example when laughing or snarling, so artists need to be familiar with their locations and forms. The teeth nestle in the upper dental arch (the maxilla) and the lower dental arch (the mandible), which are shaped like horseshoes. There are various kinds of teeth, which vary according to what they are for. People usually have thirty-two teeth, though they may have lost some, and the teeth vary a lot in their forms and spacing, as well as how they affect the surface forms of the face – if someone has lost all their teeth, e.g. through age, their jaw may collapse a bit inwards. The chisel-shaped front teeth are the incisors and used for biting. There are four on either arch: the two upper middle ones are the largest, and the others are similar sized. Next in row are the canines (or cuspids), one on either side, which are fang-like and used to tear food. After those are two wedge-like premolars (or bicuspids), followed by three boxy molars used to crush and grind. Variations in the skull Art books, simplifying for the sake of teaching, often present us with an ‘average skull’ – usually of an adult white male. Heck, I did it myself above. Of course, every individual skull is unique. But there are particular tendencies based upon age, sex and ethnicity. Age The form of the skull varies a lot according to the person’s age. As infants, our faces are more compact, then expand as we grow up. We are at our best in our twenties. As an adult ages, his or her facial bones wither and become more compact again. The jawbone gets thinner and recedes. Sex Unsurprisingly there are differences between male and female skulls. Male skulls tend to be larger, heavier and thicker – more ‘robust’ – than female ones, with a squarer jaw and chin. The male superciliary arch is more prominent and the mastoid process is larger. The female frontal bone is more vertical than the male’s; her bones in general are smoother and more rounded. Ethnicity People of different ethnicities vary in their skin colour, features and build, so naturally this is reflected in their skulls. Here are a few points: Sub-Saharan African: Tend to have more facial projection at the mouth, and wider noses. The orbits are rectangular; the nasal cavity is short and wide; the maxillae project a bit more forwards (prognathous); the teeth are large; the mastoid process is wide. East Asian: The orbits are circular; the cheekbones are projecting. European: Tend to have flat profiles and narrow faces. The orbits are sloping; the nasal cavity is long and narrow; the maxillae are less projecting; the mastoid process is narrow and pointed. Native American: Tend to have wide faces. The orbits are rounded; the cheekbones are large and prominent; the nasal cavity is medium-sized; the teeth are large; the mastoid process has a small secondary projection. The characteristics outlined above are subtle: for this reason even forensic anthropologists talk only in terms of a skull being ‘consistent with’ a certain ancestry. It’s worth remembering that there is more variation between individual members of an ethnic group than there is between the groups. Despite their diversity, healthy skulls are also all basically the same. What to do The bones are the framework of the head, and even the facial features relate to the bones, not the flesh. Therefore it is important to observe and draw the skull from a variety of angles until you have memorised its forms. Norman Rockwell recalled: I had an art teacher years ago (George Bridgman) who made us draw hundreds of skulls in all positions. I felt he was overdoing it at the time, but now I realised what a wonderful lesson he taught us. Whenever I draw a head, I instinctively feel the skull structure beneath. (Cited by Gary Faigin in The Artist’s Complete Guide to Facial Expression) Book-learning (like this article) is all very well, but the only way to learn to draw skulls is to draw them. Ideally, get hold of a skull, and know what sort it is: what age, sex, etc. Fortunately a replica is fine! If you don’t have one available, you could try drawing from an online 3D scan such as this one (an adult male). Now draw it from a variety of angles. They don’t have to be beautifully realised paintings – quick sketches are fine. The point is to learn the skull. Observe carefully, respond honestly, and remember what you’ve learnt. If you spend three minutes on each sketch, you can fill a sheet with ten skulls in half an hour. That’s twenty in an hour. Forty in just a couple of hours. Imagine how much better prepped you will be for drawing the human head when you’ve sketched forty skulls at multiple angles! As an example here are some studies of my own (though not three-minute ones). Yours don’t have to look like mine. Chances are, yours will be better. A good exercise is to find images of skulls and trace them, either with tracing paper or, if you work digitally, as an opaque layer in your drawing software. Practice adding planes or faces to your tracings.
8x10" metallic print done with archival inks onto photo paper. The print has a light metallic coat to it to add depth. Colors are checked for accuracy and are hand signed by the artist. Please mention whether you would like the signature on the actual artwork, on the back, along with any other requests. All prints are shipped safely within a clear cello bag to protect them from smudging and any other damage they could sustain while traveling. Prints are shipped from NY and take about one week to arrive at their destination.
Today I’m delighted to be able to interview Mick Ellison. While some of the work here might be familiar, I suspect Mick as an artist is below many people’s radar. He himself might claim…
As a favor for a friend, I drew up my own version of a Jabberwock from the famous poem made up of gibberish words. I can't recall when I...
Last month I modeled a "quick-draw" sculpture depicting a domestic bull at the Buffalo Bill Art Show in Cody, Wyoming. For more information about the event and the creation of the work, go to blog #567, posted on September 21, 2014. The focus of this blog is my method of planning and executing a "quick-draw". PLANNING AND EXECUTING A "QUICK-DRAW" SCULPTURE Quick-draw paintings and sculptures are popular with collectors at art shows . . . prospective buyers love seeing artists under pressure to create a "work of art" in an hour. To prevent your creation from being a dubious achievement and to make the "quick-draw" experience interesting and rewarding for both you and the collector, your success ratio dramatically improves with sufficient planning. I've participated in many "quick-draws" over the years and my most successful efforts have been achieved by modeling subjects that I am very familiar with or of subjects I had recently worked with. While a live model can be beneficial, with only an hour to work . . . many times they are simply a distraction unless there's a handler and several artists are working from the same model. Also, the animal rarely strikes the gesture or pose you wish to present . . . especially birds. I've found that a live model works best for painters. A drawing or even a few lines such as shown below will keep you focused. Below is an image of the "quick-draw" in progress. When planning your creation, keep the design simple and present a strong silhouette of the figure. I try to squint down on my work, eliminate unimportant detail, and strive to make the species of the animal recognizable from a distance. This is especially important when the clay model is shown to the auction audience and a strong impression must be made from he stage and from a distance. Earlier this year I modeled another domestic bull and cast it for the Cody show. The anatomy and overall "feel" of the subject had already been researched and addressed so it was logical for me to create another design of the animal at the "quick-draw". Although smaller, I used a similar pose, gesture, and overall dynamic of the original design. Shown below, is the catalogue entry created earlier this year that was sold in this year's Cody show entitled, "Taurus Rex". Taurus Rex 19"H 16"W 8"D 6,300 After the "quick-draw," painters sign their work and the winning bidder takes their treasure home. Sculptors must return to the studio with their creation, make a mold and cast the clay model in bronze. Multiple castings are available to sell at the auction which typically makes it a cost-effective proposition for the sculptor. Below, are images of the "quick-draw" clay model ready to mold at the Canadian island studio last week. I have repaired damage and dings to the soft clay model that occurred during transport from Wyoming. To learn more about the subjects go to the links below. For a complete list of the blog index go to the Index Page and type the subject in the Search This Blog link on the upper right. Blog, text, photos, drawings, and sculpture . . . © Sandy Scott and Trish
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BEING AN ACCOUNT IN WORDS AND ARTWORK OF THE 2358 A.D. VOYAGE TO DARWIN IV “An abundance of lavish full-color illustrations and detailed black-and-white sketches dominate Barlowe’s fict…
blogger blogger blogger blogger Il est né à Uruapan, Michoacán, en 1962, et il a étudié à l'Ecole National des Arts Plastiques de l'Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México de 1980 à 1983. Il vit et travaille actuellement à Mexico. Pendant trois décennies...
The bones of creatures as varied as elephants, hummingbirds and humans are eloquent totems, raising questions about life and death.
Young readers shouldn't be limited by the boundaries of books written only for children. This set of 25 BabyLit books, published by Gibbs Smith, is designed to introduce literary classics and historical figures to kids. Each of the 25 board books offer a variety of topics in vocabulary fit for the little one. We bring together books from multiple series of Babylit books: Classic Lit, Little Naturalists, and Little Poets! Classic Lit is made of well-known stories like Pride & Prejudice and The Jungle Book made over into Primers. The Little Naturalists line focuses on famous authors, artists, and scientists who love nature. The Little Poets series includes the loved poets of the centuries from Shakespeare to Emily Dickinson. These famous characters and stories can now connect with early readers on a level they will understand and learn from, in colorful designs they're sure to love. This collection of books makes the perfect gift for baby showers, early birthdays, and new parents. These miniature cardboard books are sure to inspire a lifelong love of reading!
