It sounds so exciting to draw a camel 🐫 skull don’t you think?

I did, I was super excited.  And then I tried to, and – really and truly – it was an unmitigated disaster.  I’d like to show you how bad it was, but I was so mortified that I stepped back and looked at my drawing critically, and chucked it straight in the bin.

Anyway, skulls and bones were the subject of our studio classes this week, and with brown paper to draw on I attempted this rams head first, using white pencil with a bit of watercolour over the top.

I think I did quite a good job with the 3D-ness.  

Then the camel … let’s not talk about it.

So … next I went for something simpler, some real human ribs.  Unfortunately in my picture they look a bit like the scraps leftover from a BBQ, with some splashes of BBQ sauce (from where I accidentally flicked the brown ink around) … which actually when I think about it – which I do when I look at the picture – all makes me feel a bit queasy.

Moving on to more real human parts – a spine.  I didn’t draw in the occy strap that was connecting the pieces together (it was red, and a whimsical/practical addition). I started by drawing with brown ink, and it all looked a little bit shit until I added in the watercolour.  Then I was happy.

And finally, my sheep skull.  

I was admiring all the people doing fabulous grey lead shading to make the skulls look amazing.  So I had a crack, but halfway through I realised that detailed shading and I were never going to be besties!  I found it soooo boring.

Still, I didn’t want to be defeated twice (hello again 🐫) so I had another go, painting in brown ink on brown paper, and then using watercolour … to transform my skull into an abstract landscape.  

And it turned out ace … if I do say so myself! See how I turned the teeth in to a fence?  Good idea huh?!

Another great drawing/painting 24 hours.