Under the Skin 4: Lucy’s Skull & a Tiny Corset

Generally I like to find things for myself but have not been lucky enough to find a deer skull. Then my good friend Lucy found one and kindly gave it to me. It is fabulous. I have been wanting to draw it for months so I am very glad now to have the opportunity. 

 

Sketchbook studies A4

Watercolour start with model

Lucy’s Skull

Watercolour study on Not paper 8 x12 inches

 

Gouache study. 8 x 10 inches.

The Tiny Corset

One last study of a small broken skull turned upside down. I just caught sight of it on the floor as it was lit by the low angled sun, with its beautiful long cast shadow. It took a while to draw as it’s very detailed. As you draw things you tend to see connections, repeated organic shapes and similarities to other forms. It hard not to if you spend 2 hours staring at something. The more I drew it, the more it looked like a great design for a corset. A tiny fairy one.

 

Upside down skull. pencil 4 x 2 inches

I have so enjoyed the bone drawings this week and I intend to make some more finished studies of the skull.  Thank you Lucy!

Under the Skin 2: The Long Bone

I found this long bone near the reservoir about a month ago. I think it’s a leg bone from a muntjac deer. We have quite a few of these curious little creatures round here.When we first arrived we saw a decomposing body up on one of the tracks. I didn’t then have the presence of mind to drag it back home. I might now :) Stubbs would have.

 
Pencil A4 sketchbook

I had not really looked at it before today and initially  liked the sweeping line of the outline but then I saw the glimpse of the beautifully detailed interior.

 

Pencil drawing is 15 inches long,

This is the bit I was most interested in…

Detail of the above drawing..

More than interested really. I hadn’t really intended sketching anything but the bone shape but the labyrinthine structure is too good to leave at a small study. It is the most fascinating world of overlapping fine bones..layer on layer. I made a more detailed study.

 

The scanner is a blunt tool for pencil work and strips out many of the subtle tones and I think there is more depth to the original. I could have continued for many more hours, refining and finding more and deeper layers but I drew what I could see with the help of a small magnifying glass and ran out of time.

Labyrinth…pencil 8 x 6 inches

I was not sure what this bone was, so had a quick search and found the very excellent Jakes Bones. I am learning so much from his site!

Under the Skin 1: An Incomplete Dodo

Bones lovely bones. This week I am looking at some bones, the underpinnings of the bodies of many Beautiful Beasts, and fabulous structures in their own right. This incomplete Dodo is from the Hunterian Museum. See more about the Dodo my blog post on Pencil and Leaf.

I liked its assembled nature.

 

Raphus cucullatus
skeleton

Object Type
Mounted dry bone

An imperfect mounted skeleton of a dodo (Raphus cucullatus). The bones are from several individuals.

This mounted skeleton of a dodo is a composite from several individuals. The bones were from a large collection excavated at La Mare aux Songes in Mauritius in 1865. The first hundred or so of these bones were shipped to Richard Owen and from these he published his monograph on the osteology of the dodo in 1869. Further collections of bones were sent to England and were sold by auction. The College Conservator, William Henry Flower, purchased a series of bones for £10 from which he was able to construct this partial articulated skeleton for display.

 

Dodo sketches pencil A5 sketchbook