Week 7 - Human Head Construction. Part 1 - The Human Skull

For the skull task I mostly had problems in terms of the construction of the orbits, the most prominent mistake being placing them too close to each other. But once fixed, the rest of the construction was easier to accomplish, since I could compare the distances to the placement of the orbits by using verticals and horizontals to figure out the distance between the features. 

Unfortunately, I lost some of the progress photos for this task, so I will do my best to describe the process as well as possible.

This was the photo taken in class, for further reference:

I turned it to grey values to better see the tones and contrast when I'd have to shade the skull. Note: the photo is taken from a slightly different angle then the one I was viewing it in from my place. It is a bit from farther up.

I then sketched the big forms: the round shape of the back of the skull and a boxy, kind of rectangular shape for the jaw. I then drew in the orbits and the shape of the nasal bone and cavity. Even though I initially missed the placement of the orbits, I somehow managed to get the nose right. The mouth I had placed a bit lower then it was, but that was easily fixed since I hadn't yet added any detailed shapes. 

I didn't add much detail using lines and went on to add them through shading, as to make them look as natural and realistic as possible. 

I first placed some wide, simple shading, starting from the orbits, one of the darkest bit of the skull. I did my best to keep the lightest bits completely white, to preserve the contrast. I also tried to keep the edges of the orbits and nose as natural as possible, though the ones of the nose bone became way harsher than intended. I fixed that later through more delicate and subtle shading. 

 

Though I sadly don't have the photo of the skull before feedback, I can tell you it was no way near detailed enough, so it looked a bit stylized, almost cartoonish. I fixed this by adding two more layers of detail. I also darkened the back of the skull more, as it was too light. I tried to replicate the imperfections of the skull and the variety of shapes in the bones.

This is the finalised work: