Tag: skull

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Skulls (2D and 3D)

A post I made on Facebook while at Ink Curds:

Me explaining my process: “So I 3D printed a skull, then I photographed it, then I made a drawing from the photograph, then I 3D printed plates from the drawing, then I made a relief print using the plates… oh, and I made the paper with a 3D printed mould & deckle, and used 3D printed registration pins for the two-color print… I guess I’m a printmaker.”

Right, so the print you see above is a two-color relief print of a skull. Down below you can see the two printing plates. (Remember than I 3D print my plates.)

I’m not the best at just drawing something, and I almost always use reference images, and occasionally do tracings of photos. This comes into play with this particular print.

Back in 2019 I 3D printed this skull, which I got around to posting about in 2020. It took a while because I sanded it, coated it, painted it, and then (attempted) to weather it. Hey, sometimes projects take a while!

Then around February 2024 I ended up turning the photo into a two-color illustration that I could use to make the two printing plates.

So we started as a 3D file that was printed to become a real-world object, then photographed it and made it into a file. I then used that file to create two printing plates and printed it.

But wait, there’s more!

I also ended up using that photo for a digital illustration…

Ah yes, here’s a post about my Skull Sketch from May 2024.

The thing I really like about this process is that I used my own materials throughout the process (with the exception of the original STL file of the skull) and I didn’t need to look for images that I did not create. I will freely admit right here that I probably get a little too close with some of the reference images I’ve used in the past, and I’d like to get fully away from that so my own photos and illustrations as subject matter for prints is a goal moving forward.

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Skull Sketch

Skull

Here’s a skull, and yeah, I’m a huge fan of skulls… I mean, we’ve all got one. (Sorry for those of you who have been beheaded, as you may not have a skull anymore… but then, you’re probably not reading this.

Skull

Here’s a fun fact about this skull, I drew it based on a photo I took, and I took the photo of the skull that I 3D printed. So I got a digital file of a skull, then 3D printed it in two parts, glued it together, coated it, painted it, “weathered” it, and photographed it. And then years later used the photo for this sketch! Sometimes I really do take the long way around.

Skull

But when you’ve been making art (in various forms) for years, or even decades, you might find that things come back around. Themes, ideas, objects, methods, and all of that. It’s all about looking at something with a new perspective. I didn’t imagine five years ago when I printed the skull I’d even use it for a digital sketch.

Skull

And I hate to break it to you, that’s not all… You may see this skull pop up in another form, slightly different. Different medium, slightly different style, but somehow related. Maybe that’s what art is… a long string that connects disparate (or similar) things over time.

Skull

Hey! You probably already know that I do these sketches with an Apple Pencil on an iPad using Procreate. If you need a sketch or illustration or a print or something, let me know! Also, check out the Illustration page to see them all!

Note: This post contains an Affiliate Link. Read More.

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3D Printed Skull

I printed this skull back in 2019. The original file is this skull from Thingiverse. Now, it’s October 2020, so yeah, this took a while. I mean, I had it all printed long ago, and then I did an experiment where I covered one half of it with wood glue, and the other half with Smooth-On XTC-3D High Performance 3D Print Coating. I did this because I hate sanding prints (or wood, for that matter) and I wanted to test both methods of coating. For this application, I don’t know that it made much of a difference, but that might be due to the organic shape, and the fact that I primed and painted it afterwards…

Somewhere I’ve got photos of the coating process, but since they are nearly a year old now, I forgot to locate them. I do remember that the glue method took many more coats than the Smooth-On method, though of course glue is a much cheaper material…

You’ll notice the skull also looks a bit “weathered” and yeah, that was another test. I am not an “authentic movie prop maker” so I don’t know all those methods, and what I did was actually rub mud/moist dirt all over this thing and then let is sit for a long time. I eventually washed off a lot of the dirt because, well it was really dirty looking.

There are a few delicate parts of the print, and I’m pretty sure I broke off at least one piece and glued it back together. Again, since this is a pretty organic shape, no worries. And yes, it is pretty much life size.

I printed it in two pieces after slicing it in half, which means the surfaces touching the print bed are not visible as they are in the center of the skull, glue together. There’s a pretty bad seam that I never managed to get that sanded down quite right. I probably should have just taken a Dremel to it.

Overall I’m fairly pleased with how the skull turned out for a 3D printed object. It’s rare that I print “decorative” or “sculptural” prints since most of my prints are internal to some sort of enclosure with electronics inside.

Remember, the great thing about skulls is that we’ve all got one! (At least I hope.)

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Misfits: wants vs. needs

Misfits: Wants vs. Needs

Sometimes, when a band acts childish or selfish, you try to reason with them, and show them what is really important in life… you can often do this by asking them to make a list with two columns, one listing the things they want, and another listing the things they need.

In most cases, this wants vs. needs list puts things into perspective. (In most cases…)

(And yes, I was totally inspired by the horror business chart.)

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Skull & Crossbones (and dots!)

Skull & Crossbones (and dots!)

Oh yeah… the license…

Normally I say something like “consider it cc:by” because an Attribution license works just fine by me… but this time, I used a piece of art that was released into the Public Domain (see skull and crossbones large and the legal page for that site.)

OK, so if one piece of this total artwork is in the Public Domain, how do I license the whole piece? Can I use an Attribution license? Should I, or do I need to release it into the Public Domain? Do I use CC0? Now I need to read the CC0 FAQ…

For all the work Creative Commons has done to make licensing easier, I still think there’s a long way to go…

(Also, if you have a pile of money lying around, consider donating it to them.)