Skittledoo's official first painted skull thread complete with pics

[skittledoo]

Sooo.... I'm working on painting my first skull. I posted a while back ago that I had gotten a cow skull and that I was going to start painting it. Well... I finally got some new paints so I'm just NOW getting started on it and I figured I'd start a thread where I post pictures of it from beginning to finish as I progress with it.

So... here's the first picture of it from when I first got it

And here is the skull after I did a couple primer coats on it yesterday

I'm starting the color right now... stay tuned... should have a small bit done tonight.

If anyone is curious... I'm painting it with acrylics

 

[skittledoo]

Ok... I spent the last few hours starting on the color... The symbol is a Zia which is from the New Mexican state flag.

My challenges that I'm finding: painting straight lines on bone that has grooves and is not a perfectly flat surface is NOT easy... so that's why some of the lines on the Zia aren't perfectly straight. Going to go back in and fix them up as best as I can tomorrow

 

[~Tucker&Me~]

How cool! Hope you plan on keeping us updated as you paint more?

 

[smkie]

OH MY I have always wanted to do one. You must keep us updated of all the stages. Excited for you!!!!!!! So far so good!

(i would fill in that fatal hole with a bit of wood putty)

 

[MyHorseMyRules]

That is so cool! Wish I'd saved some from our longhorns! I'd love to see what you could do with that.

 

[smkie]

I wish you had too MhMr!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AllieMackie]

That looks great so far! I'm jealous, I'd love to paint a large skull!

 

[Dekka]

Hey.. nice job that looks great. And you know don't sweat the perfectly straight lines... I kinda like the slightly more 'hand done, organic' look of the slight imperfections.

 

[skittledoo]

OH MY I have always wanted to do one. You must keep us updated of all the stages. Excited for you!!!!!!! So far so good!

(i would fill in that fatal hole with a bit of wood putty)

Smkie... I seriously thought about filling in the fatal hole with wood putty, but my fiance said to keep it the way it is because he thinks it adds a little bit of character to the whole piece

 

[skittledoo]

Ok. I've added more. I started working on the sunrise a little bit and got a couple layers done on what eventually will be a tiny bit of mountain range. Below the mountain range is eventually going to be desert, but I have a LONG ways to go still. I also added another coat of red to the Zia.

 

[JennSLK]

Looking great!

 

[Brattina88]

Wow, very cool. Love the work in progress pics!! Those lines look straight to me

 

[skittledoo]

Thank you!

Here's more from today

1.) Darkened in the mountains a bit with a few more layers... still totally not done with the mountains... mountains are harder than I thought... and I also added more the the sky. My aunt saw this and asked me if that was shiprock mountain... funny enough... the mountain photo I've been using as a reference is actually shiprock mountain which is out here in NM.

2.) Started adding in the color for the desert... this part is probably going to end up taking the longest... especially when I start adding in shrubs etc... I'm trying to keep a lot of this painting a yellow/orangey tone for the most part because those are the colors I think of when I think of a new mexico sunrise... the desert turns a beautiful orangey brownish color

Another shot that's a tiny bit zoomed out from the last

 

[JennSLK]

Stunning. Cant wait till its done.

 

[Baxter'smybaby]

very cool!

 

[smkie]

looking good! Great composition.

 

[~Jessie~]

It looks GREAT so far! I can't wait to see how it looks when it's finished

 

[skittledoo]

Another update... I'm actually working through this faster than I thought... I figured it would take me forever to do anything with this painting, but I'm having so much fun that I can't stop working on it.

I did a tiny bit more work to the mountain, extended more of the first layer of the desert and started working on adding a little bit of shrubs

 

[~Jessie~]

Wow, it's looking REALLY good!

 

[PWCorgi]

That look *so* awesome!