Freehand Skulls - quick and dirty guide

[Chaplain Admetus]

Thought I'd post this up as I was in the process of doing a freehand skull, and decided to document the process as I've seen people ask before. Disclaimer - this is just meant as a rough guide - if you're a decent painter, results are likely to be better than those shown!

Paints used: Citadel Skull White, Abaddon Black, and Rakarth Flesh (you just need some kind of a base to paint the white over easier later - I've also used this technique with various shades of grey)

Step 1 - using Rakarth Flesh, paint what's best described as a 'mushroom' shape - a horizontal oval with a rectangular shape sticking out of the bottom. This will form the base shape of the skull.

Step 2 - again using Rakarth Flesh, paint a thin curving line that runs horizontally out from the 'stem' of your mushroom, and curls up to meet the rounded edge of the oval. This gives the basic shape of the eye sockets.

Step 3 - the final stage using Rakarth Flesh, extend the 'stem' of the mushroom, which forms the jaw of the skull, across to either side, and also down if necessary - this is the stage of the technique that'll vary most dependent on your individual steps 1 and 2. The idea is just to get the shape so that it looks right and in proportion to the top half of your skull.

Step 4 - using Skull White, paint over the Rakarth Flesh basecoat. It doesn't matter too much if you go over the lines, as long as you can tell where the black should be.

Step 5 - Details. Use Abaddon black to first of all neaten up the edges of the skull if you were messy (like I was), and to shape the eye sockets to your liking. Secondly, paint a small triangle with the top point midway between the two eye sockets - this forms the 'nose'. Finally, and the hardest part depending on the size of the skull, paint 3 vertical black lines to give the impression of teeth. The first one should be dead centre of your jaw. The second and third should each be midway between that initial line and either outside edge (I got the left one a bit skewed, its more obvious in the photo than on the model).

And there you have it! A quick and easy guide to straightforward, simplistic freehand skulls.

[my_face]

i like it! im gonna do mine with angry eyebrows hehe