Guest Post: Funny Bones

 I would like to introduce my amazing sister, Kelsey Broersma. I will be enriching my blog with her insightful posts from time to time. You can see her full blog at kbroersma.blogspot.com. Enjoy her post on skulls: 


I love science, especially biology. As a kid, owning pets, watching Animal Planet, reading National Geographic, and discovering the ecosystem in my backyard fed my desire to learn more about the animal kingdom. As an adult, I still do all of those things and the natural world never ceases to amaze me. Drawing is learning. When I take the time to study a found object, I am amazed by its structure and complexity.

I received a partial skull and eagerly awaited to make a few skull studies. I believe it is a raccoon skull, but it could pass for an opossum too. The skull's small size made it ideal for life drawing--I kept the studies "sight-sized", a technique where you draw the object the exact size you perceive it whether it is next to your paper or several feet in front of you.

I took my skull theme to the internet, where I pulled dozens of animal skull images. I wanted to represent as many animals I could, so I ended up drawing twenty skulls including reptiles, mammals, amphibians, fish and birds. How many skulls can you identify?

Profile images display the most striking characteristics, so I let that rule guide my reference selection. Make sure you click on the image to enlarge it! I shaded the darkest areas to simplify the overall form.

If you want to see more scientific illustration, I recommend Cal State Monterey Bay's student gallery.
Have fun discovering!