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You are here: Home / Tutorials / A complete guide to drawing evil vector skulls in Illustrator

A complete guide to drawing evil vector skulls in Illustrator

OCT 25, 2011 BY DOINK 30 COMMENTS

Skull drawing is a quite simple task at a glance, but once you start sketching, it probably looks

different from your reference (you are using a reference, right?). Then it starts to go out of proportions, looks deformed and has no expression whatsoever. But this is OK, it is a part of the learning process please do not let this get to you! I, myself have gone through this and every other artist has, as well. This tutorial will show you how to draw evil skulls easily, as well as learn a bit of anatomy along the way. So lets draw some really evil and nasty skulls the right way!

References
First, we need to learn the anatomy of the skull and for that, we need a few references, which I am sure you can find on Google images - link

Sketching
We start with simple geometrical shapes, just to block in the contour. Use only short, straight lines, do not draw curves yet. A sketch is supposed to be rough, you can adjust it easily to correct any mistakes. In short terms, keep your roughs rough and your cleans clean. Unlike regular human skulls, you can add expressions and alter its overall shape to become more aggressive.

Now that we have a pretty good idea of how to draw one, lets draw one in a perspective view.

Simple shading
Now that we have knowledge of the outline, lets make it pop out from the paper! In the sketch below, Ive marked the 3D shape with a grid. Grab your pencil and paper and mark it on your sketch as well.

Im asking you to do this because you have a good photographic memory (youre an artist, right?) and drawing it yourself will turn the image you see on the screen into an elaborate process customized only for you. It becomes a dialogue between you and the paper and makes it easier to understand and memorize.

Outline
Now that we have a complete understanding of the shape, we can start adding polished details. Lets start with the outline and the strong lines that define it. For that, we will use two pressure-sensitive brushes.

For the contour, well use the thicker brush and for the inner details, a thinner brush. A strong outline makes it stand out and it does not confuse the viewer, so outlining like this is a must.

Heres a little trick to use for the outline: in the areas where you have a shadow, make the outline a bit stronger than the rest. Not only you can dispose of the shadow, but it will add more volume to the

overall design.

Details
Grab the second brush we created and lets start drawing, shall we? This is a very tricky part, we only want the outline to suggest the shape and not draw the entire contour. Keep in mind that the brain can make you see a defined shape even if there are just a few lines. In the image below, Ive drawn a skull and you can tell its a skull at first glance, even if it doesnt have a high level of detail.

So lets apply this principle to our drawing.

Shading
This part is similar to the simple shading, but this time you have to pay attention to the line spacing and length. Start drawing the basic shadows, then just fill the white gaps with random, short strokes. Thats about it. One important aspect: Keep in mind the position of the light source. If you draw this for a garment print, the light source is not important and you must sacrifice everything to the visual impact. A t-shirt will look cool if you manipulate the line spacing and thickness, not shading and lighting.

Extra details
The bone structure is not very smooth, especially if you draw something old and decayed. This enables you to add shaky lines, just to add a wee bit of texture, holes, cracks or tiny dents. Its these details that make a huge difference, I recommend you do this for everything you draw from this point on. It is a personal touch and shows how much effort youve put into it.

Saving
Select the entire artwork and expand the strokes (Object > Expand Appearance), then hit the Merge button in the Pathfinder window. Hit it one more time if you still have Stroke. This is a technical aspect you must do for a couple of reasons: when someone else wants to scale it, the strokes will not scale along unless you specifically set them and the source file will have a smaller size.

Done!

Download source
Drawing skulls guide (12.3 MiB, 572 hits)

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About Doink I write articles, Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials and draw pretty stuff for Designious, Pixel77 and Vectorious. I also drink and spill industrial amounts of coffee.

COMMENTS

Hector says Oct 31, 2011 at 18:46 Awesome tutorial! Thanks Doink. I think Ill give it a shot and produce a version with no hatch work and maybe more bold positive/negative contrast that could be used on a pumpkin carving for tonight! Reply

kuzz808 says Nov 2, 2011 at 23:39 i love this pic it is the best one i seen Reply

Richard says Nov 4, 2011 at 04:27 design is so LOUD and aggressive ..pretty awesome! :) Reply

melanie says Nov 23, 2011 at 14:51 I wish I could draw in illustrator! :( youre so good, Im jealous. :D Reply

Rabecka Watkins says Mar 17, 2012 at 04:41 I know who will like this one. Reply

Marcelo Jaboo says Jul 15, 2012 at 19:38 Menino..muito bom. Obrgado Reply

Maddoq Town says Sep 8, 2012 at 03:22 It's awesome. Reply

Maddoq Town says Sep 8, 2012 at 03:22 It's awesome. Reply

Jssica says Nov 7, 2012 at 17:43 Hey man! What is this version of Illustrator? CS3 or CS4?

Reply

Doink says Nov 23, 2012 at 13:09 I used CS3. But it doesnt make a huge difference, the techniques used can be used in an even earlier version. Reply

custom table lamp says Jul 14, 2013 at 05:37 Hi to every one, its genuinely a nice for me to pay a visit this site, it includes valuable Information. Reply

Quintin Gerber says Aug 13, 2013 at 20:43 Hi there, I love the awesome tutorial! I would very much like to create such art, but my drawing skills are lacking that department. Is it possible to learn how to draw like that?? Thanks!!! Q Reply

Doink says Aug 21, 2013 at 15:22 there are a few youtube channels that explain quite well how to draw stuff. ProkoTV is one of them, check it out. Reply

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Sacima Blog Archive 40+ Fresh And Useful Adobe Illustrator Tutorials says: Jan 6, 2012 at 19:07 [...] A Complete Guide to Drawing Evil Vector Skulls in IllustratorThis tutorial will teach you how to pencil in evil looking skulls with ease, as well as learn a little anatomy along the way. [...] Reply

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