Half Face Half Skull

Charcoal and Pastel Portrait

A half skull half self portrait drawing. The skull half is in bright colors and the face half is in black and white charcoal. The idea behind this was an attempt to break free from the idea that death is typically represented with dark muted colors and life is represented in vivid color.

process

Each half of the face had a source image, the half that is face is my own. The charcoal side was made using the technique of laying down a mid tone grey, erasing the lights, darkening the darks and then adding values in between. The skull half was started with soft chalk pastels to build up color, and then detailed with colored pencils.