About the Human Skull Drawing
Skulls have fascinated me for as long as I can remember. They are immediately recognizable, yet the closer they are examined, the more intricate they become. Their surfaces preserve the architecture of the face, the attachment points of muscles, the paths of nerves and blood vessels, and the protected spaces that once housed the brain and sensory organs.
That fascination deepened when I taught human anatomy. Of all the parts of the skeleton, the skull was among the most interesting to examine and teach because so many bones, openings, sutures, and specialized structures are concentrated within such a relatively small space. What first appears to be a single solid object is actually a complex assembly of bones fitted together with remarkable precision.
Human skulls also carry powerful symbolic meaning. Across cultures and centuries, they have represented mortality, danger, remembrance, knowledge, and the equality of all people in death. Stripped of expression, hair, and other individual features, the skull remains unmistakably human while revealing the shared anatomical framework beneath every face.
My interest in skulls has never been limited to humans. I have collected animal skulls whenever I have found them legally and ethically in the field. Each reveals something about the animal that carried it – what it ate, how it sensed its surroundings, where muscles attached, and how its head was adapted to its way of life. I hope eventually to draw some of those specimens as well.
I used several reference photographs while creating What Remains. One of them showed an irregularity in the nasal opening that did not match the more symmetrical structure visible in the others. I could have corrected it while combining the references, but I deliberately chose to preserve it. The irregularity became a small representation of something shared by all of us: real bodies are variable, none of us is perfectly formed, and our imperfections remain part of who we are.
In What Remains, I portrayed a human skull emerging from a dark background. The frontal view emphasizes the empty orbits, asymmetrical nasal opening, teeth, sutures, broken edges, and weathered surface of the bone. Light falls unevenly across the skull, leaving one side partly absorbed by shadow and giving the image a quiet, contemplative presence.
The title refers literally to the skeletal structure left after the soft tissues of the body are gone, but it also invites a broader question about what remains of a person after death – in memory, influence, knowledge, and the lives of others. The retained imperfection adds another dimension: even the framework beneath the face bears evidence of variation and individuality.
What Remains is a graphite drawing of a human skull by Michael E. Dorcas for Tantilla Art.