Cartoon skulls are one of the most popular things to draw and I have received many different e-mails asking how to draw these characters. I thought for a second what the best way to teach you how to draw these would be and finally I decided that instead of going through things step by step like usual I would do a bunch of different drawings and then give you the notes for each sketch to show you the process and thinking behind them.
I hope you learn something important here, not just how to copy, but how to see and think.
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Mr. Stylish
For this drawing I wanted to focus on the large chin, big eyes and simple mouth. I started by first drawing the large eyes and then drew the outline of the skull making sure that the chin was especially huge.
The teeth are really simple and I think that they could look better if I had tried drawing a few different variations or by opening the mouth a little. I don't think they're working very well because they make the mouth area a little too cluttered which takes away from the simple design.
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The Thinker
The only thing that I really wanted to do with this drawing was to make sure that the character had an under bite. The final effect of this is that he looks a little bit old. I like the little eyeballs in the eye sockets and I think this adds a little bit of depth to the character because it gives possibilities to show more emotion through the eyes.
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Blockhead
I started this character by drawing a block for the top of the head, added two "bumps" for the cheekbones and then put another block on the bottom to make the jaw. I'm not really fond of this drawing but as far as the other cartoon skulls on this page go it is by far the simplest design. It might look good if he is wearing a tuxedo.
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Just Grimm
This skull started off with just a circle for the head. Initially I wanted it to be very simple with just a straight line for the mouth, ovals for eyes and an upside down heart for the nose. What I had was actually a little too simple, so I decided to add some more details like the teeth and the little bit of gore dangling from the mouth.
This guy is kind of like a scarier version of Tim Burton's popular character Jack Skellington.
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Not Quite Human
I was trying to draw something here that was like a cow's skull and a human's skull mixed together. The end result was something that was stretched and strange looking. I wouldn't say that it's a complete failure but I'm not very happy with this one. I think the back of the head could be rounded out a little bit more or possibly just broken off completely leaving a jagged edge which would be much more interesting.
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The Classic Skull
There's nothing too special about this drawing - it's pretty basic. To make this one I started off by drawing a circle which made up the back of the skull. Then I experimented a little bit with the outline of the jaw until I had something that I liked and then I went in and started to add details.
Usually I draw the bigger details first and then go into the smaller details, so for this picture I drew the eyes, nose and mouth first before going in and adding the other details.
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The Aviator
I wanted to add some pilot's style shades to one of these cartoon skulls. The example here could have been much stronger by turning the head slightly to the side, and maybe adding a pilot's hat to further sell the idea of him being a pilot
There's nothing too special to report about how this drawing was made other than that I started with a circle and added a little box to the bottom of it for the jaw.
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Mr. Generic
To make this head I first started off with a circle and then added a box to the bottom of it just like the skull above. I then added in the eyes, the nose, the eyebrows and finally the teeth to finish it off.
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