Skull references are essential tools in any portrait artist’s toolkit, enabling them to understand how skulls are constructed as well as inspiring new artworks.
The skull is a bony structure that protects and houses both the brain and sensory systems, such as eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It consists of two parts – the neurocranium and the facial skeleton.
Human Skull
The human skull is the anterior portion of our skeleton that contains our brain and other sensory structures, such as our ears and facial nerves. It consists of two parts – neurocranium for housing the brain and viscerocranium containing jaws and other facial bones. As one of the essential structures within the human body, its purpose includes protecting the brain while simultaneously providing stereo vision through the regulation of distance between eyes, positioning relative positioning of ears close to one another, as well as serving as a boundary against soft tissue, muscles, and blood vessels that make up our faces and scalp.
Human skulls consist of approximately 270 separate bony elements, though in adulthood, many become fused into solid bone. Sutures bind the individual pieces to each other, while ligaments and connective tissue hold all bones within the skull together. Skull formation begins within eight weeks of embryonic development as one of the first structures that emerges along with the nervous system, lungs, and heart structures.
At around nine months gestation, the skull and other skeletal tissues continue to form during pregnancy. By that point, nearly all of the brain’s structures have come into being; in some cases, a small amount of additional growth may take place after birth – known as postnatal craniosynostosis and more commonly seen among newborns; it may cause pressure on an area known as the obstetric hinge where two parts of an occipital bone join and lead to rupture of a tremendous cerebral vein.
Skulls and skeletons have long held our fascination. Representing death and finality, yet simultaneously inspiring fascination, unease, attraction, and repulsion – these symbols of death often serve as memento mori (reminders to deceased loved ones), while their appearance is also used as part of body art tattoo designs and tattooed designs.
The skull is an extraordinary physical structure. Able to withstand extreme amounts of pressure without cracking or breaking, its design also serves many other benefits, including its capacity for fluid retention and expansion, which plays an integral part in gestation and childbirth.
Animal Skull
Animal skulls provide us with invaluable insight into the lives of creatures no longer alive. Be it mammals, birds, or fish species – their bones reveal insights into past and present adaptations for survival within their habitats. Their skeleton structure also allows scientists to identify them and establish relationships among species quickly.
As well as providing insight into its species of animal, skulls can also give scientists clues as to their age. Adult animals tend to have more giant skulls due to having complete sets of teeth than juvenile animals do – one of the primary considerations when identifying heads by scientists; fossil records will also be checked against known specimens for matches.
The skull may seem ominous and scary, but it can also serve as a powerful symbol of wisdom and immortality. That’s because the skull symbolizes where thoughts originate; therefore, it suggests you’re open to receiving higher knowledge or truthful information. Additionally, skulls represent mental agility and openness to new ideas.
This skull of a Fox Terrier dog breed stands out against a white background, featuring its slightly opened mouth. This high-resolution stock photo offers sharp focus for use as wallpaper or poster art.
Skulls of animals provide scientists with insight into their habits, habitats, and diet. Researchers will look for features such as sharp canine teeth, long nasal cavities with complex bony structures and openings at the back (foramen magnum) where the spinal cord was attached, the age of the skull, position in the animal’s body, and how the animal moved through the environment (i.e., polar bear skulls can tell us much). They can also indicate food consumed and predators they encounter – information that is crucial in conservation.
Skull in the context of the spine and torso
The skull is an integral component of our skeleton that protects our brain and other sense organs, consisting of tightly interlocked bones that cover and surround it. The two major areas within its boundaries are divided as follows: neurocranium and facial skeleton. The neurocranium contains the brain; the facial skeleton houses the eyes, ears, nose, and mouth.
The human skull consists of 22 bones connected by sutures. These bones are then usually seen from six standard perspectives: norma lateralis, norma frontalis, norma occipitalis, norma axialis, and norma basilaris. Additionally, paranasal sinuses provide air-filled cavities that help create voice resonance as well as warm and moistened inhaled air for inhalation.
At an embryological level, the skull is an integral component of cephalization and represents its first major part. Comprised of primary bones connected by fibrous connective tissue that is held together with sutures – rigid joints connecting bones – it contains suture lines as well as sutures between each bone to maintain structural integrity that connects bones rigidly – it also features a narrow gap filled with dense, fibrous tissue for proper development.
Studies of the human frame can hardly exclude an understanding of the vertebrae of the backbone without getting an inkling of their development from the sacrum to the coccyx and upwards to the atlas and axis of the skull. What could be more logical than to think that vertebrae are formed according to the expansion of the nervous center as well as mechanical needs at the cephalic end?
The primary function of the skull is protection and structure. It protects eye orbits as well as brain structures such as the cerebellum, cerebrum, and brainstem from physical harm; additionally, it acts as an anchor point for tendinous and muscular attachments to muscles of the scalp and face, protecting from tendinous attachments of tendons that would otherwise rip through otherwise vulnerable parts of its structure; its contents are cushioned and protected by meninges linings known as meninges supplying it with oxygenated blood via common carotid artery; its contents receive most of their oxygenated blood supply from common carotid artery.
