I found the top half of a domestic pig skull in the backyard after moving in to a new place, and I decided to paint it!
I left it outside in a hydrogen peroxide bath for about a week to bleach and sterilize, then I left it out to dry. Once that was done, I cleaned out any remaining dirt build-up.
I had been extremely lucky with this skull, as there was no skin or tissue on it to start with, only dirt and dead bugs.
This side of the skull was a little damaged when I found it. Namely, the bottom half of the eye cavity was missing. Alas, it remains a mystery to me whether the damage occurred in life or post-mortem.
I decided to go for a firey aesthetic. I was inspired by Nightmares, mythological horse-like creatures (sometimes skeletal, but almost always on fire) that are said to serve as the terrifying steeds of demons.
I've always been fascinated with Runic alphabets, and I've always loved to really drive home the idea that something is ancient and very much from a fantastical realm using runes. For this project, I painted the words "Hell Hog" onto the top of the skull using Elder Futhark, a Runic alphabet used in the 2nd to 8th centuries.
I used gouache paint for this project. It dries pretty quick, but the good thing about that is you can paint dark to light without blending colors unintentionally. I used spongebrushes to cover large areas, then used my fingers to make wispy, flame-like markings.
