Alan Li

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TBG Skull Drawing Workshop

There are plants growing over every inch of the buildings at TBG.  I love how that attracts so many different bee species.

Drawing skulls is fun.  The enormous variety of cranial structures is remarkable and has intrigued many great artists throughout history.  On Saturday I had an eager group attend my workshop at Toronto Botanical Garden where I shared with them all the methods and techniques I use when drawing a skull.

What I enjoy most is seeing the drawings slowly emerge as I go around spending time with each person.  The complex forms of the skull can be formidable, and I believe the resulting images are quite successful.  A lot was achieved in a relatively short time period of time, and I think everyone should be proud of what they accomplished.  Thanks for attending the workshop and please drop me a line if you have any further questions.

Thanks also to the folks at Toronto Botanical Garden...Colleen, Kassandra and Mark...for making my first teaching experience at TBG smooth and hassle free.  I’m really excited that I’ll be teaching more classes in the fall.

- Alan

Bonus

If you're ever visiting the National Gallery in London, I suggest checking out The Ambassadors, painted in 1533 by Hans Holbein.  The skull in that painting is fantastic.  At first glance it’s highly distorted and barely discernible, but as if by magic, it appears when you’re viewing it from below at a sharp angle.