Week One
Page One
Welcome to day five!
While the placement of features are very similar to an adults, the differences between a child's skull and that of a grown adult are mostly proportional. The biggest proportional changes are in the lower half of the face, which can be reduced by more than half, depending on the age of the child. This change means that the cranium appears to be much larger in comparison. The eyes, however, are almost the same size as an adult's making this feature stand out among the rest as the nose and mouth will need more time to fully develop. There are not many differences between male and female children, changes only start to develop during puberty.
Make note here that we are discussing just a generalization of classic markers that can indicate ones sex. A person's expression of gender may be different but we can use these markers as a guide to develop our characters in a way that that represents them best based on these generalizations.
With that being said, genetically, the anatomy of the male and female skulls do differ, and differ significantly enough for us to tell them apart. In fact, men and women differ so greatly that anyone with even a modicum of knowledge can estimate a person's sex with a 70% accuracy when comparing skulls alone, says this article from pubmed.gov.
The largest indicator of sex comes down to the literal bone density and thickness as, genetically, men have both. This means that male skulls are not only larger and thicker, but also heavier than that of a woman's. With denser and thicker bones, men tend to have much more pronounced features, such as a larger cranium, a thicker, more protruding brow bone, and a larger, more square jaw line.
We know then that this is the opposite for women, who have an overall smaller, lighter cranium, a softer, less protruding brow bone, and a softer, rounder jaw line. This is true in other ways as well, such as in the appearance of the eye socket, where men have a more square socket with harsher corners. Women on the other hand, have softer eye sockets where the corners are more round, not square.
The forehead is another large indicator, but for a different reason. While the brow bone on a male might be larger, men tend to have more of a slopped forehead that recedes at a faster rate than that of a woman's, making the forehead angle more acute. Women have flatter foreheads that tend to have a sharper turn towards the top of the head producing more of a protruding forehead compared to the sloping male forehead.
The discrepancy in male and female head sizes often makes a woman's eyes proportionally larger compared to the overall size of the skull. This difference, despite having the same size eyes, causes men's eyes to be described as smaller compared to a woman's which can often be described as larger and rounder.
Assignment ONE
With the knowledge of skull proportions, as well as how male and female skulls differ, your assignment is to draw one male and one female skull from the front, side, and, if you would like to test your skills, in the 3/4 view. Make sure to take into account the subtle differences between male and female skulls to complete this exercise. You may want to make a check list so that you include all the differences listed above, as there are six in total. You don't need to bother with drawing the teeth, just indicate where they would be if you were to draw them.