Deliverable Two: Whitetail Deer Skull

For the second deliverable, Illustration of a Whitetail Deer Skull, I wanted to create a
piece to represent the field of animal biology in
my scientific illustrations, and so I decided to
paint the skeletal structure of a wildlife species
common to my region. While visiting my family’s
farm, I stumbled upon the exact kind of specimen
I needed during the research phase of this project.
The specimen I brought home and cleaned was
the remarkably intact skull of a white-tailed deer,
missing only the jawbone and a small portion
of the right-hand side of the nasal bone. Rather
than attempting to fill in these details from other
references, I decided to reflect on the imperfections
in my painting, as I felt they represented the
organic spirit of scientific illustration.