Official Anatomy Thread

[ndchristie]

Well Nate anybody who stretches canvases corners in is just lamesauce :p Maybe Parsons should add stretching a canvas to their admissions requirement?
I know this is off topic from anatomy- we could call it canvas anatomy maybe?- but white knuckling the first pinnings is a no no? My teacher taught me to do centers of top, then bottom, left then right, and if my hands don't ache from the stretch I put on the canvas it always turns out too loose to be used for anything more than drapery.

At risk of prescription, the first first set should be a hair shy of full-strength because, so I am told, because this gives just enough give to allow the rest to be pulled uniformally and not bow the center of the bars without sacrificing spring or tightness (which will come from the - at very first nonexistant - lateral pull across the bar rather than vertical pull across the gap.

Back to anatomy, there is comfort in robotness, but too much comfort leads to a person being fat and lazy and unaccomplished.  Living art by the rules is no more and no less valuable than being obese.  I would not suggest the other extreme either - to only do your own thing or worse  to not do anything leads to a person starving and dying.  The best artists are somewhere between lean and curvy .

For some general critique  willows your guys are going to have some bawlin feet.  for a selfproclaimed robot person, they are nicely personalized without going too far into abstraction.

[Zach]

[Atnas]

I figure if the muscles are big enough I'll learn what they are. 

I was hoping someone could do a paintover or verbal critique so I could focus on the areas I'm getting wrong? I've been bullshitting the chest for a while and because of my resolution to sketch every day I've noticed anything I ever knew about anatomy I've forgot. Sorry for the bad economy and symmetry (lolpenis)

[Jubatian]

Well, i know this thread focuses on human anatomy, but anyways, hope i can have some comments on this piece:

This is the background of the menu system on my experimental web page. I know the nose is a little long, but otherwise the front of the body finally looks properly built for me (this is the first time i say this on any of my work). The feet of him reach below the bottom end of the image by at about 50 pixels and he is sitting. No references used. Feel free to rip it apart, i think i need to learn from somewhere

[ptoing]

When I see Hogarth's stuff I always have to think of Silver Surver involuntarily. Dunno if that says anything about his art.

[NaCl]

Drawing the human figure is so hard it makes me sad...  The thing is, and maybe someone can clarify or help me here, but I see a divide between an accomplished artist, and myself. If I watch them work, the drawing kind of flows out, and when I draw it is like every line I draw is wrong, and I have to go back and erase, then redraw it again and again until it looks OK. Right now I am feeling that bridging this divide simply comes from drawing people over and over and over and memorizing how things look in different positions, and then just putting out something that you have much practice at. However, I also feel that there is some other element that I am missing, because it seems improbable to simply have every body part memorized for any position you decide to draw

Anyway, here is one attempt at a female body and a couple faces.



Thanks for any guidance!

[Atnas]

It looks like you have a very 2d thought process going on. You draw the outlines but do not shade. These artists that you see the work flow out of probably build their figure studies out of light and shadow rather than try and do a contour drawing every time. You don't need to memorize much if you visualize it in 3d. A lot of it is confidence, too. I remember earlier in this thread, Helm told me to stop scribbling, and it really helped. (at least in pencil drawings, I don't draw enough on my tablet to be used to the medium) If every line is a purposeful one time thing everything will flow. Don't worry if you get it wrong, there's always a next time. c:

It seems like you understand a great deal about anatomy itself, however the problem you are facing is the execution.

[deziresoft]

It looks like you have a very 2d thought process going on. You draw the outlines but do not shade. These artists that you see the work flow out of probably build their figure studies out of light and shadow rather than try and do a contour drawing every time. You don't need to memorize much if you visualize it in 3d. A lot of it is confidence, too. I remember earlier in this thread, Helm told me to stop scribbling, and it really helped. (at least in pencil drawings, I don't draw enough on my tablet to be used to the medium) If every line is a purposeful one time thing everything will flow. Don't worry if you get it wrong, there's always a next time. c:

It seems like you understand a great deal about anatomy itself, however the problem you are facing is the execution.

Amen to that.

I'm not exactly the best artist, but I do build off of light and shadow.  At last, I'm only 14, so, not much I can explain, since I've been only working with pixels for about 2 yrs, and hand drawings for at least 3, not caring where, or where not to start from, until quite recently.

[boojiboy]

I gotta start taking advantage of this thread.
Here's something I just did for about 20 minutes or so.

Problems that I have (at least ones that I know I have difficultydoing):
I'm completely lost when drawing legs. Joining the pelvis to the thighs I find extremely hard and I throw dimensions out the window when I go below the knees.
I also can't draw feet. I am terrible at foreshortening (probably why I can't draw feet) and I also have trouble joining hands to wrists.
Can anyone show me the volumes of the areas where I clearly don't have an idea about (eg. Legs, Forearms)?

[EyeCraft]

Here's a bit of play that sort of freaks me out:



Trying to work on clearer lines, confident strokes. Succeeded a very little bit. Primarily a head study, but see I need to review torso. The ear is a problem; alot of ambiguity around that area.

Fun though!

@boojiboy: collarbone looks too flat/straight to me, making trapezoidal muscle look GIGANTIC. Also throwing off connection area around scapula/trapezoidal/deltoids/clavicle. Basically feels like shoulders need to come up a little bit. Or chest down. Honestly I'm not 100% sure. Pelvis is big issue, as you mention, I would really go over study of that section of the skeleton and how/where the muscles attach.

EDIT: Some posemaniacs sketches. Much more confidence with these!