Anatomy Tips? I Need Help

[XzynderVexymous]

I’m confused. Also, which is more important: Simple Poses Sketches or Anatomy Practice?

[Luminosophy]

Both lol

I mean if you have absolutely little to no understanding of form and shape at all, I would start with anatomy. But poses and gesture sketches are important during that study to ensure you can loosen up figures. Otherwise what happens is you end up with very technically correct figures but very stiff and unemotional ones.

[IdiotWithPencil]

both are important, but if you must learn one first then first learn anatomy, the best way is to go grab a medical muscle/bones book or and exercise book with a lot of images and start copying all the poses and muscles until you can draw them from memory in all their forms,then get into simple poses and start sketching the poses until you hand is groaning (30 min to 1 hour of quick sketching a minimum daily), once you learn anatomy the poses will be their just for loosening the stiffness

good luck =P

[MinNCompany]

UNDERSTANDING ANATOMY: part I

In the description there are links to Part 1-7

Excellent tutorial series, very easy to read. Personally I have not used this method but maybe you will find it useful!

[NaamanBlanco]

Studying Anatomy, form, and putting that into practice with simple sketches can improve your art fast and in tremendous ways. Figure drawing is a great way to marry anatomy practice with posing. A great beginner course in figure drawing is "Figure Drawing For All It's Worth" by Andrew Loomis. A simple anatomy book I reference is called "Anatomy For The Artist" by Sarah Simblet. Remember, your anatomy practice can be simple pose sketches or gesture drawings, but the fundamental idea is there. It didn't take me long to understand, but I draw a lot. YOU CAN DO IT!

[XzynderVexymous]

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it

[soju]

i seriously don't understand why everyone online promotes studying anatomy.....
as a beginner: forget anatomy!! you already know basic anatomy since you are steering your anatomically correct body your entire life.
start with proportions and gesture sketches.

[IdiotWithPencil]

cause anatomy is one of the 10 foundations of art -_-,and one of the big ones, if you don't know how the body works you can only repeat the poses you've copied from photos instead of actually making one out of your head, it's like saying why should an architect know about the structure of a building? they live in new york

proportions and gesture sketches.

that's a good way to end up stiff and stuck with references as crutches, what do you do when you need to make forshortening of a fantasy animal? would you take a photo of it in a jumping pose where the legs are behind the butt while it flies with his arms broken? proportions with no foundations are amateurish and wonky it is one of the big foundations and one of the first things any artist needs to learn in depth

[soju]

you don't make any sense! the problem is that most young aspiring artists are memorising names of muscles and bones instead of practising to draw.
and as i've written, everybody knows basic anatomy! enough for a beginner at least.
i don't say you shouldn't study anatomy. it just comes after proportions and gestures.
your rant about drawing from memory or ref has nothing to do with this topic...

[joannekwan]

Per the importance of anatomy:

Sure most people have a vague idea of what makes up a human body, since they have one themselves, but when it comes to what's underneath the skin and how they work in relation to each other, it's pretty important. Like, you can't peel back your skin to see all the muscles underneath every time you want to know how to draw a buff arm properly. By studying anatomy, you start to remember where the muscles are and how they attach to the bone and from that you can draw a convincing arm. Of course reference pictures are good to use too, but your process can be sped up a lot if you already know these things.

Names of muscles and bones are useful when referring to these parts. Like say you want a picture of the trapezius muscles, it would be easier to google "trapezius" than "that muscle that connects your shoulder to your neck."

As for proportions, I believe that comes in tandem with anatomy. You get the gist of how far apart, long, large things are by looking at anatomy.

[cleo_san]

Well, I'm not too keen on anatomy studies although I did some, but just drawing the same muscle 10 times in the same pose gets kinda boring... so I look for interesting poses and try to copy them. =) There are tons of reference sheets on pinterest and suchlike, and I've saved a ton of references so when I get bored or need a certain pose I can just browse through my folder =)

Please keep in mind: Knowing which bone/muscle is where certainly helps! So, yay for anatomy, though I personally find studying it boring. I just draw poses and learn from that

Also, what helped me the most was this tutorial:

[IdiotWithPencil]

everybody knows basic anatomy! enough for a beginner at least.

no we don't if we knew basic artistic anatomy people wouldn't have problems with constructing a body in any pose, with or without muscles, seriously try drawing a buff muscled character punching towards the camera with 0 anatomy knowledge and 10 times out of 10 you will get a mess of weirdly placed muscles and oddly made shapes,
and if you're a beginner is basically what I said the difference between a beginner and an medium level artist is an understanding of anatomy and the other fundamentals, proportions included,

it just comes after proportions and gestures

if your a beginner you learn anatomy and poses at the same time since as they said below drawing the same muscle in the same pose is boring and really counteractive since you won't learn how to draw it in another pose, also gesture drawing only loosens your arm it doesn't show you how to construct a body unless you've already drawn it before with a reference

my rant was that if you don't learn anatomy you will be limited by the references and poses you find, you would have to draw and infinite number of poses to get the same level as some one who knows how the body works and even still you won't be able to draw different muscle structures since you haven't drawn from a reference of it, you won't be able to draw another pose in a believable and fluid way unless you have a reference of the pose EI your crutch, you're basically saying that beginners should shackle themselves and ignore the key to being able to draw any character in any pose imaginable

not to say proportions aren't important as it is one of the fundamentals, but anatomy is one of the big ones in tandem with perspective and values, you should learn first these three since you will be using them in everything you do.

[soju]

IdiotWithPencil.. how old are you? you write like you know it all, yet you are still a beginner-level artist. don't mean to be offensive.. but i don't see a point in arguing with you here...
anyways.. good luck!

[Luminosophy]

Uhm... dude. Says the pot to the kettle.

[LCT_m_a_d]

The best tip that I can offer in terms of anatomy is to break things down to simple curving shapes. Start with circles and cylinders. The more you do this the more you discover your tendencies to over/under proportion parts of the human body. Proportions can make a really solid anatomy look really sloppy.

I think like most things in art the learning part is not at all a linear progression of steps. Its a discovery process of finding what you personally have a hard time visualizing. Shapes are a very easy outline for comparison.

Once you've got that nailed down try to incorporate other elements of design to emphasize the human architect.

Don't just practice. Explore. Happy arting!

[IdiotWithPencil]

you don't make any sense! the problem is that most young aspiring artists are memorising names of muscles and bones instead of practising to draw.

and what I'm saying is that that is counter intuitive *facepalm

ok I am gonna just give my thought if you don't get it I can't help you dude

1) what is damaging young artist is that they don't know where to start so here you have a quick guide at getting better at drawing

first, grab and anatomy book and instead of memorising bones and muscles look at how the muscles are formed and where they are connected, how they stretch, what pulles them and how are they strung together, example the pecs are connected to the sternum(the middle of the rib cage) and the base of the shoulder this makes it stretched when you move your shoulder and it looks like a tear drop; if you know this no matter where the camera is and in what pose the character is you will know how the pecs should look like , since when you know that and where each muscle is located and moves you can draw any pose you want and in any view in a believable and quick way IE you won't be shackled by what you have drawn in gesture practice, this make the difference between a beginner and a mid level draft-man

second, gesture drawing is a warm up technique it ain't a replacement for actual anatomy study or studies in general, so if you want to get looser and more fluid motion from your hand do a 30 minute gesture drawing session but that won't teaches you anything other than how to quickly make the poses you've just drawn, it's for loosening your arm nothing more nothing less -_-, your basically saying that if you do enough multiplication tables you will be able to know how to do an integral or a derivative equation, that's not how math works and that's not how drawing works

third, proportions is something you learn in tandem to anatomy, grab a gesture pose and draw where the muscle are located and learn how they work/look, if you do this you will also learn the bodies proportions instinctively

2) we don't know anatomy for shit and we need to learn it, more if your a beginner since what you are saying is very amateurish and I think OP wants to be more then a beginner who can only make one good pose, since if you don't know anatomy you can't construct bodies in all the possibles poses, hence you will be shackled by the references you have at hand, I don't know how to explain it to you other than with what I just said if you don't get it I can't help you

enough for a beginner at least.

3) and this is why most beginners stay beginners,this mentality of Oh I'm a beginner so I should just do the easy thing first and not actually get better, this irks me so much cause it make your art stiff and destroys your possibilities of ever getting into something other than beginner art, the difference between a beginner and an expert is that the expert has studied everything from anatomy to dynamic composition, if you want to stay a beginner that's your decision but don't drag people who want to get better and are actually asking how to get better

I am done and if you don't get what I am saying here then I can't help you

[okellymx]

Everything is important unless you are content with being mediocre. I should add that there is no replacement to life drawing. You can draw from anime/cartoon styles all you want but you'd just be digging yourself into a hole.

[NaamanBlanco]

I feel where you are coming from, but the best artists at least know the basic muscle groups. Also studying anatomy is more than just memorizing names of body parts. It helps with proper proportions, placement, movement, mechanics, and relationship between two or more parts. Sarah Simblet put's it best when she says: "The study of human anatomy is so much more than the naming of parts and the understanding of their function; it is the celebration of our wondrous physicality in the world. The biological complexity of the body can be weighed against its aesthetic beauty... Art is the perfect tool for revealing such knowledge." There was and still is a deep purpose in the studying of human anatomy through art.

[soju]

you are absolutely right.
and i see.. my first comment was probably a little misleading. i never meant anatomy wasn't important. all i'm saying is as a beginner you should first get an understanding of proportions and gesture before you go practise muscles and bones.
like.. if you mold something you start with the basic form before you go into detail.
also.. many artists like to use the term anatomy because it sounds mature. saying you study anatomy makes you feel like a doctor. but you don't see many artists studying organs or neural systems. it's just muscles and bones.. you are not really studying anatomy.
and i don't understand why some people are getting so mad.. like that 14 year old screaming at his screen a few posts earlier....

[natchevil]

So, when I started, I screwed this up, so I'm just gonna give you guys this.

Do Not Cheat
With Hands and Feet

Don't avoid it. Don't draw little blobby stand ins. Don't hide them behind feature. Don't draw less than 5 fingers and toes.

Even with my cartoony style, I found out that Hand and Foot Anatomy are SUPER important.