Everybody's Nekkid

So its been a while since I posted anything that I have worked on, so I guess its about time I do.  At the beginning of this term, we started focusing heavily on the study of human anatomy.  Although we did look at bones, the main course of study was muscles and muscle structures within the human body.

I am so glad that we started studying this because I have never really studied anatomy on my own and knowing where muscles are and how they connect within the body is very useful.  I feel that what I have learned over the past few weeks has greatly helped me understand how the body functions and has made me a better artist.

We looked at anatomy in my Modeling class and in my Life Drawing class.  In modeling we began to model the male figure in 3D.  And as I have said before reference is key when it comes to doing anything.  On the school network there are tons of folders with reference - i.e. naked people.  We picked a model to go off of, in different poses and from different angles - Front, Side, 3/4 and close-ups of various parts of the body.

It was kind of humorous to look around and see that on everyone's monitor there was a picture of a naked dude.  Here is my 3D model of my male anatomy study. We were told not to worry about hands or feet, so my model doesn't have any hands. We did take a brief look at hands but only after this project was finished. (click for full size)

As you can see, our assignment was to focus on the muscles. So we basically modeled the body as if it had no skin so we can only see the muscle.  I think I did a pretty good job for my first time dealing with anatomy.  Some of my classmates were surprised to find out I never studied anatomy so I took that as a good thing.

I already received my marks for this assignment, and I did really well. The comments I received from my instructors were that overall proportions of the body is correct and that most of my muscle groups were fairly accurate. Only thing wrong is that some of my muscles weren't the right size (though they were in the right place). 

I usually post up pictures of my reference (as I did with my Still Life) so you guys can compare what I did to the real thing, but I assume that you guys don't really want to see a bunch of pictures of a naked dude.

Unfortunately, we did not do a female anatomy study.  A lot of people  in my program (including myself) felted cheated since the class before us got to do both male and female studies.  There are a lot of differences between the male and female body - different proportions in body size and muscle size, difference in fat deposits, etc.  Although I didn't get to do this study in class, now that I know how to go about studying muscles and anatomy, I can study on my own. Although now I won't have an instructor telling me what I'm doing right or what I'm doing wrong.


Although we didn't do the female study in Modeling, we are getting some study in Life Drawing.  Life Drawing is a class that specifically is about the study of the body.  In this class (which meets once a week) we have a model (male or female) come in and pose for us in different positions in the nude.  The instructor gives us a certain amount of time to draw each pose. Usually we get a several 30 second poses, then we work up to 2 minute poses, a couple 5 minute poses, and at the end a couple 10 minute poses.

We are lectured in how to approach drawing the body, looking for lines of actions and curves the body naturally makes.  We are also lectured in how muscles connect to the different bones in the body.  I have learned so much in this class. 

I would post up some of my work from this class but at this stage in my learning it's not super impressive (plus I leave my Life Drawing notepad at school and am too lazy to get it).  Since most of our drawings are of poses with a very small time frame, a lot of the drawings consist of lines and curves that give the feeling of the pose. As our instructor taught us, the dangers most new students face is that they will try to workout details of the body even with such a small time frame that they get a really crappy drawing. What we are to do first is to get the pose down, nice and loose, and then if we have the time (such as in longer poses of 10+ min) work in the details.

I will try to post more of my other works for you guys when I get the chance.  I get pretty busy sometimes and don't have time to update this blog. But I will try harder.