July 24, 2006
On Understanding The Forearm
It's easy to imagine that a person's forearm is like that of an artist's mannequin: symmetrical and wide below the elbow, and narrowest right at the joint.
It's not, though.
Certain muscles on the lateral side of the joint (the brachioradialis and the extensor carpi radialis longus) begin above the elbow joint on the humerus, creating a bulge which is widest at the elbow, not above it.
Once you see this, you'll draw forearms better.
Posted by digital artform at 07:19 PM | Comments (1)
June 27, 2006
Organic Modeling I: Human Anatomy Male
Tareq Mirza demonstrates his Maya modelling techniques in Organic Modeling I: Human Anatomy Male, an excellent new DVD from Freedom of Teach. Using workflows applicable to any 3D polygon package, Mr. Mirza transforms a box into a clean, well-built virtual representation of Andrew Cawrse's ecorche figure.
You probably will pick up some additional anatomy information here, but this DVD works best not as an anatomy lesson, but as a demonstration of how to think about organic modelling in a polygon environment - it's all about box modelling, controlling edge loops, quad polygon flow, and smoothing. Mirza assumes the viewer has already had some anatomy instruction. For example: When creating the calf muscles, Mirza models the soleus not as a continuous form under the gastrocnemius muscles - as it really is - but as two independent bulges to the left and right of the gastrocnemius muscles - as it appears to be. I'm not suggesting Mirza should do anything different, but a viewer who didn't know anatomy might form a wrong impression of the unseen inner structure of the lower leg. Such anatomy lessons are necessarily beyond the scope of this DVD.
At under $60 Organic Modeling I: Human Anatomy Male is a great value. Freedom of Teach could probably break the chapters on the head and various limbs into their own DVD's and sell each for the price of this entire collection of information. I highly recommend this DVD.
Additional Information:
Subdivision Modeling Resources
Posted by digital artform at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)
November 23, 2005
Face Drawing from the Inside Out
I've been practicing drawing imaginary faces over skulls. Here are two examples. One is better than the other, but I'll show both, because I think the mistake is instructional.
In the example above, I gave an adequate amount of space between the face and the skull to account for muscles and fat. I think this one worked out pretty well.
In this attempt I cut the face too close to the bone. Because I didn't account for muscle and fat, the face is too small for the features and doesn't look right.
Here's a book I found useful in this regard:
Forensic Art and illustration by Karen T Taylor
Posted by digital artform at 10:57 AM | Comments (0)
June 08, 2005
Understanding the Triceps
This is my understanding of how the two most visible heads of the triceps share the humerus.
The lateral head starts fully ON the humerus, and then fully leaves it.
The long head starts fully OFF the humerus, then comes to be fully ON the bone.
The bone seems to travel diagonally under the two muscle heads as they trade places. They don't share the humerus equally.
Posted by digital artform at 10:01 AM | Comments (1)
February 25, 2005
Rey Bustos Ecorche
Los Angeles artist Rey Bustos teaches anatomy from the inside out. I've been taking his class since the new year. Pictured above is my work at about the halfway point. Read on for more...
After baking the figure, I used terracotta sculpey for musculature, and translucent sculpey for tendons.
I got some great dental instruments and other tools and a great price from Widget Supply.
Posted by digital artform at 08:47 AM | Comments (4)
January 01, 2005
Ecorche Figure
Santa brought me an a limited edition (2000) resin sculpture of an ecorche figure originally carved in clay by visual effects artist and sculptor Andrew Cawrse, and offered for sale by Freedom of Teach
I have Version 1 (the least expensive one) and in spite of how it may look under this lurid lighting (on my desk next to a lamp with a yellow paper shade; no flash; no tripod), the figure is actually very good.
If you're learning anatomy, and aren't quite "getting it" from books alone, this figure is a great additional resource.
Posted by digital artform at 01:27 PM | Comments (3)
December 11, 2004
Comparative Anatomy
Once you become sensitive to the basics of how the human body is constructed, you start to see the same patterns in use in animal anatomy. Since all living creatures on Earth trace their origins to a common ancestor, the same basic patterns arise again and again and again and again. Here's an example:
A human has two bones in his forearm, the radius, and the ulna. When a human rotates (supinates and pronates) his wrist, his radius rolls over his ulna. The relationship between the two bones at the elbow remains unchanged.
A cat (in this case a Sabre Tooth Tiger) needs the ability to manipulate its prey, so it may not surprise you to notice that it, too, has a radius and ulna in its forearms.
Let's take a stroll through the Page Museum at the La Brea Tar Pits and see if any other animals use this mechanism.
There it is again in the forearm of a Ground Sloth. Perhaps they needed dexterity to handle their food as well.
It's in a Wolf's forelimbs, too.
Birds also have a radius and ulna. Maybe it helps them fold their wings.
But look: There it is as a vestigial leftover in the skeleton of the Extinct Western Horse.
An unusable radius forever crosses an ulna in the pronated forelimb of the Antique Bison.
The massive legs that transport Mammoths, Mastadons and modern day Elephants have this arrangement of bones.
You can find a radius and ulna in ancient Dinosaurs and Fish fins.
Posted by digital artform at 11:37 AM | Comments (2)
November 13, 2004
Anatomy Practice: Shoulder Girdle
Here's a little gallery of images of the bones of the shoulder girdle. I had some trouble gluing the plastic clavicle to the plastic scapula, and I strengthened the joint with a little brass hing mounted 90 degrees to its usual bend axis. In doing so, I lost the little "step-down" from the clavicle to the scapula that artists often point out, but that I seldom see shown in medical diagrams.
Posted by digital artform at 10:04 PM | Comments (0)
November 01, 2004
Anatomy Practice: The Elbow
The trick to determining the orientation of the upper arm is to locate the condyles of the humerus. The 2 points of the condyles and the "bump" at the end of the ulna form a triangle the shape of which is determined by whether the arm is straight or bent.
In a bent arm, the triangle is quite pronounced.
In a staight arm, the "elbow bump" can be at, and sometimes even above, the condyles.
It's a good idea to develop a sense of proportions. In the case of the arm, the humerus is 2 scapulas (or clavicles, or sternums, or 5-eye lines) long. The ulna is 80% of the length of the humerus.
Posted by digital artform at 08:35 AM | Comments (2)
October 30, 2004
Anatomy Practice: The Humerus
There's a few important things worth knowing about the humerus. It's 2 5-eye-lines long. Its shoulder ball joint lies in a different plane to its elbow condyles. The ball joint is marked by a notch through which the biceps tendon passes. The inner condyle is the large one - noticeable on most people.
Here's a small gallery of images of the humerus.
Posted by digital artform at 03:33 PM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2004
Anatomy Practice: The Pelvis
The pelvis, like the skull, and the ribcage, is a major bony structure that doesn't change much regardless of the pose a figure assumes.
Here's a gallery of different views of the pelvis.
Posted by digital artform at 09:26 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2004
Anatomy Practice: The Scapula
Understanding the scapula is an important step in the process of understanding the shoulder girdle. Here's a little gallery of photos of the scapula.
Posted by digital artform at 11:54 PM | Comments (0)
October 22, 2004
Anatomy practice: the ribcage
The rib cage, along with the skull and the pelvis, is one of the important, fairly unchanging bony structures of the figure. If you can capture the spine and rib cage, and then hang the shoulder girdles (the scapulae in back and clavicles in front) off of it properly, you've gone a long way toward defining the form of the upper body. Here's my simplified conception of its form.
The form is a lot like an egg with the top and bottom cut off.
The bones "sag" off of the spine so that the front every rib is lower than the back.
The first set of ribs is the same as the neck hole.
The spine seems fairly deep inside the rib cage because the ribs arch off the spine like valentine hearts, not simple hoops.
The ribcage is widest around the eighth ribs - not widest around the center (fifth) ribs, as it would be if it were a simple ellipsoid.
Here is a simplified approximation of the relationship between the spinal column and the rib cage as I understand it. It's not perfect, and the stripes are meant to convey surface information, not to be literal tracings of each bone. But I think it's a useful tool in grasping the rib cage.
Posted by digital artform at 06:37 PM | Comments (1)
October 16, 2004
Anatomy Practice: The Spine
Learning artistic anatomy? The spine is a good place to start.
The colored blocks are 3d models I made for myself in Maya. The drawings are from 19th century anatomist Dr. Paul Richer and are quite accurate.
I broke the spine into its working parts, the cervical (neck) vertebrae in green, the thoracic (ribcage) vertebrae -- which hardly move at all -- in red, and the lumbar (lower back) vertebrae in blue.
It's important to capture the curve of the spine. Its curve comes from its function. Whenever it supports something, the spine wants to be in the center, directly underneath the load, like a stick under a candy apple. See how it swoops under the rib cage, and again how it swoops under the head, to better support their weight.
The vertebrae get progressively larger the lower you go, the better to support the increasing weight.
Notice how deep inside the rib cage the spinal column really is. That's because the ribs curve off the spine not as simple hoops, but more as a pair of arches, similar to the form of the top of a valentine's day heart.
Posted by digital artform at 10:02 AM | Comments (2)
Use Poser to Learn Anatomy
Poser has a mode that displays skeletons. The skeletons are not perfect, but they are good enough to use as a muscle anatomy learning tool.
I learn best through repetition, and by doing things myself.
I find that I learn muscular anatomy best when I take the time to paint each muscle one-by-one onto a Poser-generated skeleton. This exercise forces me to be accurate about exactly where on each bone each muscle originates and inserts.
I get my information from good reference books. Here's one I recommend:
Human Anatomy for Artists by Eliot Goldfinger.
UPDATE 1/8/2006
The Poser skeletons are a little hard to find. Don't look under Content unless you are looking to buy additional content. Poser ships with multiple figures - including skeletons.
You just have to poke around a bit for them. Here's where they are in Poser 6.
Posted by digital artform at 09:34 AM | Comments (2)
October 10, 2004
Skulls
I took my digital camera to a decent plastic skull and made myself a stack of worksheets. Whenever I get a free moment, I grab a sheet and draw what's on it. I try to slip in at least 10 a day.
See that plastic box in the upper righthand corner? It's a disarticulated skeleton. I plan to visit every major bone in the body. Just as an exercise.
The skulls are here if you want to try the same thing yourself.
Thanks to EM-ARTS Digital Printing for graciously offering to host the images.
Posted by digital artform at 11:18 AM | Comments (1)