Trouble in Anatomy

[Nikki_Cole]

I'm sure this has been posted before but for my sake I had to get this out.

I'm having the worse time right now trying to get a knack for drawing the human body. I've tried reference material and drawing anatomy online referneces.

I can draw the body parts seperately but when they are brought together, my proportion is off and it looks flat. I heard life drawing classes are good for this sorta of problem or block but I haven't been able to locate one in my area. *will continue hunt for classes in hopes of finding one*

is it better to keep working on different parts of the body till I have them memorized in length, proportion and placement and then one by one connect each piece?

Please give me your opinion and help.

This is the website that I felt helped me out the most in reference wise

http://www.bakaneko.com/howto/figure/anatomy2/index.html

[hito]

go draw people at the mall, park, coffe joint. People standing in line are perfect for nailing overall proportions.

[Nikki_Cole]

Hito - Thanks I'll do that...I just need to learn to relax and have fun with it.

I'm so worried that I need the drawing/sketch to be perfect. LOL

Thanks!

[zombiespiderman]

I think it's pretty key to learn the overall figure first, then zero in on the details, otherwise it's going to just look wrong. I'm doing a thing now where I'm trying to nail down stick figures really fast of people I see in public places. Once you've got the key landmarks, the detail is where you can really shine in your own style. Also, I'm doing something with drawing pictures that allows me to see where I'm falling down on observation. You can see a detailed explanation on my blog here:

http://bigroadstudios.com/olddog/?p=44

[Nikki_Cole]

zombiespiderman - I checked out your site. Very nice! I might just have to do that...real life drawing in stick figure format till I get that down pretty good that I can start adding more the figure. <----did that make sense? hee hee.

Thanks, Nikki

[sweetoblivion314]

if your drawings look flat i would suggest drawing simple still lives. Study how the light falls on them. Draw and study until it looks exactly like the still life and then study even more till you realize what about the light falling on it makes it look solid and 3 dimensional. I'll give you a hint, shadows aren't all the same value of grey and the light side isn't just white, it also has many values of grey.

As far as proportions of a whole body. Draw full bodies, but measure everything, And i mean everything, in relation to each other. Copy bridgeman drawings and other masters and again measure EVERYTHING in relation to every part of the body. And then just keep doing that until you start being able to take mental measurements and they get closer and closer to being perfect without erasing.

Then start studying anatomy when you have figure drawing going well. Anatomy helps you understand whats going and and will help you refine and perfect your figures but you should rely on it to learn how to draw a figure in the begining. Learn to draw the figure then use your anatomy knowledge to give more movement or action or exageration to your figures.

But also have fun with drawing like others have said. Doodle or draw whatever between these intense studies.

[Elwell]

Always always always...
Big to small, general to specific.

[kev ferrara]

YEah, think in sihouettes, then fill in the details. My personal method is to think of the whole compostion as silhouettes, so that I ensure that the action reads graphically. Then each figure or element as a sillo. Then I break each down into light and shadow, thinking of each as a designed sillo, the breaking it down (if I'm really into it) to where I think of every form as graphic shapes to be designed.

By the way, I agree with what everybody is suggesting here about drawing from life and getting used to the way reality looks (rather than the way your favorite artists look)

But I would also suggest you buy Bridgman's anatomy books and copy them into your notebooks. They are a great and fun way to learn the anatomy. Not dry clinical medical anatomy. But artistic anatomy.

Here's some pix from the books (below)

kev

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=101106

[sgtplunder]

Don't feel bad. I have some problems with proportion as well.

MephistoLV constructively criticized my work to the point (in my sketchbook) I think I am starting to understand it.

I'm not a great illustrator and so it's not like I am trying to show off my work or anything (because a) it's basic and b) it looks like crap), but please look up Loomis and read MephistoLV's comments, they helped me alot.

http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=102232

There is some poorly drawn nudity in the above link.