![\"How](\"https:\/\/s31531.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Drawing-Anatomy-for-Beginners_Jeff-Mellem_How-to-Draw-People_combined_main-1024x469.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1. Don\u2019t think like an anatomy book<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Drawing anatomy\u00a0for beginners can feel overwhelming at first because there are so many muscles on the body. When you\u2019re looking at a model and you see a lot on bumps, you might be tempted to pull out an anatomy book to decipher what\u2019s going on under the skin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An anatomy book is great at telling you what you\u2019re looking at but it\u2019s not very helpful at telling you the three-dimensional shape of the muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do think in simple volumes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
When you first approach figure drawing, you need to start out with establishing the basic volumes of the figure using spheres, boxes and cylinders. By simply beginning with these basic shapes and then building up the complexity as you go along, you will be able to make your drawing maintain it\u2019s sense of dimension.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you copy contours before you build in the structure, I guarantee you\u2019ll end up with a flat-looking drawing.![\"Muscles](\"https:\/\/s31531.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Drawing-anatomy-for-beginners_jeff-mellem_1-1024x502.jpg\")
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The drawing on the left overemphasizes the model\u2019s muscles and it looks more like an anatomy book than a figure. An artist needs to think about the 3D shape of the muscles to give the figure an illusion of volume.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Takeaway:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Use an anatomy book to understand what\u2019s below the surface but think about each muscle in 3D. Don\u2019t draw the muscles as a series of lines. Draw them as sculpted spheres, boxes and cylinders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With that being said, you don\u2019t always have to actually draw spheres and boxes on the page. If you look at an artist like\u00a0Harry Carmean\u00a0you can see that while he sometimes is only drawing counters of the body, he is clearly thinking about the 3D qualities of what he\u2019s drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When artists first start paying closer attention to adding anatomy to their drawings they often have a tendency to overemphasize the anatomy. The figures often end up looking like they have no skin. The muscles are there to add more realism to the figure, but they shouldn\u2019t be the focal point of the drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The focus of a drawing should convey an action, an emotion or the subject\u2019s personality. You don\u2019t want a viewer to stop and look at the parts of your drawing; you want the viewer to see the whole figure and be interested in what that figure is doing and who he or she is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In order to maintain focus on the action it\u2019s always a great practice to start all your drawings with a gesture drawing. A gesture drawing serves as a blueprint for the action. Everything that comes after is to help clarify and enhance that action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The muscles should be drawn to amplify the movement of the figure and shouldn\u2019t draw attention to themselves. A good example of this is comic book characters that have exaggerated anatomy to convey their strength.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A successful comic book page isn\u2019t about the character\u2019s muscles but about how that character\u2019s power is being expressed in the story. The volumes of the muscles are designed to lead the eye through the body toward a point of action. The reader isn\u2019t stopping to look at the character\u2019s well-developed musculature. Notice how the muscles in the figure on the right reflect the gesture drawing on the left. The muscles are used to reinforce the figure\u2019s action, they aren\u2019t the focus of the drawing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Takeaway:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Anatomy is there to add realism but it\u2019s less important then conveying the action and attitude of the whole figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When artists start using basic shapes to develop figures they often start to fall into a pattern of using the same shapes to build every figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you\u2019re building your figure you have to look and adapt your shapes to the specific subject you\u2019re drawing. You\u2019re not going to use the same shapes for a bodybuilder that you would a sumo wrestler or a long distance runner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You have to look at your subject and figure out what simple shapes are the best tools to develop your figure. For example, some people have very squarish heads which needs to be constructed from box shapes while others have a more roundish appearance that should be built from spheres. These two figures are in the same pose but are built from different shapes. The figure on the right is built from more block shapes and it gives the figure a sturdier feeling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Takeaway:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Don\u2019t approach every figure with a formula. Instead, observe and adapt your shapes to fit your subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you only copy what you see you will never create what you imagine. I never saw the point of replicating a photo in a drawing beyond being an exercise to build observational skills. Why duplicate what already exists when you can interpret and adapt as you see fit?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Observational skills are important but not just for copying what you see. Use your observational skills to analyze your subject\u2019s unique shapes so you can reinterpret it on the page. That means you aren\u2019t copying counters of the body. Instead you\u2019re recreating a figure on the page from the ground up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You start by capturing its movement in a gesture, rebuild the figure three-dimensionally using basic spheres, boxes and cylinders, and then sculpt those simple shapes into anatomical forms. This is a very different process than just replicating what you see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You\u2019re combining what you see with your 3D knowledge of anatomy to recreate the figure on the page. This will not only help you to develop drawing that have a sense of mass but also will allow you to adapt and modify the figure to create something new. This is just a fun drawing to help illustrate that you need to understand the 3D shapes of a figure and then you can reassemble them on the page. This is a different way of thinking than just copying the contours you see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Takeaway:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The job of an artist isn\u2019t to replicate what he or she sees. It is to interpret what he or she understands. When drawing a figure, you bring in your knowledge of anatomy and volume to draw a figure rather than just copying contours and values.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To draw a realistic figure, you need to pay attention to accurately capture the figure\u2019s proportions and anatomy. This comes from both studying anatomy and having good observational skills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anatomy and proportion are important. But alone, they don\u2019t make for an interesting drawing. A figure drawing that feels like it has personality or appears dynamic is going to be more interesting than one that it technically correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let the anatomy and proportion take a supporting role to the underlying gesture drawing. Every step of your drawing should be to create a unified figure that has energy and attitude even if that means altering the figure\u2019s proportions or anatomy to better emphasize that action. This figure has exaggerated proportions \u2013 similar to those used in fashion drawing. It doesn\u2019t matter that it\u2019s not correctly proportioned if the decision to exaggerate is purposeful. You can find many examples of artists who distort and exaggerate proportions for stylistic reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Takeaway:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Drawing great anatomy helps artists create realistic-looking figures that appear to have actual mass and volume. However, the anatomy needs to add to the sense of movement of the figure and not distract from it. You must have the skill to be able to draw the muscles in 3D in order to modify and adapt the shapes and emphasize the movement and personality of your subjects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"2. Don\u2019t make muscles the focus<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Do use muscles to reinforce the action<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Gesture](\"https:\/\/s31531.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Drawing-anatomy-for-beginners_jeff-mellem_2-1024x770.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n3. DON\u2019T draw every figure with the same shapes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
DO observe and adapt to your figures unique build<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Shapes](\"https:\/\/s31531.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Drawing-anatomy-for-beginners_jeff-mellem_3-1024x605.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n4. DON\u2019T copy what you see<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
DO recreate what you see on the page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"3D](\"https:\/\/s31531.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Drawing-anatomy-for-beginners_jeff-mellem_4-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n5. DO pay attention to proportions and anatomy<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
DON\u2019T be overly rigid.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Proportions](\"https:\/\/s31531.pcdn.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/Drawing-anatomy-for-beginners_jeff-mellem_5-1024x1024.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\n\n\n