Anatomical Forms and Movement
The portrayal of the human figure has gone through numerous transformations over the last few thousand years. Just by taking a stroll through a museum, leafing through an art history textbook, or searching the Internet, you can witness firsthand the incredible variety of such depictions.
Moreover, most people are still captivated by the realistically depicted figures of Greco-Roman art, the Renaissance, the Baroque and Neoclassical periods, nineteenth-century academic art, and the revival of classical realism in the late twentieth century. Training for budding artists of the past included artistic anatomy as a required discipline, enabling them to fully comprehend what goes on beneath the skin and to portray the human figure in a convincing manner. But by the early twentieth century, classical realism had lost its footing. A new generation of artists had grown tired of the traditional manner of creating art and chose to investigate new and different approaches.
As always, however, the pendulum swings back. Some artists nowadays have an insatiable desire to reinvestigate the traditional aspects of figurative art. This new surge of interest can be gauged by the many classical ateliers sprouting up in various parts of North America and Europe, and by the fact that some art schools and art departments are again offering artistic anatomy as part of their curriculum. Galleries and museums are exhibiting contemporary classical figurative artists more frequently, and the digital film and gaming industries are creating demand for artists who possess the anatomical knowledge needed to create computer-animated figures. Once again, anatomy has become an essential part of an artist’s training.
The subject, however, seems to perplex most artists at the beginning of their artistic anatomy training. One reason I wrote my first book, Classic Human Anatomy, was to help demystify this complex material. My intention was to provide simplified yet medically accurate descriptions of the various anatomical structures and to help artists learn anatomical terminology by including the Latin or Greek origins of anatomical names, their synonyms, and their pronunciations, presented phonetically. The book also contained origin and insertion diagrams for each muscle and many descriptions and depictions of muscle movement, as well as a large, in-depth glossary.
This new book, a companion to the first, is intended to create a bridge between the anatomical material and the organic quality of the living model. Written in an artist-friendly style, it is illustrated with hundreds of drawings, including many life studies (from both quick and longer poses) and charts and diagrams showing the various anatomical and structural components. I divide the book into thirteen chapters, each one focusing on a different aspect of anatomical structures or a way to infuse a sense of vitality throughout the drawn forms.
PROFILE STUDY OF A YOUNG WOMAN
Graphite pencil on toned paper.
The general theme throughout the book is movement. But one cannot fully understand movement without a fundamental awareness of the anatomical forms, and so this book addresses the characteristics of bones, the mechanics of joints, and the location of various muscle groups as a preliminary step to examining movement per se. Toward the end of the book, the study of movement is introduced from two different approaches: (1) conveying a sense of movement within depictions of stationary figures, and (2) depicting actual figurative movement.
Chapter 1 explores the primary bones—their locations and their surface landmarks. Bones provide the framework to which the muscles attach, so learning about the bones and their placement in the human form is the first step toward understanding how the body moves.
Chapter 2 focuses on the various joints and their movement. To fully understand movement, artists need to become familiar with the mechanics of the joints—their limitations as well as their capabilities. This knowledge is especially helpful for animators.
Chapter 3 introduces the basic traits of the skeletal muscles, their general locations in the body, how they attach to bones, and how they maneuver the joints when they contract. Tendons are also introduced, with a focus on their characteristics and how they influence the surface form.
Chapters 4, 5, 6, and 7 present more detailed information on, respectively, the muscles of the head and neck, the torso, and the upper and lower limbs, including the hands and feet. For the most part, I group muscles according to their region or function, for easier learning. Life studies are often accompanied by diagrams showing the muscular breakdowns of the poses.
Chapter 8 probes beneath the skin to see how the subcutaneous layer—which is positioned over the muscular layer—greatly influences the overall surface of the body. This chapter introduces body types, as well as the various surface form landmarks—the eminences, depressions, furrows, and folds that are observable throughout the body. The influence of fatty tissue on the surface form is also discussed.
Chapter 9 explores the structure of poses, demonstrating various ways to set up the preliminary armature, or framework, of a figure before adding the detail of the anatomical forms. Working with structures is a valuable tool for artists who work from memory or imagination. The planes of the figure—the geometric breakdown of the surface forms—are introduced at the end of the chapter.
Chapter 10 presents different approaches to gesture drawing. Gesture-drawing techniques give artists the ability to indicate the action of a pose very quickly. A list of pros and cons reveals the advantages and disadvantages of various ways of practicing gesture drawing.
Chapter 11 explores ways of recognizing indications of movement—subtle or dynamic—within stationary poses, looking at turning, tilting, tipping, and twisting actions in the head, torso, and full figure. The axes of movement are discussed, as are two types of contrapposta poses—traditional and dynamic. Finally, the chapter examines how to find the line of action within a pose.
STUDY OF A MALE FIGURE TWISTING WITH ARMS REACHING TOWARD THE RIGHT
Graphite pencil, ballpoint pen, watercolor wash, white chalk on toned paper
Chapter 12 investigates ways of conveying a sense of rhythmic movement within the forms of a drawn figure, giving the elements of a composition—forms, shapes, tones, etc.—a sense of continuity and interconnection.
STUDY OF MALE FIGURE SITTING ON FLOOR
Graphite pencil, ballpoint pen, watercolor pencil wash on toned paper.
The book’s last chapter, Chapter 13, provides a basic introduction to the mechanics of walking and running, followed by a series of exercises for studying actual moving figures. These are not meant to be authentic animation techniques, but merely ways for artists working in all genres to strengthen their figurative skills through the practice of drawing figures in motion.
SITTING SKELETAL FIGURE
Graphite pencil and white chalk on toned paper.