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slyeagle — Anatomy from WIP
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Published: 2009-04-27 07:43:20 +0000 UTC; Views: 2194; Favourites: 18; Downloads: 38
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Description
I initially flagged this for nudity, but then I realized that you can't see it unless you click, log in, etc. So, unflagged now. It's not like I drew in the naughty details.I could use this for a full sort-of tutorial if there's interest, but for now feel free to download as is to use as a reference.
On the anatomy here:
The average person is supposedly seven heads tall. I dropped the correct proportions there in the back to show what they should be, as I purposefully draw people with over-large heads and exaggerated faces. The character drawn here is a dark elf, hence the ears and large eyes. I must say that, to date, those are the best feet I have ever drawn. There is a mistake and that is that the upper right arm is too long - it's the right length for if the arm were hanging free at his side, but it should be fore-shortened given the angle. This figure isn't meant to be nude on completion, so the thumbs are tucked into invisible pockets in invisible pants, rather than disappearing into his pelvic bone.
On the piece itself:
This is a first pass at a model sheet for Than from my webcomic . As it happens, I have model sheets for exactly none of the characters, which I intend to fix post haste, especially since my style has evolved some while I haven't been drawing it. This particular sketch here will not continue as the model sheet for Than, at least not for the early chapters. The face is a bit too old, making it great for later chapters, but not the current ones. I've been working on my masculine anatomy a fair bit during my hiatus from the comic since I don't have much time to draw (slowly being able to draw more per day), and I think that it's showing a lot of pay-off.
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Comments: 18
Have you worked as 2D animator? The blue pencil is popular at this job...
I think the 7 or 8 head proportion is good for show the height of the character.
A 7 head prop. character looks like about 170 cm high,
and a 8 head is for 190 cm. A pro. basketball player may be have the 9 prop.
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Thank you for posting this. I'm drawing my guy OC, and it's hard to go from drawing manga girls to manga guys; and this helps a lot.
-Holly
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I read in a number of my anatomy books that the proportion of a person was eight heads...is that the classical scale, then? And I've always wondered why your characters' heads were so big, but since you were so good about the rest of the anatomy I figured there was a reason.
This makes me want to bust out my anatomy books and start rethinking how to draw better anatomy. That and your recent critiques have got me in needs improvement mode.
I'm glad that you're getting to drawing again more. I've missed seeing your art!
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The so-called "ideal" proportions you find in art texts commonly list eight heads, this is true. But a woman who is eight heads tall has got to be, like, 6' 8". (Marvel and DC comics often have artists that even go to nine heads.) Eight heads has always looked freakish to me. Probably because, yes, the average human is seven heads tall (and a quick trick: three when sitting). I don't know if the classical scale has anything to do with it, but if you look at anything by Da Vinci or Michelangelo, you'll see they both use the seven head scale. I've been studying a lot from Mich (and would from Da Vinci too should I find a decent book of his art) lately, and Muscolino's Musculoskeletal Anatomy is a medical text that I'm constantly referring to. I also have a secret weapon when it comes to drawing Than and those would be some photos of my brother that I took when he was 16 - he kindly posed for me in his boxers, and for obvious reasons I cannot share.
In short, I don't trust art books much. 
And yeah, over-large heads. Usually I draw a character 6 heads tall to the ankles, thereabouts, and reserve the full seven for taller characters. The reason for this is they are characters, and their expressions tell the story and so I want that to stand out. I had another reader ask why I don't feather the eyebrows out, since I do hair so realistically. Same reason - the shapes are easier to read.
Also, on your Marie pic (I've red-markered the anatomy, but the window perspective is giving me trouble still), the anatomy was mostly fine. It was just one arm was deformed and the other too long. I also tried to help show why you were having problems with her face. I'll throw it up in my scraps when I get that ledge right and drop you a note.
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That's interesting. Then I wonder why it became ideal? If even masters like Leonardo and Michelango don't use them.... Oh well. Actually, it'll be easier to change to seven heads, because eight heads isn't all that, well, natural to me and I always wondered why my drawings always felt off when I count heads. To be honest, there was only one of my anatomy books and I think Tracy who told me about the eight heads...I wonder what my other anatomy book says out of simple curiosity, it's by Jeno Barcsay...but I haven't looked at either of them in a long time. >_> But I suppose it would be a better idea to use a medical text. I'll look into getting the Muscolino that you mentioned, if only because art is art and perhaps being more scientific is the way to go, at least to get a sense of how the muscles connect. My major weakness, which shows how little I've trained in technique, but better late than never, I suppose. I've found using Muybridge's photos are useful for sense of motion, but they're so small and obscure, I don't feel that I should be relying on them all that much. The only other thing I'll be getting soon is the Simblet book because as far as I remember there were lots of photos in there of people...but the trouble with getting books on my own is that I'm never certain which ones would be better and more useful. I, uh, don't want to rely on google for nudes for obvious reasons. *shudders*
Heh, I probably shouldn't trust art books as much as I rely on them, even though they were "tailored" to the artist. Nothing really beats referencing the real thing.
I would have thought the eyebrow thing would be more intuitive for readers...it was pretty obvious to me. The emphasis on the expressiveness of their faces works for me.
I saw the note and the corrections. I'll comment there. 
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On the eight heads ideal, I dunno. But if I were to hazard a guess... I'd go with the legs are supposed to be four heads tall, but that's to the top of the femur. People might've decided that it was more symmetrical for the legs to end at the crotch, and you had equidistant space from top to bottom from there. But just a guess. With a straight back, I can tuck my knees up to my armpits. If I try to imagine the mass away, I don't think if I folded perfectly in half that my head and my heels would overlap. >.>
I dunno, really. The first time I heard about the 7 or 8 head thing was from my mom when I was...twelve? Ten? I don't recall. She explained it to me, and ever since then I've been measuring with my fingernails. Every time the 7-8 thing comes up, I start measuring every person I come across.
The book: [link] - I do not have the $60 text, just the $20 coloring workbook that goes with. The text has more info, but the workbook has illustrations where everything connects to what and what happens when it's flexed (and cutaways, so you can see all the non-surface muscle groups that are ignored by art texts but are ever so important!), so as an artist rather than a med student, it's perfect.
As for finding nudes to work with, no, I wouldn't trust a google image search, but why not hunt around here on DA? There are tons of very talented photographers who shoot nudes. Although finding good male nudes is a challenge. [link] [link] A lot of photographers shoot motion too. Also, you might try watching sports casts. Maybe even taping them so you can do your own stills and slow-motions.
Not all my readers are artists too, so I guess things like the eyebrow thing are less intuitive.
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I was taught that the male body is about 8 heads tall and the female body is about 7 heads tall. Women tend to both be shorter and have larger heads than men. Not that I'm any expert on anatomy.
Have you ever heard of ^Cedarseed ? She has some of the best human anatomy guides I've ever seen. I'm sure you know most of the basic info already, but her guide to human types is exhaustively researched:
Basic guide to the human body: [link]
Movement and flexibility: [link]
Guide to Human Types Parts 1, 2 and 3: [link] [link] [link]
Human Types Addendum (eye/hair/face/etc types): [link]
Emotions and Facial Expressions Chart: [link]
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Okay, so I'm impressed with the human types set. And you'll notice that she changes the 8 heads rule to 7-8 heads for caucasian men only in them. Just sayin'. I still don't believe in 8-head men.
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8-headed hydra men! LOL, sorry, that's totally the picture I got in my head. It was scary.
I usually draw people around 6-7 heads tall myself, when I actually bother to think about it. That doesn't change the fact that I was taught 8 for men, 7 for women, however correct it may or may not be!
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I don't believe in eight-headed men either. >.>
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I dunno how "exhaustive" the research could be if she's still going with the eight heads tall. I've never seen a person eight heads tall in my life, so far as I know. Except maybe that 6'5" kid in high school, but I don't have him handy to measure. As soon as I saw your comment I asked my husband to lie on the floor so I could measure him (he's 6 ft.), and he's almost perfectly seven heads tall. You've got to like...ignore the jaw or something. I mean, seriously. Look at a skeleton. Can you really fit that many skulls under its chin?
In my experience, gender doesn't play a role in the head/height ratio, although some individuals have larger or smaller heads. There's also individuality in the torso vs. legs length (just look at Michael Phelps. HUGE torso, itty bitty legs). Female arms tend to be proportionally shorter (or legs longer), so while as Da Vinci was famous for showing that the human male wingspan is equal to their height, human females tend to have shorter wingspans compared to their height.
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I think the key is that the "ideal" man is 8 heads tall. It's probably a Western ideal... and with typical Western superiority we assume that the Western ideal is correct. Also, we tend to like people with slightly unrealistic proportions. Which is why it's possible to draw anime characters with legs up to their giant eyeballs and people think it's sexy when it should really look grotesque. As you probably noticed from Cedarseed's Human Types set, she changed the proportions - sometimes drastically - to accurately represent the variety found in reality.
Such things are really guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Personally, I find "odd" looking people more interesting, and feel a greater urge to draw them from life. Perfect, ideal people are a little boring as subjects, though it's always good to have a firm grasp of the ideal so you know what you're doing when deviating from it. Not that I'm very good at it yet myself. You're way better than I am!
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Applause!!! She's drawing again!!! Keep on her, Luth.
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Right, because Captain Slacker Luth had anything to do with it. No, it's the other way around. I'm trying to get her to draw again. If anything, you should be saying, "Keep off her, Ben."
*resent, resent, resent*
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They're kinda there. Shouldn't be too hard to imagine. >.>
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lol. it's not the same!!! xD still, it's very lovely.
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