How to study anatomy as an artist?

Question

I am painfully aware that nearly all my paintings and drawings seriously lack in terms of proper anatomy. The figures ofen look unnatural, twisted, deformed etc. More advanced colleagues told me I need to work on my anatomy.But here's the problem: how do I do that?What can I be doing to help my practical understanding of anatomy and the ability to apply it? Cause I studied some anatomy textbooks and I have an idea of the bones and muscles of the human body, and I can tell the difference between the lats and traps. Still, I cant apply it to have realistic looking figures and heads.What should I be doing? Drawing skulls and then faces on them? Painting over skulls on faces? Same for figures - should I be drawing bones on photos / well drawn figures? Should I be drawing the pics from anatomy books? Are there any others I should be doing, that I cant even think of right now?I want to have a practical understanding of anatomy, I even bought some books (like Tom Flints & Peter Stayners anatomy for the artist), but I dont really know how to use them! There are just some cool drawings of people in different poses, but no actual advice on how to practice it and learn it!**edit**:Also, besides advice on *what* I should be drawing, I would welcome advice on *how* I should be drawing. I mean the things i should have in mind while studying. Should I be trying to envision the form? Should I try to imagine the muscles beneath the skin while i draw nude figutres? Or maybe I should be trying to simplify the forms? These are just examples of the type of advice I would like to recieve. Please note, I want to study anatomy in order to be able to draw anatomically correct figures from my imagination later, when Im more advanced. This will probably affect the way I should be studying anatomy. Making an analogy to studying rendering forms and lighting, I was once told: "mindlessly drawing just what you see wont help you improve your rendering skills for imaginative objects. Try to think about why a shadow is placed where it is and why is it shaped so, why os it soft or hard, where the reflected light comes from etc".

Answer 1

A really good person to talk to about drawing anatomy is a guy called Danny Quirk - look him up online (Danny Quirk Artwork) - He paints anatomically correct diagrams/etc on live models and his work shows the way the body moves.

As for how you can get your drawings to look more realistic and less 'contorted' take a picture of a person (like a real one, if you want) and draw the muscles over the top of it on a transparent paper. I can show you some drawings I did in high school, which depict athletes doing their sport and there are cutaway parts of the body that have muscles drawn instead of continuing the drawing of their clothes/body. Another thought is to go simple - get one of those wooden posable figures - they simplify the shapes of the body to give you a better starting point for drawing a person.

You may also find classes in your area (at the community college or even at a community center in some places) where you can learn about how to better your work in anatomical drawing.

Answer 2

You should definitely do all of the things that have been mentioned so far. I have a few ideas that may also help you in this area. For the most part, seek out life drawing workshops and good references.

Look for a Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School in your area!

http://www.drsketchy.com/

They have live models that pose, nude and clothed, and it can sometimes be a fun freak show! You can find life drawing models at many local colleges as well. $10 - $20 for a 3-4 hour sitting is a reasonable price. My local Dr. Sketchy is $7 and is hosted in a bar with live music. FUN! It's especially valuable to draw with other people, give critique and get some in return, watch how other people draw, how they make marks, how they use different techniques you may not have seen before. I love watching students draw because everyone is different. It's quite amazing; like a fingerprint. Only into a week or two of a semester I can identify a students' drawing even if it doesn't have a name signed on it.

Find a Figure Study tool that you like:

https://line-of-action.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/

You can choose to have timed images of nude and clothed models and filter by gender. This is a great way to practice gesture drawing while warming up at home.

Use Body Kun / Body Chan posable models:

https://bodykun.com/

These are very popular with my students that are into drawing anime. I've seen it improve anatomical drawing incredibly and I enjoy using them myself. They are a bit expensive but you may find a good deal on Amazon; anything under $100 is a good find. They come with changeable hands, props and a container that doubles as a pose stand.

Go to a used bookstore and pick up a copy of the classic Gray's Anatomy Illustrated Manual (it has nothing to do with the television show). Then, work at illustrating your own version of the book. My college professor's idea of a fun couple of semesters was to illustrate our own version of each plate in the book. It was brutal but the best thing to study as an architecture student. We mostly focused on the skeletal and muscular systems because that's what we're drawing when we do life drawing but I also enjoyed looking at cross sections and multiple views of things that weren't angular architectural elements so it helped me to look at things differently and draw more organically. A great experience.

Let us know if you find something that truly inspires you and helps improve your art.