: How to study anatomy as an artist? 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

@Murray664

I've found out that to properly learn anatomy slightly depends on what you want to do. For example, anyone can figure out (eventually) how to draw a model from a photograph in full detail with the correct values and also get their anatomy right while at it. A bit harder to do with a model in real life however (cus they move, and they won't just stand there forever) however you will face a problem, for many years you will never be able to draw proper anatomy without a reference. This may be perfectly fine for some (besides, drawing from reference instead of imagination enhances quality by quite a lot anyways), but for others like those who want to eventually be capable of drawing from imagination, this won't do at all.

Drawing from reference is absolutely vital for studying anatomy and understanding how the muscles move (be it photographic reference or life drawing) make no mistake about that, but the approach that makes most sense to me is this:

Pre-Requisite: You have to have a basic understanding of perspective, to test this see if you can (without reference) draw a 3/4 cube as seen from below and from above, if you can do this on first try you're almost good to go, if not, practice perspective with cubes and cylinders before you move on. If you cleared the 3/4 cubes on first try, next try to draw 2 cubes, one directly above the other so that the bottom side of the top cube is convincingly pointing down at the top of the other cube, this way you can be sure whether or not you have this basic understanding of perspective.


Draw gesture drawings from references (photographic or life) until you manage to get the scale and proportions roughly under control. (Train your eye first before you start following books) really take your time with this one, it is not so weird to need to devote an entire sketchbook just to picking this one up, it can be really hard for those who don't know it. If you do not know how to do gesture drawing, look it up (watch Proko's youtube video about it) and then go to a website or an app (like quickposes.com) to automate the process a little bit. (Seriously though, Line of action is where it's at, just remember that and eventually it'll all make sense.)
Get an anatomy book (Figure drawing for all it's worth by andrew loomis is a classic, it's available for free too) and study the skeleton first learn how the bones look from front, rear, side and 3/4 (and draw them) skull included. You do not have to be too precise, you want to capture the overall form of the skeleton and not the intricate details of the bones, your focus is especially on how it can and can't bend and what would show on the surface of the body. (You can learn the details later when there comes a time where you want to draw an army of undead or something)
Learn about every muscle that may sometimes be seen through the flesh in the human body and draw them as they look attached to a body and from the various angles/orientations available.
Finally, learn to put it all together and draw it on a body, don't forget about the flesh that's sitting on top of muscles (most people aren't gonna be toned like Schwarzenegger you know), so go and do a long series of figure drawings (from reference!!) and pour all your anatomy knowledge into it, draw as many figures as you can from as many angles as you can until you feel satisfied.


This is what I believe to be the fastest logical way to learn anatomy by heart and yes, learning it by heart is necessary, because whether you always draw from reference or from imagination, for references, your anatomy knowledge will make the human body and pose much more readable, you can see every muscle, and every muscle you don't see you know it's still there, so your deepened understanding of the human anatomy will allow you to copy it more accurately and perhaps more importantly, compensate for error more accurately (for example if you draw an arm in a slightly different location than in the original pose you will know how that affects the body.

Similarly if you want to draw from imagination, the more you know the more easily you can draw it right, and after hours (read: months) of hammering it in from step 4, you will be able to do this without even thinking about it. You will put the muscles where they belong out of habit and that is what those who want to draw from imagination should really be aiming for.

After this it doesn't get any easier though as you will have to find new techniques and tricks to draw the musculature better/more convincingly, not to mention shade them correctly.

No matter which type of artist you are, if you're in a hurry to learn anatomy, don't just use a book, don't just draw from reference till you get it. Combine both to get the best of both. But others have been saying, at some point you need to draw from life and not just from photographic references, you'll learn a lot more this way. The camera turns the 3D to 2D on a flat plane, whereas our eyes see 3D in unfiltered 3D. It's just not the same thing at all. Do memorize all the muscles and bones, do study from photographic references while doing it, but your next step after all the aforementioned steps I mentioned should indeed be to take life drawing classes to further your understanding of the human figure even more.

My final tips are


Don't forget the anatomy of the head/face, it's just as important as the rest of the body.
You're going to forget some muscles (maybe even some bones) so every once in a while revisit your anatomy books and look for things you may have been forgetting or just don't remember well enough. The less you draw, the more you'll forget.
It's not gonna be perfect on first try, over the years you'll develop new techniques to draw the muscles better, and you may even have to revisit anatomy studies at some point and repeat all the steps again to complete your understanding of the human body after a few years.

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@Hamaas979

This tutorial I found works wonders. I used a lot more actual, real life anatomy references though because a lot of the ones provided on this to help you are drawings from artists and i feel the real deal always works better for me. sirwendigo.deviantart.com/journal/Anatomy-Lessons-How-to-improve-faster-in-6-steps-352477228

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@Miguel516

To add to what's above:


check your drawings in a mirror. You can catch a surprising amount of simple mistakes this way.
Focus on gesture, basic shape relationships and proportions and balance before looking at details.
Practice actually measuring relationships between parts. In life drawing you can use your mahl stick, a pencil -- at home use a ruler or the edge of a scrap of paper. Check distances between parts from actual source [ statue, nude, picture ...etc. ] and try to transfer to your drawing. There are instructions online as to how to do this in practice. Measure angles as well.
How does each part flow into the next? If no flow you've probably jumped too fast into the details. Avoid details as long as possible. Get the shapes and scaffolding right. Worst and most blatant beginners' mistake of all time!
In case it was missed above: Don't focus on details like muscles and shadows until you have captured the basic shapes and structure/gesture of the figure. Delay the instant gratification of a well-turned ankle or bicep until you have seen the relationship between the angle of the collar bones to the angle of the pelvis. Set the eyes in proper relationship to each other before indicating the cornea, reflections ...etc.

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@Si6392903

An oldie question. But I hope new resources.

It is fundamental to understand some basic anatomy, not only muscles but skeleton first of all.

My aproach for this question is:

1) Understanding the basic "hero" proportion of 8 heads:
www.google.com.mx/search?q=stick+figure+human+proportion Just draw stick figures. There are a lot of "drawing comic tutorials" But stick to the stick part for a while.

2) Drawing from real life.

A good exercise is to draw someone in just a minute. Practice just half an hour everyday and you will have 900 drawings in just one month... Draw from real life, go to a park and draw!

Draw in big sizes. At least a letter sized paper.

3) In this digital era we have some nice resources:
www.daz3d.com/v4-skeleton www.daz3d.com/michael-4-muscle-maps
The aplication itself its free. And thoose packs are good enough. Far better than the clasic wooden figure.

Do not spend too much time learning the aplication, just use some of the free poses and rotate the camera... Draw, draw, and draw.





Use it to draw just close ups, for example a shoulder, a close up of a hip, etc. Or you will get intimidated by all the muscles.

4) Shading

This anatomy is basic to understand shading.

The good thing of a 3d program is that you can play with the light to see volume.

Draw tin can people. People made of cylinders and balls but shade it.

5) There are some interesting youtube resources

Look for "1 minute posing" add the words "nude" and "artists" to find diferent results.

6) Live classes

Do not underestimate a live class. Somethings can be learned in a cold internet page, but this artistic skills are a good excuse to go out and interact with people, and get constructive critiques.

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@Turnbaugh909

I dont have the ability to fiy figure sessions in right now, so I use instagram pretty heavily to practice drawing people. Specifically I follow some strippers and pole dancers, as theyre about as nude as you can get and they also include dynamic poses. I should also note I follow both male and female.

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@Shelley591

Should I try to imagine the muscles beneath the skin while i draw nude figures?


Yes.

That is a key part of figure drawing. Understanding the framework that everything is built upon.

As for how to get better, the many suggestions for technique books are great. Beyond that, it's practice, practice, practice, practice.

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@Fox8063795

Not sure if this would be doable for you, but consider this: start with a drawing class (intro, advanced, or both in sequence, or as a refresher if you've done that already) Find out if in your area there are any 'open studio' type live drawing sessions you can attend and practice at. For quite a wile I attended them where I live and they great. found 3 of them them to participate in. One on Sat. morning, Wend. and Thurs. in the evenings. One on Thursday was a good 45 mile drive. Sometimes they're hosted by museums or local art centers, colleges also. It's a really, really great experience and great atmosphere.

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@Eichhorn212

No book you can buy or advice you can get will replace the experience of drawing from real pyhsical models.

The thing is, drawing from references like books or other drawings can help you understand how the drawing has to look. For example, looking at a drawing you might realize how incredibly weird lines can run with a certain perspective distortion and how they look drawn.

But that is not the real knowledge you use when trying to capture or imagine an anatomically correct figure. Only looking at something physical and transforming it to lines on paper will really train this skill. Things that I can personally recommend:


croquis drawing sessions; that means, one posture from a model every 1-5 minutes, so you train your ability for fast perception and naturally inforces drawing from big to detail, not the other way around
ask friends, family to pose or draw them while they watch TV, draw strangers on the bus, in the coffee shop, at the mall, anything and anyone that is in a place for more than 20 seconds can be your model
drawing other real life objects and situation
in drawing sessions, make a point to try out different approaches and pay attention to different things(books might recommend some more) for example: figure - ground, light - shadow, weight and tension, draw with your left hand, draw without looking at the paper, draw with materials that you don't normally use, draw with a single line only
take a look at what you have drawn a week after you've drawn it to identify what is off and what is spot on; you might redraw from your drawings

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@Samaraweera207

I'd recommend you start with what most potential (if such a thing exists) start with: Naked people :)

This sounds quite simplistic, but it does work. Instead of a book on human anatomy, I'd recommend you go to your local library and grab everything you can find that has people with few clothes in it.

Sculpture books are great for this, because the lights and shadows are usually more obvious. Just look at these two, you can see every single muscle:



Renaissance and even religious paintings are also good, angels and saints with great poses in them. Even the faces are interesting (and a challenge):



Photography books are great too (again, nudes). Once you get all these different variations the body can have, you can try with real people and real poses. This is something that works for me, it doesn't have to apply to you too, but I'd recommend you give it a try.

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