How to study anatomy poses
How to study anatomy poses
When it comes to studying human anatomy and poses one thing to have in mind is the fact that you need to put in a lot of time and effort into it, but at the same time you should not put a lot of stress on yourself and have fun with the process.
In this blog article I decided to share about my process of sketching and studying anatomy poses, plus few resources for you to continue learning from.
I want to start of by answering this simple question that is often asked:
Why should I study anatomy or poses?
Basically the simple answer to this is that, it helps you draw better human figures, instead of ones that look like stick figure. But if you truely think about it, there are plenty of popular artists out there who have a very stylized art style where they draw their characters with weird or simplified but inaccurate anatomy.
Well in their cases they have found the style they are going for, but in most cases in terms of beginner artists or animators, we havent defined our artistic styles yet. In order to bend reality you first need to understand it. So if you study anatomy it will help you figure out creative ways to play with the shapes and forms to create your own unique style.
Another reason why you might want to study anatomy is to make your character look believable and grounded. If you are an animator, you will be drawing a human or an humanoid character a lot, so its important for you to understand the geometry and the forms of a human body, which will allow you to move your character and make him interact in the 3D world without making it look awkward or unnatural.
Alright, Now if you have decide to start practicing poses, then it should be your goal to draw a lot. Pick up a pack of good pose references from the internet and practice sketching them. Make sure you do not spend too much time on each sketch (Max upto 5 minutes). At this stage you are not looking for quality but quantity. You are training you brain to understand the critical nuances of the human body, and build a strong visual library in your head.
It would also be a great idea to try drawing a pose more than a single time. You can keep track of the poses that you liked and then redraw them again later after a couple days. Doing this will reinforce your brain into better understand that pose, and solidify it in your memory. This method is called SRS (spaced repetition system). You can also use softwares like ANKI to upload your references and draw them on the frequency given by the algorithm.
Another thing I would like to suggest while practicing your poses is to visualize them in 3 dimension. Basically visualize and breakdown the complex geometry of the human body into simpler forms like cylinder, cubes, and spheres. This will also allow you to redraw your characters pose from a different angle.
If you practice drawing with this technique over time you will eventually master it and you wont have the need to constantly draw boxes and spheres. Your brain would be capable of calculating the depth and perspective on its own.
Resources:
Finally I would like to share some links to resources that would help you in this journey:
Character designs:
has a library of great references that you can use to study your poses with.
Quick Poses:
Proko:
Line of action:
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