This week I will share with you a small summary on the different ways you can learn human anatomy.
So let me explain you what advantages and disadvantages the different approaches have:
- Reference/anatomy books: This is a good and often cheap way to start. You can either buy a book or you can simply go to a nearby library/friend and borrow one (I recommend Gottfried Bammes, Bridgeman and Andrew Loomis). You can even get some good books for free (and legally) on the internet. Learn some theory on the human body and then you will start understanding and using reference better.
- Videos: You can learn a lot from videos too but don’t expect them to be as thorough as books. On the other hand you are given a nice explanation with real models!
- 3D images: It’s always nice to have a video of a body part but it’s even better to have a 3D model you can turn and scale whenever you like! In order to use this option you’ll either need a CG (Computer Graphic) program and a model or you can use some video games with 3D character gallery, but make sure the humans are realistically proportioned (that’s why it’s a good idea to learn some theory first!)
- Nude life drawings: Honestly, I can only recommend you this after learning at least the basic bone and muscle structure of the human body. Most of the times your model’s muscles aren’t going to be that prominent so you’ll be forced to sketch something you don’t really understand. You should use nude drawings to consolidate your knowledge and get a better feeling of proportions and motion.
- Figures: And finally one really good reference in my point of view. Although you can’t use figures for motion studies you can see and feel the bone/muscle structure. It’s really a different experience than with CG models. Additionally figures can have more pronounced muscle areas than real humans in nude drawing courses.
Unfortunately real good figures are expensive and hard to find but here’s a little trick: You can buy an action figure and use that for reference! But you have to be really careful to pick a realistic one. Here are some examples:
Raiden (MGS4) All rights reserved by Konami.
Raiden (MGS4) All rights reserved by Konami.
A rather bad example with unclear muscle flow
Please don’t forget that it’s always best to try as many different approaches as possible! Learning the human anatomy takes a lot of time and experience and you can use any help you can get 😉