by AmarieA

Created on: October 31, 2009

Understanding anatomy is the first and most important step when attempting to draw the human form. Much like building a car or a home, the inside of the human body determines the shape and form of the outside. If you do not take the time to learn the internal structuring of the body, you can never fully understand the exterior.

The human form is supported with frame work ,otherwise known as the skeletal system. To begin drawing a figure you must first understand the placement, proportions, and limitations of each bone and joint in the human body. Each time you begin a life study drawing you must sketch the "movement" of the skeletal system. However when setting up your drawing the skeleton does not need to be detailed in any way. It's purpose is to capture a snapshot of the pose from an internal point of view. A simple way to start is with determining the direction and angle of the spine. A curved line in the style of the figure will be enough to build upon. Once you have that the rest is actually very easy to place. Of course at the top you will need to a skull. nothing detailed, a simple oval with a jaw attached will suffice, however you will need to draw shapes to mark the ocular cavities to later draw brow lines and eyelids. Next find the angles of the hips and shoulders. To do this draw a line from left to right, that marks the high and low points of the both (the same is done when drawing the back except the line is used to help place the shoulder blades which are best drawn as triangles). From there it is easy to draw simple circles on the end of the lines for a shoulder marker and a butterfly shape to define the hip area / pelvic bone. Simple lines and circles to show the placement of the bones and joints in the arms and legs are all that are really neccesary to move on to feet and hands. These really only need to show the form of each apendage. So draw each hand as though it was wearing a mitten and how each finger would morph into the next. The feet can look like they're covered with socks, just as long as you are able to see movement in each one.

From this point it is very important that you have studied the muscalar system. All the shadows and curves of the body are the result of how the muscles attach to and move in conjunction with the skeletal system. Again, nothing is detailed about this process. all you need are basic shapes to define the silhouette of the body. The best place to begin is with the torso, primarily the pectoral muscles. They

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