Koteri Kollege Lesson 3: The Body

Welcome to the final anatomy lesson for Koteri Kollege. After this lesson, we will focus more on how to use this knowledge to create dynamic posing for action scenes, and natural poses to convey characters in day to day life. If you've been paying close attention, you've noticed the past 2 lessons follow a 3 step regiment. First, we study the bones to understand the underlying structure of our characters. Next, we study muscles so we can convey a sense of realism and showcase our understanding of anatomy through our work. Finally, we test ourselves to see how much we truly understand. There are many ways to test our knowledge, but the method I've been using with you has been to use your memory to recreate the bones and muscles. At the end of this lesson, I will share with you another method to use. So let's begin.

PART 1: SKELETON

The rib cage is easily the most difficult set of bones to draw. If you attempt to draw one rib at a time, you can end up with a clusterf*ck of bones without any semblance of a ribcage. So start off by drawing the general shape of the ribcage. It can take a few tries to get it right, so don't stress. There are 12 ribs on either side of our body, and each rib is connected to a vertebra of the spine called the thoracic. 5 vertebrae beneath the thoracic are called the lumbar. 7 vertebrae are in our neck called the cervical. In all, we have 24 bones making the spine. All but 2 sets of ribs connect to the sternum in our chest. The 2 sets that do not are called floating ribs. Don't punch 'em. Stemming from the top of the sternum are the clavicles that stretch to the side and meet up with the scapula.

Exercise 1:
Draw the following images. Focus on getting the overall shape of the ribcage correct. That is more important than the number of ribs you can fit in there. Try to put in a decent amount of detail if you can. 

Drawing from photos of actual bones can be a little more difficult than drawing off an artist's interpretation.  However, it can lead to a more natural outcome. Avoid including the screws and bolts in your drawings, of course.

If you want to push yourself even further, render the bones like how you see in the images. The bottom image has fantastic lighting for practice. I did my studies using the soft ink brush. You can find that brush in my post from January 22. For those of you who prefer drawing digitally, that brush is very good at replicating a pencil feel.

Whenever you feel confused by what you see, refer to the labeled image below. Make it a habit to search something up if you begin to forget how it looks like, what it's called, etc.

Now take a break. Save the muscles for later. I don't want you getting burnt out. Like I said before, don't rush to finish this stuff as quickly as possible. You should be taking your time, making sure to focus on what you're drawing.

PART 2: MUSCLES

It might seem like a lot, but when it comes to the muscles of the torso, it's pretty straightforward. The superficial (muscles you see on the exterior of the body) anterior torso muscles are the pectoralis major, rectus abdominus, serratus, external obliques, latissimus dorsi, trapezius, sternocleidomastoid, and scalenes. Not that much, right?
For the back we have the trapezius, teres major and minor, infraspinatus, latissimus dorsi, medial and posterior deltoids, rhomboid major, obliques, erector spinae, and the thracolumbar fasciae which is a thin sheet of muscle that sits atop the erector spinae. I didn't include that in the image above, but you will see it in the reference below.

Exercise 2:
Draw the 3 figures from below if you haven't already done so during the previous lesson.
https://external-preview.redd.it/4pixG-qUFsnDVBEOnUwufDvAzDLy8koeXTDGlIrYT38.jpg?auto=webp&s=14c7bc7516bb3b0b0d0f4cfec7ee2514e0da5b05
Since we have studied arms and legs, learning the muscles of the torso shouldn't be a difficult task. In fact, I personally think arms and legs have a harder learning curve to get over than the torso. The 3 Hercules figures below are perfect even for expert artists who want a refresh of their anatomy knowledge. Is it going to take you a while to finish all 3? Hell yes! But we don't complain here at Koteri Kollege. We just learn and study. 

Of course, there are many key differences to keep in mind when drawing a female or male character. Later in the course, we will explore different body types, but for now, we focus on learning the bones and muscles. If you know how to draw a ripped bodybuilder, then drawing the average Joe or Jen will be a breeze.

PART 3: THE FINAL TEST

You've come a long way. You got the arms and legs down, and now you're in the home stretch. The previous tests relied solely on your memory. This time, we'll also be testing your eyes and imagination too. This test will be broken into 2 segments.
Segment 1: Draw skeletons in 4 poses.
1 pose will be from imagination while the 3 other poses will be using reference images.  Choose a mixture of male and female bodies. The goal is to imagine the skeletal structure beneath the skin and muscles. Look for athletes as they are easier to work off of.
If working traditionally, use a lighter pencil or pencil crayon for this section.

The drawings above used references from the following images.

Segment 2: Draw and label the muscles
Now that you have the bones laid down, we can move on to the muscles. On another layer or using a darker pencil, draw the muscles over the skeletons you just drew. This should require a culmination of everything you learned so far at Koteri Kollege. Once you have the muscles laid down, label them all. Knowing the name of a muscle or bone will guarantee a higher chance of knowing how it looks like when you attempt to draw the human body. 

Congratulations! We've finished the anatomy portion of Koteri Kollege. Show me what you've got done on the Discord! Keep studying and practicing the subject matter because even once you become a master, you'll still have those odd days where you forget something small. Stay tuned for the next lesson which should be very interesting for practically all of you. Peace!