Learning to Draw the Torso

When beginning to learn anything new, one must first figure out how the form would look simplified before moving in to add details. The human torso, or core, can be broken into 3 segments from the front. You have the chest region, then underneath is the abs and obliques, and then finally there is the groin.  The chest is made of the pectoralis major and pectoralis minor muscles. Their purpose is to push. The abdominals, obliques, and serratus are meant to contract your body, and allow you to twist from side to side. Knowing the purpose of a muscle lets you know when to add definition to that certain muscle, such as my example bottom right, where the chest has striations caused from being used to push.

The back can also be broken into 3 parts, although the trapezius, latissimus dorsi, teres major, teres minor, and infraspinatus muscles don't move freely from each other so you could also just say that there are 2 main parts for the back. Beneath that is the erector spinae, 2 tubular muscles that surround your spine and give support, and the obliques which can also be seen from the front.

More importantly, figuring out where the origin and insertion points of a muscle are helps with understanding the form much better. The ribs are the foundation for the core and where most of the major muscles connect to. When creating a character, especially from a side view, ask yourself: "Can I fit a ribcage into this characters core?" Because I often time see beginner artists drawing flat looking characters.  

WHAT TO DO?

There are many methods to developing your character creating abilities, but one of my absolute favourites that benefited me the most was using the bean bag method. Imagine the core as a bean bag, as it is easy enough to draw a bean bag that looks like its carrying mass, and not have to worry about certain details. Once you've become more adept at drawing bean bags that not only look like they carry weight  but also hold character.

https://line-of-action.com/

Visit this website. It is a life drawing site that I used often if I couldn't make time to go to a life drawing class. Only doing 30 sec - 1 minute poses, begin drawing the models but only focusing on the shape of their torso as a bean bag. Gesture in the arms, head and legs if you want, but that's not necessary. Do this for 3 sessions, each 30 minute durations as you should complete around 30-60 drawings in that time. Once you've become comfortable with the bean bag approach, start gesturing the character. DO NOT do poses more than 2 minutes. Longer poses aren't important yet if your main objective is to develop your basic anatomy skills. Trust me, this might be more than you thought you needed to know, but it's barely scratching the surface.

Keep up the hard work!