Human Anatomy for Artists and How It Helps

When it comes to art and drawing, there are certain areas that people have trouble with. Some people have trouble with still life, some have trouble with nature and others have trouble with depicting humans.

We see humans every day. We live with human bodies every second of our lives. But who actually knows, and we mean, really knows their own body? There is so much to the human anatomy. We live with human bodies, but so much of our own bodies are still a mystery to us. Since we do not take the time to understand our body, what it’s comprised of and how it works, it can be difficult to get the body right when it comes to depicting it through art. There are so many little details that go into the human anatomy that it can be a challenge to get them right.

Learn more about human anatomy and how you can apply it to art with this course. Features in this course include basics of proportions and how to simplify the skeleton. After that, you will learn where all the muscles attach on the skeleton through a simplified muscle map. Additionally, you will learn how the various muscles change when the body is in different poses, as well as where fat builds up and the different body types we have as humans. This is a great introduction to understanding anatomy and how it applies to your art.

Drawing Humans Realistically

There is a point in every artist’s career where they try to draw the human body and something doesn’t turn out the way they envisioned it. One arm or leg might be longer than the other, an eye bigger than the other, the head too big or too small for the body. There are countless ways that one small detail can derail the art you are trying to create. This is why you need to have a solid understanding of your subjects. This includes how they look, how they move and everything that makes up who they are. For all living creatures, these things are bones, muscles, skin, the anatomy of a creature. Humans, however, are much different from other living creatures, for obvious reasons you can see. And each person is different from the next, too. So not only do artists face the challenges of drawing humans, they also face the challenges of the different types of shapes and sizes, male and female, that humans come sin.

Breaking Up Anatomy into Shapes

the most simple thing you can do to understand human anatomy in relation to art is to break up the human body into shapes. If you look at the head as a small oval, the arms and legs as elongated ovals and the body as a larger oval, you have a blueprint for a human. When you start out by drawing these ovals, you can then take a step back and make sure everything is proportionate. Is the head too small for the body? Is it too big for the body? Are the arms longer than the legs? Are the arms equal length with each other? These are the questions you will need to ask yourself before you start filling in all the details. What this outline does is it helps to prep you for your drawing or painting. Before you do anything too permanent, it gives you a base to work with. If you make a mistake or draw the human form disproportionately, you can go back and easily correct these mistakes. Once you are confident with your proportions, you can go on and fill in all the details. If you want to learn more about figure drawing, you can head over to this blog. This entry teaches you how to draw figures in poses, how you can use photographs for reference and how you can use lighting to your advantage.

Sculpting the Human Body

There are many different mediums when it comes to art. Some people prefer painting, some prefer drawing and other prefer sculpture, just to name a few. For those who use sculpture as their main medium, they can use the shape technique to create a base for their sculpture’s body. With clay, you will be able to have a better understanding of how weight is distributed because you are working with 3-D materials. Remember stick figure drawings? You can use that design as a basis for the core of your sculpture. From there, add on more clay to make the body shape and size you desire. When it comes to sculptures, however, clay is not the only material you can use. A lot of artists dabble in 3-D graphics and need to know how to build anatomically correct humans in their graphics. A program many use to do this is called ZBrush. There are many ways you can create a lifelike, 3-D sculpture with this tool. To find out all these different ways, you can take this course. In it, you will learn how to create muscle structure, how to design realistic anatomy and all the other intricacies that are involved when a human body is your subject.

Abstract Human Anatomy

Abstract art may not depict humans realistically, but it still showcases human features that we know and recognize. In fact, it takes certain features and exaggerates them at times. Another reason why knowing human anatomy is helpful for any kind of art. You will still use the basics of human anatomy to apply toward abstract art, but you will also need to learn the different styles and techniques abstract art uses to show humans in an entirely different way. Learn more about abstract techniques and how to depict a human face in an abstract manner with this course. In it, you will learn all the techniques used when it comes to abstract painting, specifically focusing on how to paint a face in an abstract manner. A lot of abstract techniques are similar to caricature drawing, but without the cartoonish lines. Both forms play up a person’s prominent features, so knowing the intricacies of the body’s anatomy can help you to notice those prominent features and how to play them up.

Learning Art from Others

Part of becoming a better artist is learning through others. Art is something that is always changing and being tested. There have been many periods of art throughout hundreds of years, with each artist showcasing their own style or even creating a new style. In order to learn and grow as an artist yourself, you need to understand those that came before you. If you learn the challenges they faced, the techniques they used and the training they went through, you will better be able to understand yourself, your art and even improve on your art. There is a reason why art history courses are offered in nearly every college. Because knowing art’s history is just as important as creating the art itself. Brush up on your history, or even dive into art’s history if you have not yet done so, with this course. In it, you will learn about art history from the Renaissance to the 20th century. It’s a long span of time, but some of art’s most important pieces were created during this time. This course allows you to learn more about them and get you more ingrained in the art world.