The English philosopher Francis Bacon said, “Knowledge is power,” and that’s certainly true for artists: Understanding something well gives an artist more power to create what he or she wants to create. Over the years, I’ve often known figurative artists who wanted to take their art in certain creative directions but who kept hitting a dead end because they didn’t really understand the basic anatomical elements of the human form. Then, when they acquired this knowledge—to whatever degree they felt was sufficient—their figurative work was transformed.

For an artist, anatomical knowledge shouldn’t be an end in itself. Instead, it should inspire and enhance an artist’s creative work. When artists take the guesswork out of anatomy and truly understand the body’s structures and mechanisms, they can open up to a more intuitive level when solving certain problems in their figurative work.