Creating and piecing together the body is similar to putting together a jigsaw puzzle or playing an enjoyable game of Tetris. Individual shapes snap together to form a larger shape. Check out the following topics, which are all about building the body:
✓ Bone structure, shape, and proportion: Understanding the essential proportion of the human figure helps the artist not only measure the head-to-body ratio but also establish how large or small other figures need to be drawn in situations in which you can see more than one figure. Learning every bone structure of the body isn’t important for understanding the overall structure. Instead, identifying specific “landmark” points, where the bones and joints protrude out of the body, is more essential. I explain what you need to know about bones, shape, and proportion.
✓ Assembling a stick figure: Resist the urge to think of the stick figure as a crutch or symbolic substitute for drawing the human figure (like a hangman). Sculptors create a stick figure (commonly referred to as armatures) out of wire as a base around which they build the figure form. I also demonstrate how to use the stick figure as a basis to draw and build basic geometric body shapes.
✓ Muscles: If you thought the number of bones in the figure was mind-boggling, check out just how intricate the muscle groups are. My objective there is to group the smaller shapes of muscles into larger shapes.
✓ Depicting the body in motion: Regardless of how accurately you draw the figure in a still pose, applying body rhythm and motion is what distinguishes your figure from a stiff mannequin. I explain how to draw realistic figures with movement.