Figure Drawing The Human Skeleton In Action
In the drawing here the image I wanted was of a man wearing a raincoat. I imagined his collar turned up against the weather and his coat fluttering in the wind. This was such a clear, simple image that I drew the coat collar and the edge of the coat first. Once I had this image down I could see that the illustration would be most effective if I left out the man's feet. In this way the fluttering movement of the coat would become the main part of the drawing. All that remained for me to do to...
Introduction
This book is about drawing creatively. It will show you how to use your imagination to create drawings that go beyond what may be set up or posed in a studio and drawn from observation - in other words, how to create drawings that originate in the mind. This is not something that only the artistically gifted can achieve it is possible for anybody. When an artist is described as ' gifted',' talented',' creative' or' original', it is usually implied that his or her ability is very rare and...
T 1
The tubes of flexible material in which we encase our bodies are probably best seen as being a part of the figure itself, and the simple diagrams on these two pages show the way in which creases and folds occur in them. Factors which affect the shapes and creases include the style and cut of the garment, the weight and stiffness of the material, and the amount and type of padding which the garment may have. The way to understand fully how clothing behaves is through sketching and observation...
Structure And Proportion
This chapter deals with those aspects of human anatomy with which you will need to be familiar. You do not need to have a surgeon's knowledge of each individual muscle and internal organ, but you will have to know everything that affects the shape of the body and its surface form. This includes the skeletal structure, the principal muscle groups which hold it erect and activate it, and the distribution of fat deposits under the skin. Should you wish to study the subject further, there are many...
CHAPTER Wbk
In this chapter we shall look at a number of drawing exercises devised to help you towards your goal of good imaginative figure drawing from memory. They are aimed at consolidating the information so far presented and building on the familiarity you have gained with the human figure through your frequent use of your sketchbook. Each exercise contributes in a significant way to the development of the drawing skills you will need, and in the process will help you avoid the commoner pitfalls and...
Drawing From Life 1
Family make ideal subjects because they are readily available and will often be engaged in activities which do not involve a great amount of movement, such as reading or watching television. Most people are willing to be cooperative - and, indeed, find it quite companionable to be sketched as they perform some domestic chore like washing up. In order to maintain your subjects' willingness it is advisable not to take too long over each drawing. Virtually anyone can on occasion be persuaded to...
The Face
The playwright Christopher Marlowe 1564-1593 attributed the launching of a thousand ships to Helen of Troy's face and, although it seems unlikely that that portion of her anatomy was alone responsible for so much dockyard activity, few would deny the singular importance of the face in distinguishing one person from another. If presented with a few portrait photographs, almost anyone can be prevailed upon to give an opinion about the personality of each one, and these will show a remarkable...
DRAWING FROM LIFE Vap
Sketches done between 10.20 and 11.00 one night when I was waiting for a late train at Victoria Station, London. Saloon-bar sketches. If you use your sketchbook habitually it can provide you with an excellent source for picture composition and character reference. More leaves from my sketchbook -street scenes in London and observation. Don't aim for neat, tidy drawings arranged artistically on the page. That's not what your sketchbook is for. Aim to capture the character and posture of your...
C 1
The ten-frame sequence above is an excellent example of tension build-up and suspense. It was scripted by Jamie Delano, one of the most highly skilled writers in graphic narrative today. The man wearing the trilby hat in the first frame is already known by the reader to have murdered an entire family. In this scene, he lurks in a shop doorway after dark, waiting for the main character, John Constantine, to emerge from Morgan's corner shop, where he lodges. A little extra twist is added to the...
No Forward Articouwon Here 1
Upright posture is maintained by the sacrospinalis muscles in the back, which bind the spine tightly to the pelvis and hold the torso erect, and by the gluteus maximus muscle of the buttock, which holds the trunk upright on the legs. As we noted in Chapter 2, strong ligaments at the front of the groin prevent backward articulation of the thigh, while others at the back of the knee prevent forward articulation of the knee joint. In a normal standing posture, the hip is slightly forward of the...
Female Skoeton Rear View 1
The normal human skeleton consists of 206 bones, providing a mobile supporting framework for the body and a protective carapace for the vital organs. There are also the sesamoid bones, which are formed in tendons and do not directly connect with the others. These are not counted in the total of 206, and are not germane to our discussion here. The bones are bound to one another by tough, flexible ligaments. At the joints, each articulating bone surface is covered by a thin layer of cartilage,...
Anime Woman Sketch
The femur thigh-bone is fitted into the pelvis at a ball-and-socket joint which offers free forward movement with some sideways and rotary articulation. Backward movement can only be effected by tilting the pelvis. The bones of the neck are the seven cervical vertebrae that comprise the upper portion of the spine. The large muscles which affect the shape of the neck are the trapezius at the back and, at the front, the sternomastoids, which run from the back of the ear down towards the inner...
Male Skeleton Front Vievj 1
There are just over 600 voluntary muscles in the human body, but for our purposes here it is necessary to discuss only the larger superficial muscle groups which affect the shape of the body and are responsible for the movement of the limbs, and the rather more complex muscles which effect facial movement All these are referred to as skeletal muscles. Most skeletal muscles are attached at both ends to bones via tendons and act rather like tension springs, in that they are able to contract in...
Examples D
Opposite, top Facial expressions are achieved by movements of the soft facial tissue. Opposite, top Facial expressions are achieved by movements of the soft facial tissue. The musculature of the face is basically quite simple, although there are several layers of muscles which allow very subtle movements of the facial tissue, and thereby facilitate facial expression. These muscles are attached at one end to bone and at the other to the skin and its concomitant subcutaneous flesh. Pursing and...
Bibliography
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events, Otley, Smith Settle, 1987 Bordwell, D., and Thompson, K. Film Art An Introduction, New York, McGraw-Hill, 1979 Come Sketching, London, Studio, 1954 Braun, A.A. The Hieroglyphic Method of Life Drawing, London, Drawing Ltd, 1916 Broadbent, B.H. Sr, Broadbent, B.H. Jr, and Golden, W.H. Bolton Standards of Dentofacial Developmental Growth, St Louis, C.V. Mosby amp Co., 1975 Cassells, B., and Lowden, I. Clancy's Casebook, Edinburgh, Oliver amp Boyd,...
I Cqc
As always, weight distribution affects the compensatory movements the body makes during running. The soldier at bottom right swings the heavy gun he is carrying to left and right to keep his lateral balance over whichever foot is in, or about to be in, contact with the ground this ensures that he doesn't fall over sideways. His centre of gravity is not, however, vertically above the supporting foot at any moment, as it would be if he were standing still and lifting alternate legs his whole body...
THE FIGURE IN ACTION Wya
Although we shall not always have athletes as our subjects, it is useful to understand how they achieve greater speed and power in their movements through more completely coordinated action. In less effective action, fewer muscles are brought into use and they are less well coordinated the movement looks clumsy and ineffectual because not all the limbs are involved together. The body conserves energy by using fewer muscles. A person walking in a tired or lazy way, as shown in the drawing above...
I Gou
The rocking motion of the pelvis in the female figure tends to be a little more pronounced than in the male owing to the greater width at the hips and consequent slightly wider set of the legs. When a baby first begins to walk, almost all its concentration is focused on maintaining balance, because the head and torso account for so much of the total body-weight. So the arms are held out and up, and the child 'toddles' precariously along. But later, as the legs lengthen and strengthen, balance...
Clothed Models Drawings
Sketchbook pages showing drawings done at Ottery Jazz Festival, Devon, England. In selecting the illustrations to accompany this section I have used pages from my own sketchbooks. Many of them are reproduced here about the same size as the original drawings, which were done in either ballpoint pen or 2B pencil. I deliberately looked out some old sketchbooks dating back to a time when I, too, was a virtual beginner in order to remind myself of the problems and difficulties I encountered. As I...
Graphic Narrative
Graphic narrative, or what is commonly called comic-strip, uses words and sequences of images in tandem in order to tell a story. As an artform it lies roughly at the crossroads between literature, illustration and cinema, having much in common with all three and containing elements of each. It is like literature in that it is concerned with telling a story, like illustration in that it uses drawings to give visual information, and like cinema in that it uses a combination of words and images...
Info Qhy
Above Illustration from Brother in the Land, Left Illustration from Black Jack the Footpad, Above Illustration from Brother in the Land, Left Illustration from Black Jack the Footpad, Another way to make a feature of one part of a composition is to give that part greater liveliness and contrast. Any single area in which there is a concentration of contrasting shapes or tones immediately attracts the eye. The centre of interest may be 'framed' by other picture elements, so isolating it within...
Although Not Necessarily In The Centre Of The Picture Are It Is What The
You, the artist, govern the way in which a picture is viewed. You control what is seen first, how the eye of the viewer travels round the picture, and what is perceived as important. With careful planning and organization, any figure or object in the picture can be given special prominence or played down, and aspects of character and mood can be emphasized. The first thing to decide upon is your centre of interest. This is the object, figure or group that is the main subject of the picture -...
Ectomorph 1
Although Albrecht D rer 1471 -1528 made a number of carefully measured studies of differently proportioned men and women in the early 16th century, he appears to have found no particular pattern to the range of differences he discovered. Long before, the Greek physician Hippocrates 460-377BC had recognized only two distinct kinds of human body the phthisic habitus, or tall, thin physique the apoplectic habitus, or short, thick physique It was evident to later investigators that this did not...
CHARACTER AND EXPRESSION Lhc
To describe this subtle and profound means of communication. Desmond Morris's books Manwatching 1978 and Bodywatching 1985 are popular classics in this field. Our ability to read the feelings and attitudes of our fellow human beings is probably better educated today than was generally the case in the past, and consequently we have to beware of emphasizing too strongly the message contained in the body-positions of the figures we draw. This page Sketches tor Mandamus, written by Bernard King....
PICTURE COMPOSITION Lwv
Left Illustration for an advertisement. Copyright ECC Quarries. Below The team arrives in Istanbul -illustration from Canon, written by Melvyn Bagnall. Left Illustration for an advertisement. Copyright ECC Quarries. Below The team arrives in Istanbul -illustration from Canon, written by Melvyn Bagnall. If you are a man of average height, your eyes will be about 1.7m 5ft 8in above the ground, so your eye-level line will be roughly where it is shown in this first picture when you are standing...
Endomorphic Ectomorph
Sheldon recognized that most individuals show evidence of any two or all three of these components in varying degrees, and devised a system of scoring, from a minimum of 1 to a maximum of 7, for the amount of each component evident in any individual. By always putting these score numbers in the same order endomorphy first, then mesomorphy, then ectomorphy , every human body could be categorized in a significant way by a three-figure number. A pure endomorph, as shown here, would be designated a...
