NOTE: I have already done similar sketches for the skull and rib cage. This is what follows from that, drawing the shoulder bones and arm bones.

A couple of things to note of what my mindset is when I'm doing these drawings:

• I'm drawing the bones over a model reference.
• Trying to keep the shapes as simple as possible
• Paying attention to show the shapes of the bony landmarks (example: epicondyles, deltoid tuberosity)
  • I'm drawing just enough so that I can note how the bones connect, which sides the Ulna or Radius should connect with the Humerus and the Wrist.
    I have noted the drawings numerically to see how I've improved from one drawing to the other. You can see the change in my observations, from simpler shapes to more a detailed drawing. w
    
    When it comes to anatomy I'm currently following anatomy videos by Proko, and simultaneously using Stephen R Peck's Atlas of Human Anatomy for the Anatomy (why does it have to be such a long name?) and Michael Hampton's Figure Drawing books. I'm studying the muscle structure as well, but I think its best to first be comfortable with drawing the skeleton before starting to layout the muscles.

Then I'll follow up with the pelvis and leg bones. I'll probably leave out hands and feet last, as they are probably the hardest to draw and also my weakest points.

A couple of sketches I did about studying the spine and its relation to the skull, ribcage and pelvis.

Spent the entirety of the last week continuing with anatomy by practicing the pelvis. The first 2 drawings were drawn as explained by Proko, but I felt as though it was little too simple. From the 3rd to 5th are the from Stephen Rogers Peck's book of Anatomy and how he explained (very detail oriented while breaking down the landmarks and points of consideration). All of these starting from the 6th are drawn on top of reference models, with a mix of male and female. It became pretty clear after a while, you really don't need to know all the details but instead knowing where the landmarks and the variations in the genders were good enough. I think I definitely went overboard with trying to nail certain details.

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Instead of trying to draw as many dynamic poses as possible, I thought I'd take a crack at drawing the default pose using Marc's anatomy proportions layout. Its basically the same as the Loomis method, except I prefer the Cranial by Robert Beverly Hale.
You can definitely notice my lack practice when it comes to muscle anatomy especially in the abdomen area. Having watched Rey Busto's class on anatomy, I'm familiar with where the origin/insertion points are and what are the general shapes of the muscles. The most difficult area to nail was at the point where the Serratus, Obliques, Lats and Pecs overlap. I should definitely do more drawings that is specific to my weaker muscle points instead of sketching whole poses.
Another of my mistakes (or lack of awareness), was correct scaling and by that I mean when I first sketched the male figure, the body overall was very narrow. This probably due to the fact I've gotten a lot more comfortable drawing female than male anatomy, and subconsciously sticking to the proportions of drawing the female figure (example: the ribcage is two cranial units wide, but in the male its usually 2 and half cranial units, to account for the wider thoracic arch). In this case however went with one and half cranial units wide for the female and two cranial units wide for the male. There's definitely a lot more I learned from this, but I don't want to drag this out for too long.

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Its been a while since I posted here. I took a month's break travelling back home. Taking a break was something I didn't realize that I needed but it helped me reflect on the work that I was doing and how I need to slightly shift my direction. I was gone for the month of August and here are some of the drawings I did in July (it was quite the slow month, thus the need for a change). I feel as though doing these gesture/figure drawings didn't really help in as many ways as I would have liked it to. I was expecting it to help me understand anatomy and its motions, but instead I think I need to focus on separate muscle groups as I find myself often going back to the anatomy resources or even forgetting things that I haven't learned because I haven't put enough time focusing on different anatomical parts.

Value/Portrait study. I often get distracted from completing a painting when I get lost in trying to recreate the reference as it should be. This was a painting I started last year but gave up halfway through as I found the overhead lighting rather difficult AT THE TIME. I came back to this a month ago and was able to finish it up without much difficulty. I think I could have done more with rendering the hair, add highlights and give it better form. Rendering hair (especially short and messy) is definitely one of my weakest points.

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Another portrait drawing. At this point my goals here are values and rendering. I think the complexity of facial features make for a great exercise in practicing rendering form. Obviously it is important that you are able to breakdown the forms into simple 3D shapes when in the drawing phase, which for some reason I still prefer doing traditionally. Surprisingly one of the hardest features to render for me is the nose.

Thank you! I highly recommend looking up Mike D. Mattesi's Force: Dynamic Human anatomy. It's not cheap but its well worth the price, I'm only a few chapters in, but it has tremendously helped in understanding how to make lines that have purpose. As for the pelvis, you can thank Proko for that. I may have gone overboard with the details for a skeletal landmark that barely has an visibility through the skin.

I haven't done any digital work for quite some time now because I've been spending time studying perspective theory. So I thought I'd try doing some master studies. This is my first time at it, so I'd thought I'd try studying someone who's work I really admired but also simple to approach. I grew up watching Batman: The Animated Series. It was so different from anything that was airing at the time and Bruce Timm was probably the first artist whose style was etched in my head. I started with the Joker. I also made a video for the entire process, it's a bit lengthy but I hope you guys take a look. I should definitely try and shorten the time but that shows how less confident I come across when working digitally compared to sketching with a pencil. Here ye go!

I wanted to do these studies (more coming) because for the longest time I've been studying from references and trying to draw them as realistically as possible with very little creative effort. And that can be daunting. I wanted to take a break from doing anatomy and perspective studies and just have fun with it doing a study. After all that's the point of it right?

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