Foreshortening...

Here's an excerpt from "Dynamic Figure Drawing" by Brian Hogarth, regarding foreshortening, and how it can seem like quite a feat for the amateur figure artist. I am trying to understand this book, because it teaches how to become inventive with the form, something that is crucial for an artist interested in the human body, as you will not be able to have a model holding a dramatic pose, or being suspended in the air with arms and legs flailing and depicted in illusional deep space. If anyone wants to see tis book write me a comment and I'll bring it to school. Hogarth writes:

"Most art students- and too many professional artists- will do anything to avoid drawing the human figure in deep space. Walk through the life drawing classes of any art school and you'll discover that nearly every student is terrified of action poses with torsos tilting toward him or away from him, with arms and legs striding forward or plunging back into the distance; twisting and bending poses in which forms of the figure overlap and seem to conceal one another; and worst of all, reclining poses, with the figure seen in perspective.

These are all problems in foreshortening, which really means drawing the figure so that it looks like a sold, three dimensional object which is moving through real space- not like a paper doll lying flat on a sheet of paper. Drawing the figure in deep space foreshortening is not a mere technical trick, not a mere problem to be solved; it's the essence of figure drawing as perfected by Leonardo, Michelngelo, Tintoretto, Rubens, and other great masters of the Renaissance and Baroque eras."

Our Model Group Discussion

Ryan- Seperate the longissimus, and try to make it a bit thinner, as it is one uniform band, rather than a flat sheet like you have it now. Try to round out some of the spinal erector muscles, either by trimming the edges, or by adding little leech-like bands and smoothing them out around the form. You could probably go without some of the minute details of the muscle fibers and strands, because it tends to flatten the forms as we view them. It might be more beneficial to just be viewing the structure of the muscles, and to imagine the strands and fibers are there.

Mark-Try to use your tools to clean up the forms, and round them out so we can clearly observe where they meet and how they relate. The muscles in the upper neck get a bit bulky- try to imagine skin over some of these areas and how they would be protruding and how you can make it seem to be one structure consisting of several forms, rather than a bunch of different objects. Take a good look at Amy's model and some reference material, and observe the proportions and relationships- especially in these very complex and difficult areas like the spinal erector set. 

GENERAL NOTE- The spinal erectors will now be referred to as the erector set...

and try to get a comprehensive anatomy book which illustrates the 3 dimensionality of the muscles in relation.(pop-up anatomy book...) It's really difficult, using these atlases when there are no diagrams explaining how muscles meet and relate. If any of us finds one, be sure to bring it to class on the clay-building days, I think we could all use another perspective besides Amy's model and the atlases.

Chelsey- post your models and we'll comment on them over this blog. 

Jake- You should thin the muscles out in the thigh and lower back in some of the areas where it seems to get a bit bulky. The external oblique should meet the ribcage, and the abs should meet the obliques, in a more gentle and less geometric and clumsy fashion.

Hip Studies

Caravaggio Amor Vincit Omnia c. 1601-02 Oil on canvas 75 1/4 x 58 1/4 in (191 x 148 cm) Gemaeldegalerie, Berlin

Andrea Mantegna
Dead Christ
1470-1480
68x81 cm
Tempera on Canvas











Michelangelo
The Fall of Man and the
Expulsion from the Garden of Eden
1508-1512
Fresco

Seeing Forms as dynamic objects

I've posted some pictures from "Dynamic Figure Drawing" a book I picked up a while ago. It tries to teach the artist to view forms of the body as shapes which can recede back into space. Starting out, it talks about the barrel form (egg) of the upper torso, and the box of the hips. These are a bit different from the types of observational drawing we've been doing, but I know that since I've been in life drawing, I find it much easier to invent realistic looking body types, though I still have a long way to go. Life drawing is demanding, complicated, and frustrating at times. Determination is the only thing we have to keep expanding our knowledge of human form. I want to illustrate and write a graphic novel (or novels), and I'll study this book more to become able to invent the human figure. If you've taken pres tech too, you'll see some similarities between some of these drawings and the utilization of 3-dimensionality drawn all the way through the form.

Graphic Novel Top 10

1.The Watchmen, by Alan Moore (if you don't like graphic novels, read this- you will change your mind, it's the only Graphic Novel on the Time's 100 best novels of all time, and undisputedly a masterpiece of literary complexity and stunning visual magnificence.)

2. Akira Series (1-6) by Katsuhiro Otomo (Ridiculously detailed pen-work, and amazing drawings of the figure in space and motion)

3. Batman: Year One by Frank Miller

4. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller

5. V for Vendetta by Alan Moore

6.Maus I & II by Art Speigleman

7.League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (I and II)

8.Sin City Series by Frank Miller

9.Ronin by Frank Miller

10.300 by Frank Miller

What I need to Read Eventually

Sandman Series by Neil Gaiman

Swamp Thing by Alan Moore

From Hell by Alan Moore

The magnificent Everprogressing, evercomplex ClaaaaayMan

This is a close-up of some of the more detailed muscles of the spinal erector. You can see the small spinalis cervicis and the bulkier spinalis capitis connecting to the spinal column and back/center of the head on the left. Some of these little muscles were difficult to perceive in harmony, and my first attempt was a mishmash of small chords. After Amy showed me some diagrams and her model, I was able to understand the spirals and curves important to these muscle's relationship with one another. This view illustrates the spiraling nature of the longissimus cervicis and capitus, and the iliocostalis cerivicis  as well as the top portion of the longissimus thoracis. This twisting mass up toward the skull gives us the ability to spin our heads on an axis, but are limited by the flexibility and length. I was having difficulty building these at first, because I didn't have any reference images. Next time I build, I will be sure to have an anatomy book of some sort to refer to the relationships between the muscles, something that is not presented in detail in the muscle atlases we are using. To get the curves and twists, I suggest building onto basic forms while they're on the model with small pieces of clay. Rather than actually trying to twist the muscles or build them with a twist, you can use overlapping and variation of width to suggest a curve or twist. I tried not to get frustrated because I know if I have to do something over again, then it's just giving me a better understanding, and helping me to memorize some of these forms (and maybe even the names.)

I feel my best tool was my hands, rather than cutting out the exact shape, I found it resourceful to smooth and construct the clay with my fingers, using the cutting tools for minor details and connections. Fingers work better than anything for smoothing out the clay. It would be helpful to have a few little tiny ones on my hand for work like this, but evolution has prohibited me.  

Here is a view showing the External obliques, and how they rest on the hip and form is a delicate curve over the gap between the ribs and hips. This muscle was especially hard to build because it is so large, and I wasn't exactly sure how thick it should be from the side. Looking at diagrams however, I think I did a pretty good job, I could use some thinning out in areas along where it attaches to the angle of the rib. This muscle flexes the lumbar toward the front, and also compresses the abdomen. The rectus abdominus were also difficult to build and understand the shape, since they are a bit complex in structure, what with the separations. These are used to compress the abdomen and depress the ribs, similar to the external obliques. The external obliques were frustrating at first, but i used some trimming down to give them shape, and I think they've turned out alright, I'de like to see what Amy has to say. This clay building is a great learning opportunity, as the models will not only be there for reference, but when they are even gone, I hope I can remember these complicated forms for drawing. I have been picturing the obliques especially in my drawings to fill in the curve in the gap between the ribcage and the hips. This process overall is making me more confident and effective in my figure studies and sketches.
The large muscle is the longissimus thoracis, this powerful muscle, along with the triangle shaped iliocostalis lumborum, protect our organs and spine at the gap between the ribcage and hip bones. They also allow us to flex the lumbar vertebrae, and the more limited thorasic vertebrae. 
A miniscule portion of the quadratus lumborum, tucked under the external obliques.  I need to emphasize the two triangles of it, something I didn't pay attention to when building. This muscle laterally flexes and extends the lumbar spine.
Another shot of the external obliques and abdominis as well as the front of the longissimus capitis and iliocostalis cervicis.

10 Minute and 50 minute drawings.

Three Things Different Between Amy's and My Drawing.

1. Amy has a delicate control of line weight in the frawing, I feel mine is a bit heavy handed at times, I could use more control of that thin charcoal.

2.I'm trying not to fill in, and absorb as much information as I can about the structure in the 10 minutes, but I always seem to draw the ribs as a oval, I'm not getting as much of it's structure as in Amy's drawing.

3.

I couldn't seem to find the drawing of the same pose as is in Amy's, but I chose another  10 minute piece from the same day. I don't seem to get as carried away in some of the 10 minute and 15 minute drawings, so I focused more on the axis lines and structure.  The thorasic curve is undulating up the form, but I think I placed it a little far left relative to the hips. The proportions look correct to me, but the egg shouldn't be shown from more of a 3/4 than a straight on back perspective. Line weight is important to show emphasis and give a sense of depth, and I should have been more sparse with my application of dark marks, and utilized atmospheric perspective with more contrast. The most important anatomical  landmarks were the anterior superior iliac spine and the egg. The relation of these two is what I am having problems with in most of my drawings; when the gap of the waste is too large, I begin to stretch every limb and the figure is lengthened. This drawing takes better advantage of the space of the page than my 50 minute did. It is on a full 18x24, and placed in the center of the picture plane. I really enjoy these studies most of the time, I anticipate actually composing drawings that don't sit centered in a frame, but I know now it is essential.

I wasn't feeling too inspired in class today, and it shows in these drawings. I kept on fidgeting with the form (which I should be doing) but I was having a tough time paying attention and connecting my lines with the structure of the body. One thing I need to get away from is the idea of the ribcage as an egg form. I always seem to stop there, and forget about the actual shape of it, other than just an egg, I seem to be perceiving it as a full oval throughout the torso. My line weight was in attempts at becoming varied, but I spent a good chunk of my time during the hour reworking and talking with Amy about some different choices, and landmarks I could be utilizing. Like I said, I need to study the form and structure of the hips and ribcage, because I am building most everything off of these points. The second drawing is more clear, I think, and these landmarks are more evident. The drawing sits in the picture plane, but I left out most everything but the torso. The pose of the model was strange from my view, I could hardly see the legs tucked under, and I knew they weren't really too important so I left most of that out.