#again very sorry for letting your asks languish in my inbox for so long. adhd got me 😔

[droppingartintotheinfinite]

Do you use guidelines/have specific shapes memorised to help map out certain parts of the human body (if so what)?

Im trying to practice anatomy but I’m struggling with simplifying different body parts into shapes for something so I’m curious to know what you use :)

most of these tips are things i’ve picked up from assorted tutorials over the years, so i can’t claim credit for most of them, but this is how i usually break down anatomy. though honestly, my biggest tip would be to pull from real life. pose in the mirror and pay attention to how your body moves. if you’re struggling to figure out how long an arm should be, or big to draw the hands, check where they sit on your own body and base it off that. there are also a lot of good sites for finding photo references for poses.

i’m honestly pretty lazy with my anatomy, and i pretty much never actually draw it out like this. (usually i just draw the character in whatever pose with absolutely no base underneath and it comes out how it comes out lol) i do find it’s good to occasionally do some drawings where i pay a little more attention to anatomy, but even then i usually just do gesture drawings (short drawings where you focus on the Vibes of the pose and completely ignore technical quality. cannot recommend doing these enough they’re very helpful) to loosen up how i’m thinking about the body.

if you ever have the opportunity to do sketches of a live model (ie: a figure drawing class or something similar) i definitely recommend it. it’s not necessary (people will tell you it is, but i was doing art seriously for like four years before i ever tried it) but it’s indescribably helpful for getting the hang of anatomy. otherwise just look at a lot of photos and pay attention to what you see other artists do for stuff you struggle with. it is always morally correct to steal other people’s anatomy tricks!