Simplifying for the Bone Test

Understanding the bones to memory can be difficult and intimidating.  The point isn't to copy the skeleton, but to understand the form, the plane breaks and the relationship between the bones (joints). Here are some more great examples that I found of the bones and how to draw them simply and with accuracy.  Check out the original blog to see what the author has to say about this exercise!  Another cool link the author mentions is here.  This is a link to a website that you can play with the layers of the human anatomy from 360 degrees around the body.  Kinda neat, keep in mind for second year studies as well.  It may come in handy for the muscle test!

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Pelvis Nightmares.

It feels like it was just yesterday, when I was in college studying for my bone test.  The dreaded bone test was something I miraculously aced.  Notice I am completely cocky about this fact.  It is not an easy test.  I studied my ass off for this test.  I drew for weeks prior to the test.  I drew the joints;  the knees, the collar, the shoulders, the elbows.  Over and over and over again, I would draw and dissect the pelvis.  If I remember correctly, the night before the bone test I had the most vivid and horrifying dream about being attacked by pelvises.  Imagine Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds.  Only in my dream, the birds where flying bat-like pelvises.  It was obvious that I was stressed, but I think in some sick way, my brain was helping me out.   While I was sleeping, I was still envisioning pelvises rotating from every angle, coming towards me.  I'm sure the adrenaline had lots to do with the retention.  I rarely remember where my car keys are on a daily basis.  But, that morning, I stormed the bone test and got myself a glorious A.  

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Life Drawing: Tis the season for Bone Studies

Studying the skeleton and knowing it's proportions, joints and form is fundamental to life drawing.  Life drawing is fundamental to animation.  The Pelvis is the most complicated bone in the human body.  It's not an easy task to simplify the pelvis.  It is one of those things that takes practice drawing over and over to commit to memory.  

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"Essentially you can see it as two plates at angles to each other - the illiac masses - connected at the back by the spine and at the front by the pubis bones. You can visualize it as a box within the body, or as a sort of butterfly shape. You can think of the pelvis as the keystone that bridges the legs and supports and balances the spine above - you can also think of it as a basket that holds the guts and sex organs. It expresses itself on the outer form subtly, as arcs that curve down towards the groin in the front. Huge bunches of leg muscles attach themselves to the iliac ridge from below, and the abdominal and oblique muscles from above." [source]

Due next week.  10 Pelvis studies from the skeleton in the studio (not from text book)

Below are some examples of studies done by other animation students:

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