Anatomytober
Many artists had Inktober, and I had Anatomytober instead. It all started three weeks ago when I was working on a 3D model of a human. I sent it for review on a 3D forum, and the pros criticized some anatomy mistakes I’d made. I decided to eliminate this gap in knowledge and started watching all the lectures on anatomy by Scott Eaton, which I highly recommend to anyone attempting to study anatomy for artists. His lectures are probably some of the best; he shows you CT scans of real people, shares tips on generalizing forms when you render your artworks, and turns complex topics into something extremely comprehensible. While watching the videos, I wrote down muscle names and did sketches, trying to memorize them all. I thought it would be quite boring, but I got so hooked and obsessed that I ended up spending 12 hours a day on anatomy exercises every day, sometimes missing phone calls, lol.
In addition, I’ve accumulated quite a collection of anatomy books and wanted to do a quick review for anyone interested in the topic.
I think the best books I’ve seen so far on the topic are Anatomy for Sculptors and Anatomy of Facial Expressions by Uldis Zarinis. These books were crowdfunded and published in limited quantities, although I managed to get my pirate paws on them. These books are super awesome because they explain the 3-dimensional aspect of general body forms, making them essential when digitally sculpting in any software.
Next awesome book is Dr. Paul Richer’s Artistic Anatomy. It’s a classic anatomy book, and most people know about it. I had the French version, and the illustrations are awesome. This book is suitable for everyone, but mainly 2D artists.
Last spring, I bought Anatomy for 3D Artists by 3dtotal Publishing. It’s quite a decent book, although it’s rather vague in explaining how to approach a complex subject like anatomy. Instead, it just presents workflows of famous artists, which isn’t necessarily very beneficial for someone just starting out.
In August, I bought Force Drawing: Anatomy by Michael Mattesi, but I just can’t grasp the author’s logic. It’s too complicated, and sometimes I find it insane. To be honest, I don’t know how to approach his workflow. I think the traditional way of memorizing everything part by part is easier, maybe not…
Everybody knows Loomis’ Figure Drawing for All It’s Worth - it’s epic and brilliant. Everyone should read it in primary school. And one of the sad findings for me this October was Barrington Barber’s Anatomy for Artists, which is basically plagiarism, and a really bad instance of it. It’s just a bunch of sloppy reproductions of Paul Richer’s work – truly poor reproductions…
That’s it. Now that I’m confident in my knowledge, I will proceed with modeling a realistic 3D character…
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