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Description

Yes, the diagram looks terrifying and you may not think learning muscle structure is necessary, but humans are merely a layered cake of bone, muscle, fat, and skin; even if you’re drawing someone in baggy clothes, muscles tell you exactly how they’re shaped. Now let’s draw some people!

Muscle structure. This muscle map will show you exactly how muscles are shaped, what they’re named, and by understanding how muscles work, how each will change in shape with the movement of the body.

As seen on the far right, muscles are bundles of fibers that use tendons to connect to bone and most have a football shape though the length, width, and thickness will vary. When a muscle flexes, its fibers slide past each other making the muscle shorter and thicker- depending on the bones its attached to, it causes the body to move in a certain way.

Bones. Some parts of the body have little muscle which cause the shape pf bone to show through. The purple areas on the skeleton and bodies on the right show bony parts of the body. Some areas like the collar bone, sternum, top arc of the pelvis, upper arm, and ribcage (especially the top portion) show up on people with less muscle and body fat. The shape of the shoulder blade and upper spine show up on pretty much everyone. Also note how indents form in the space above and below the collar bone.

Body types. All people, men and women, have roughly the same muscles and bones; the only differences are really in muscle size and definition. Muscle without fat makes muscles highly defined, muscle with fat makes muscles very undefined, a lack of muscle and fat make bones defined, and women have a different distribution of fat than men do concentrating more on the legs and hips than the upper body. A quick note though- having a “6-pack” is not very common; it only exists in people with defined rectus adbominus and almost no abdominal fat stores; just a heads up.

Layering. Parts of muscles overlap (I’m only drew the most superficial muscles, by the way). Here are the muscles elevated to show overlap: the deltoid overlaps the tendons of biceps and latissimus dorsi; Sartorius crosses along the quadriceps; the glutes cross the tendons of the hamstrings, etc.

Application. The best part about learning human muscle structure is that you can apply the same groups when drawing animals (only deuterostoma like fish, mammals, reptiles, and birds; not simple species like starfish or arthropods like insects) they only vary in size, shape, and orientation (such as animals having “backwards” knees in hind legs). You can even add muscles to draw biologically impossible six limbed creatures like centaurs and dragons.

And remember, as a human, you can always use your own body as a reference. Good luck!

Description

Yes, the diagram looks terrifying and you may not think learning muscle structure is necessary, but humans are merely a layered cake of bone, muscle, fat, and skin; even if you’re drawing someone in baggy clothes, muscles tell you exactly how they’re shaped. Now let’s draw some people!

Muscle structure. This muscle map will show you exactly how muscles are shaped, what they’re named, and by understanding how muscles work, how each will change in shape with the movement of the body.

As seen on the far right, muscles are bundles of fibers that use tendons to connect to bone and most have a football shape though the length, width, and thickness will vary. When a muscle flexes, its fibers slide past each other making the muscle shorter and thicker- depending on the bones its attached to, it causes the body to move in a certain way.

Bones. Some parts of the body have little muscle which cause the shape pf bone to show through. The purple areas on the skeleton and bodies on the right show bony parts of the body. Some areas like the collar bone, sternum, top arc of the pelvis, upper arm, and ribcage (especially the top portion) show up on people with less muscle and body fat. The shape of the shoulder blade and upper spine show up on pretty much everyone. Also note how indents form in the space above and below the collar bone.

Body types. All people, men and women, have roughly the same muscles and bones; the only differences are really in muscle size and definition. Muscle without fat makes muscles highly defined, muscle with fat makes muscles very undefined, a lack of muscle and fat make bones defined, and women have a different distribution of fat than men do concentrating more on the legs and hips than the upper body. A quick note though- having a “6-pack” is not very common; it only exists in people with defined rectus adbominus and almost no abdominal fat stores; just a heads up.

Layering. Parts of muscles overlap (I’m only drew the most superficial muscles, by the way). Here are the muscles elevated to show overlap: the deltoid overlaps the tendons of biceps and latissimus dorsi; Sartorius crosses along the quadriceps; the glutes cross the tendons of the hamstrings, etc.

Application. The best part about learning human muscle structure is that you can apply the same groups when drawing animals (only deuterostoma like fish, mammals, reptiles, and birds; not simple species like starfish or arthropods like insects) they only vary in size, shape, and orientation (such as animals having “backwards” knees in hind legs). You can even add muscles to draw biologically impossible six limbed creatures like centaurs and dragons.

And remember, as a human, you can always use your own body as a reference. Good luck!