[Critique severely needed] To Become Good At Anatomy
I've been sculpting for quite a while as a hobby. But my problem is, I'm a ruthless perfectionist. I start something, get halfway through, see the flaws, hate it, and scrap it. But I'm not skilled enough to fix the problems. My knowledge is insufficient, and technique to implement my knowledge just as bad.
So, I want to get better, so I'd like it if people could tear what I post here to shreds in the name of improvement.
I've been working on a female model right now; I'm especially bad at them, so I wanted to practice. But it's just not good. It's not working. I haven't added the arms or legs yet; I'm terribly rusty at them, since I've been trying to work out how to sculpt torsos properly. This just isn't right, but I can't seem to work out how to fix it. I want to make it right, and then make the arms and legs to a sufficient standard that I can complete it.
Particular things I'm especially awful at...Pectorals/Chest. I don't really understand them on women; they're pretty much hidden by boobs and fat on references, so I don't really understand how I should approach them. Hips - I'm awful at establishing them. Arms - the way the deltoids attach, and the biceps,
I am trying, but I just can't seem to get a grip on it. I'm grateful for any criticism and guidance.
Replies
If you cant understand part of the body next time you take a shower took 2 min to look it on yourself
As you could probably see from gif below proportion/relation and balance are out of whack so focus on that first ,if silhouette looks weird something is wrong !
Thank you. I do have a bad habit of fixating on details while missing basics, gah. I've tried making adjustments according to those. Still need to fix the shoulders, though.
I also will study more about the ribs, because they bother me.
Great start!
You can use daz on an extra screen as ref while you work. Best part is being able to dial anatomy features up and down and being able to rotate while you work. For example here is a front and back, notice the back view where the upper arm connects to the shoulder blade.
Thank you. That's encouraging to hear. I was about to just scrap it again. I mean, I probably still will.
I'll try downloading that and referencing from it. I feel like half my problem is a lack of knowledge of some areas, and the other half is just...Not enough skill to implement what I know correctly.
Well, I got frustrated and scrapped that, and started again. This is what I have at the moment. I think I learned a bit about the shoulders and upper arms, but they're not quite right yet.
Torso's not great, either, though I didn't focus on it properly yet.
Assuming you are using zbrush? i think there is a "female anatomy" reference with muscles and bones, i forget the name atm, but i remember it being in the package back in the day you can add it to the scene over your mesh and see what might need correcting as a sort of cheat sheet review reference. Also lots of references, i usually do it by part so if i am trying to create the back for instance i have a lot of torso references for the look i want or references of just the back, might be weird to some but it prevents me from jumping around to other areas and concentrating on one part at a time and not the whole thing at once. (when i was learning, actually redoing a female mesh now but decided to just bit the bullet and use someone else's base-mesh to cut my time down, do not have the time i used to is my excuse, still needs a lot of editing for what i need it for so, still putting in that work.) You will get it if you do not stop, looking forward to what you do with this.
edit: included the img of the model and the name.
Even when you do fragments you should think about the whole and how parts relate other wise you just place thing randomly for example :
-arm relating to the torso / elbow to waist relation
-belly/naval relating to the pelvis
-clavicle relating to deltoid and pectoralis
Other thing is to have correct understanding of at least visible part of skeleton for example clavicle/scapula , skeleton hold everything together so if you have
wonky skeleton there is very little chance of good figure
General shape of arm is cylinder and if you put something on top of it meeting area should describe the form below -> biceps and deltoid , same if you put a blanket over pillow , blanket should conform to pillow form
I dont thing your pectoralis is actually functional in its current state as it should attach to the arm to do something
BTW what kind of references are you using , if you are not using turntable with good lighting for your studies I suggest you do
@RimaModela @carvuliero I understand you are experiencing a lot of frustration and I totally get it. Anatomy is not an easy topic to learn - there are so many complex shapes intertwining together and what you see from one angle looks completely different from another.
From my experience, when many attempts fail it means that I'm not yet at the level of what I'm trying to accomplish. I believe this is your case as well. In my opinion, what's best to do now is take on smaller challenges. When it comes to anatomy, you can't escape the process of abstracting complex shapes into simple geometric shapes which are easier to understand. It's a skill you might still need to master before you can proceed to sculpting a whole human figure. Check out reference drawings like these:
I'd use these as a reference for simpler projects, and try to model boxes and such, just to understand proportions and how different parts connect. Once you get the grasp on abstract shapes you can move on to more complex shapes and then the notes from posts above might be a lot more helpful to you. Plus, you will get a sense of accomplishment which will help you stay motivated.
Good luck!
It is a bad habit I have to jump around a lot. That's definitely one of my problems, and part of why I have difficulty. I must work on that, and not fixate on individual parts while ignoring how they fit together. I'll make more revisions and try to work on that. I still don't quite get the arms, but I feel like I've almost worked it out. It's more like, I suck at sculpting what I can understand is there, I think, and less a complete lack of understanding, right now.
I should probably stop scrapping things out of frustration, too. I think I'm even getting worse from that..
Everybody has a different way to tackle anatomy. This seems like a Mick Angelo method: start at the pinky and work down to the toe. Personally I cant think of anything more frustrating and tedious. Try starting with a blank and refine it gradually over the whole figure. Do not be concerned with monstrosities you are making, but work holistically and improve figure by figure. I reckon you would be served better by a more sketching approach otherwise you might give up all together.
As a side note: I have seen super figures here with terrible feet, bad lower legs etc. The above method might explain that.
Could you please explain a bit what you mean by a "sketching approach"? I don't quite understand.
In general, I think my approach isn't super well suited to tricky bits like the shoulders and arm there. I tend to make the rough shape and then carve, but I think that might be too rough of an approach here. I should try focusing on building up the forms there in the first place, rather than carving them out of a larger piece, I think.
I won't give up. I will keep at it until I become skilled.
Could you please explain a bit what you mean by a "sketching approach"? I don't quite understand.
By sketching approach I mean focus on the whole. Practice on figures without going into too much detail, and practice this until you can see the end figure in your lower poly study models. Focus on bigger overall forms. The tiny stuff will take care of itself later.
Here is one I am busy with atm. I like to block the figure in with zspheres, but you could just box model it or sculpt at a super low level in a 3d prog. Just sketch in the major features and hit points to get a rough idea, of the whole figure. This isn't important, but I refine the whole figure a bit then send it to my 3D modelling app and fix symmetry, delete excess edges, correct awkward polys and sink in a mouth cavity. That is the third figure from left. The two figures right are not interesting as it is just finalizing.
Don't get me wrong there is nothing strange about your work method, it just seems you are obsessing about individual parts to such an extent that you are not giving yourself a chance to work on a whole character, thus your progress gets stalled, you loose steam and hit a wall. Working on the whole character gives yourself a chance to make progress and you will be looking at problem areas unconsciously and fixing them over the whole process.
As you see all this madness have some logic . What you have to do is learn some general anatomy aka what the things is made of
and learn how to use refs for your advantage aka understanding what you see
BTW its starting to look like female torso