[Amaakir]

@Savvader: Nice progress! I somehow think that the contrast the scapula bone is too harsh. Try doing a quick paintover on your WIP defining the muscles to see if they're all where they should be. It might help you out a bit in your progress. There are a lot of websites that show the human muscular system from where you can get a lot of reference. There are also a lot of books on figure drawing that can be bought from amazon that are of great help, I'm a huge fan of Michael Hamptons "Figure Drawing, Design and Invention" for example

@Virev: Hey, Virev, nice to see you participating

I made a quick paintover over your original WIP, it may be a bit necessary to take a closer look at an anatomy book, do a research on the shape (even the names) the muscles on the back have.
Also, when working with muscles, start going all the way back to basic shapes, cilinders, spheres, etc and start fleshing them out from there.
In the paintover I did, you can get a better idea of how the shapes of the muscles should be. The muscle that goes from the neck to almost the middle of the torso (a.k.a. the Trapezius muscle) is a tricky one, in my opinion, but I think that the paintover I did may help you get a better idea of how it could be shaded depending on how much volume you want to add to it, I always remember this muscle because its sort of an upside down arrow (Tobz WIP defines the volumes from this muscle very clearly)
I hope that my doodles can somehow get you on your way to getting those muscles fleshed out correctly, try doing some quick studies defining these basic shapes as cilinders and then return to your original WIP with what you've learned, It'll help you out a lot, I'm sure



@Lys: Hello, Lys! You're off to a great star, I love those brush strokes, they really start to define those muscles, I'd love to see this taken further!

@Starexai: There's still plenty of time, and I'm eager to seeing you participate!

I had to see what was off from my WIP as I wasn't so convinced. Trying to draw these from memory is quite a challenge, so I also did a paintover over what I had and found a couple of things that were missplaced :P
I think I'll be doing another study starting form basic shapes to avoid getting these problems again hehe

[Savvader]

Thank you for your comments, Amaakirs. You made me do research.

Digging deeper, however, in theory - I was at an impasse. Look at the picture - so why the reference, but in the anatomy atlas - so? Where did these volumes in the photo? And where, for example, the muscles that hold the shoulder blades? I compare the past two days and I could have ready to explode!



i'm took the man's back - and the same question arises. In general, I am currently in a plunge in theory questions and seek out a couple of great artists of our lectures on anatomy.

http://youtu.be/7pYjP8uSSsA

Sorry, but the lectures in Russian. :/

After that i'll back to practice.

Sorry for english - it's google-translator. I do not speak the language sufficiently for large text.

[mindbender]

Hi Juan,
looking forward to having you by the wheel

Great that you're focusing on more traditional anatomy - really need to practice that a lot and I'm always more encouraged when I do it in the company of others.

Won't be able to resist this one, just have to find the proper back to study now...

[AlexY]

It's not for the competition, but I did a 3D study some time ago. Maybe someone will find it useful as a ref.

[Amaakir]

@Savvader: Don't worry about it, I myself am not a native english speaker also
I'm glad I made you do some research, I think that's the whole point of doing these anatomy studies alltogether I think I do understand your confusion tho and I think a lot of the volume that pops out a lot from your reference photo has a lot to do with the bones and the way she's sitting. Notice that she's surrounding her legs with her arms, that makes me think of her scapula going inwards on one end making the other end pop out so much


Anyway, those are my thoughts on why it may be popping out so much. And about the muscles in the lower back, I think it's the fact that she's sitting and somehow leaning forwards. Such details are what make this so tricky, we have to consider pose and how it may affect the muscles that we are studying.

@mindbender: Thank you, mindbender! It's a great honor to be able to work out these challenges with you guys, I think we can all learn a lot if we help each other out and, yea, I've been given the task to return Anatomicae back to it's original spirit, we will be seeing more than just anatomy, however, as we will dwelve into the anatomy of art, for example, custom brushes, textures, etc.
So I hope to keep seeing you participating and I'll do my best to keep them as interesting as possible

@AlexY: Extraordinary work! I'm sure it will be an excellent source of reference and though I may not include you in the Finals Poll, I, Amaakir, by the powers bestowed upon me by the administrators of this forum, award you the helpful mate badge XP

[MichaelWitmann]

here's mine :)

Ref: http://fc00.deviantart.net/fs42/f/20...alaGankina.jpg

[mindbender]

@Aamakir: Sounds great, looking forward to all the exciting challenges ahead.

There, I found a back I just couldn't resist studying more closely. It's after a painting by Rubens (is an old master study ok as a challenge entry?).

No matter what I've already learned a lot painting it and that's the most important thing. Here's the start of my study:

[absorbentghost]

I'll be uploading by tomorrow evening.Gud luck to all ,this challenge is awesome.Looking forward in being involved i things keep going this well.

[Savi]

Hey thought I'd give this ago =] Still working on her middle back and needs a wider tonal range but I'm getting there =].. i think =p

[PTimm]

trying to get in on this it seems fun! tried to cram what i could in 50 mins

[Amaakir]

@witmann-art: Great work! The flow of the brush strokes really work great with the muscle volumes and you did a great job keeping the figure readable under the cloth.

@mindbender: As long as we can get a good look at those muscles I dont mind if your study is based on the work of old masters, I would even encourage people to study the art of the old masters.
I've had in my mind the idea of a challenge where we could study the art of our favorite modern/old masters, but until then we should really focus our final image on showing volume and anatomy of the human back clearly.

@absorbentghost: Sure thing, hop on board and show us some of your WIP as soon as you get something done

@Savi: Glad you're participating, Savi. If you don't mind, I would suggest keep total black to a minimum if not loosing it all entirely. I personally find it gives the image a "muddy" look. About the tonal range, I don't think its a major issue, perhaps there's a lot of whites, try leveling it up with some more "background" grey to do the trick.
From personal experience, I find it's better to keep whites to a minimum and work with the background grey on a multiply layer and changing the opacity of the brush to pop up some volume. I usually go nuts with lights (I like shiny things :P) but I've seen some great improvement on my work keeping whites as low as possible. Unless there's a really harsh light that is.

@PTimm: That's some great progress, the colors work wonders with your allready great fleshed out muscles, keep up the good work!

-------------------------------------------

I went on and did another study working it out from 0. I seperated the steps of my WIP so I could share it with you, guys.

Step 1: Basic construction lines, nothing too fancy here



Step 2: I started placing muscles all over the body. Trying to keep shapes as basic as possible, had an anatomy book open by my side at this point and also took reference from AlexY's great 3D study.



Step 3: Once I was done placing the muscles, I went on with adding some shadows to give them some volume. Light source located in the upper left side.



Step 4: Added some ligther values, trying not to overdo the whites :P



Step 5: Removed construction lines and muscle guides and added some outlines here and there. Outlines were really not necessary at this point tho as the shadows and light were doing their work.



This was a great study, I'm definitely starting to get the hang of this, it's a bit difficult to remember all those muscles and how they work tho :P

[Savvader]

hi all there's lots of amazing work here!



i decided to color it! and i think it's final render. may be i draw another woman bodybuilder back, but later.

[tobz]

@Savvader The reason for that "bump" there is beacuse of the erector spinae muscle, wich is a deeper layer of muscle.
Muscles are in layers. So there is muscles under other muscles...


The reason that u cant see the trapezius "much" is because she is a skinny woman who hasnt worked out too much.

[Savvader]

wow! thankz Tobz!

[Amaakir]

That's some great insight, tobz, thank you very much for the information, I'm sure everyone will find it useful for their studies